May 2008 Grocery Challenge

annelouise_2

:rotfl: After looking at Mrs M's easy recipe and great instructions that loaf is on my to do list after the balcony cleaning - covered in pencl crayon shavings !!!!!!

I can get flour for 43c at Lidl and bought some yeast sachets over from UK.

Have got lsat bag of Twinks out of freezer but it is full with bagged onions,bbq meat and fish for this weeks menus.

Have tweaked next months menu planner to include what's in freezer and cupboards for the first two weeks.

I shop every 3 - 4 days as I only have a small Spanish kitchen and a small fridge freezer,but that way I am more able to only buy a handful of each childs fruit preference and check out prices regularly.I tape my receipts in a notebook and tally up daily often having 2 - 3 day NSD.

I do a 30 euro plus shop at Carrefour as it has 10% discount vouchers off fuel which I go past on school run - makes sense.Today I saved 7.78 euros on a tank of fuel.

Just bought 2 x large planters for my salad veggies and have kept plastic takeaway salad trays with lids for next lot of planting.

Had a bowl of chicken and lentil soup for lunch from my neighbours Sunday Lunch carcass ,I'd added prunes,apple,potatoes,onion,peppers,carrots,herbs and stock -yumumumum.

annelouise

MrsM is it 14g fresh or dried yeast ?????

angelnikki

clair2305 wrote: »

think my friend has a BM that she doesn't use, may ask her if I can borrow (oops lend) it

lol You were right the first time. You borrow something from them and they lend it to you.

I'm a bit !!!!!! off today. I got a letter through from the ME/CFS Service saying I finally have an appointment to see them. Its on the bl00dy 2nd Sept! I was referred in Nov last year. I cant believe I will have had to wait nearly a year before even seeing anyone about this! :mad:

My DS is 20 months old and I'm really struggling to look after him all day by myself as he is so active and all I can do is sit with him. He goes to nursery two days a week as thats all we can afford on OH's (good) wages. I spend 3 days looking after DS and have to spend the rest of the week in bed recovering Me and 'OH' aren't even a couple any more but I'm stuck living with him until I get a diagnosis because I can't claim Incapacity Benefit or anything else until I've got it in writing that I'm actually ill. I am so :mad:

Back on topic :rolleyes: my delivery is coming 7-9 tonight so I'll update my spends then.


Nikki
x

Flylady_Flower

MRSMCAWBER wrote: »

Afternoon all

4th NSD in a row for me :A :rotfl: .. Have a loaf of bread rising at the moment..ready to pack hubby up for his day on duty tomorrow
Claire2305:- I use this recipe and it never lets me down

1. 500g bread flour
2. 3tsp salt (sounds a lot but it needs it )
3. 300ml warm water -use part milk/water if you want a softer crust-all water makes it yummy n crusty
4. pinch of sugar
5. 14g fresh yeast

• mix the flour and salt in a bowl and make a well in the middle
• mix the water, yeast and sugar in a jug and pour into the well
• cover with some of the flour
• cover with a carrier until the yeast bubbles through
• mix (stick the bowl in the sink;) )
• once in a nice ball cover with the carrier again and leave to prove until double in size
• tip out and shape into an oiled 2lb loaf tin
• cover with the carrier -like a tent..so it won't touch and leave until about 2" above top of tin
• whack in a pre-heated oven 230...for about 25 mins.. -tip it out and knock on the bottom and if it sounds hollow its done..

You can add a dollop of fat to the dough to help it keep a bit longer if you like.. i don't bother as it rarely lasts long enough to go dry in this house

Well i have some fresh spinach in a tub outside that is trying to bolt :rolleyes: so i have set some more and tomorrow im going to turn that lot into spinach n bacon bread..its a 1st attempt so i will report back and post the recipe if its a winner
right will get off again

Wish i was in the Uk as one of you lovely lot could have my BM... i prefer to make it by hand so my BM is in a box the basement... guess that next time i come back to visist i could wang it in the car and see if anyone of you are near enough to have it

Mrs M, you always put us to shame - what a lovely loaf you have made, it looks scrummy!
I am pretty hopeless and as I am just getting back into this cooking lark, I'm going to stick with what works, but give me time and I'll be kneading and baking with the rest of 'em!:rotfl:

Good luck with the spinach & bacon bread - hope it works and looking forward to the recipie. i'm always trying to get spinach into mine - I love the Jamie recipie with tinned tomatoes, spinach and cherry tomatoes on top of pasta, but hubby & son won't eat it - just me & DD love it, so we often have it for lunch when we're on our own - numnumnum.:D

God, you can tell I'm bored at work - can't wait for the next reminder that someone has put something on here. still, at least I look busy typing eh! (if only they knew...:A )

Phoolgrrrl

Thread kinda got away from me over the BH weekend! We bough picnic stuff for yesterday and put it with stuff we already had - only spent £4 total which was cheaper than both of us buyin a sandwhich!

Right I have actually spent £167.00 this month. However I have £5 mince, £5 fish £5 veg £2 steak £2 oven dinners (total about 15 dinners!) and £3 snacks instore for next month. So I think I will declare £150/£150 for May and put the extra £17 onto June. Hopefully only need 'weekly' things and chicken Gonna get the breadmaker out aswell.
Please put me down for £150 for June Mrs M.
Banana and peanut butter sandwhiches do not defrost well!

Flylady_Flower

angelnikki wrote: »

I'm a bit !!!!!! off today. I got a letter through from the Norfolk & Suffolk ME/CFS Service saying I finally have an appointment to see them. Its on the bl00dy 2nd Sept! I was referred in Nov last year. I cant believe I will have had to wait nearly a year before even seeing anyone about this! :mad:

Hi Nikki,
I know it's not the same, but I had a similar thing when waiting for an appointment for an op on my Jaw. I waited a year, and my original appointment was for 3:eek: . I called them up and just kept pestering them every week until I got a cancellation. I know it can be a pain, but it does work and then they remember you when a cancellation does come up.

My friend has MS and I know he has good and bad days, so sort of understand what you are going through. My thoughts are with you and I hope you get another appointment soon.:grouphug:
Denise x

MRSMCAWBER

Hi there annelouise

sorry -its fresh yeast... but you can always just wang a sachet of dried in with the flour mix instead..then just pour on the liquid and mix from there...
I get on better with fresh yeast for some reason and its cheaper out here than dried anyway

Denise.. don't worry i have my fair share of flops :rotfl: I make the bread for hubby that often that i can probably do it in my sleep now.. so i have that down to a fine art
We love spinach.. i like it raw in salads but my 1st attempt to grow it this year and its trying to bolt so im hoping to use it rather than waste it... even if hubby isn't keem on the bread no doubt yours truely will still eat it :rotfl:

annelouise_2

Thanks MrsM will try when my Twinks have cooked off,so I'll go mix now and let you know how I get on.

Have crushed lookelikke frosties and cocopops in with mix as it looked a little wet.

annelouise

sandy2_2

annelouise wrote: »

I can get flour for 43c at Lidl and bought some yeast sachets over from UK.

Can you get bread flour at your Spanish Lidl, we can only get the bread mixes here. If your flour makes a good loaf can you give me the brand etc please.

I was told [FONT=&quot]however Spanish flour is generally of the "strong" variety, so it is usually suitable for bread making. The flour that we use is made by a company called Gallo and seems to be available in most supermarkets. They have a distinctive packaging of red and black on white with a distinctive red top. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]The particular flour is :- "Harina de Trigo. Para condimentation y reposteria". [/FONT][FONT=&quot]It is the "Extra" type that you want and it has the word "Extra" in the centre of the packet. here they don't have the word 'extra' on the packet but on the plastic packaging that wraps around about 8 bags together on the pallets.
As you know we live out in the sticks and i have managed to get my local baker to sell me fresh yeast, about 2.50euro for half a kilo


[/FONT]

EmptyPurse

Having kept a spending diary for the past month I've just discovered that I'm a complete failure on the grocery front - I massively underestimated the amount that I was spending on food.

I get paid on the 15th which makes it difficult to do the challenge. But I'm going to give it a go anyway. I'm going to budget £30 to spend between now (27th May) and 15th June. From 15th June onwards my monthly budget will be £100, starting on the 15th of every month. Don't worry if that is too difficult to include in the main list - I don't mind being left off! Eventually I'd like to cut that down further but it will be a real achievement if I can stick to £100 at first.

Anyway, I was wondering what are everyone's Top Five Tips for saving money on their groceries?

annelouise_2

Sandy2,

I get the strong from Lidl,Aldi,Carrefour,Consum.No idea where I'll get yeast from as I only have 1 sachet left so will look into that if successful.

The Cereal Twinks have come out great so will bag them up once cooled and hide them.......

Have just chopped up teabags and scattered on my plant pots .....odd or what????????

annelouise