June 2008 Grocery Challenge

Moniker

Ruthibe73 wrote: »

Anyone got an answer for my plea earlier about how to use chicken carcuss to make soup???

Just put the bones in a large pan with a couple of sticks of celery scrubbed and chopped, a large carrot,chopped, a large onion sliced, about 1 3/4 pts ( or 1 ltr) of water, salt, pepper and a couple of bay leaves. Bring to the boil then cover and simmer with the lid on for a couple of hours. Strain the contents of the pan and put the liquid in a bowl to cool. Skim off the fat which will rise to the top. Put the stock into smaller containers and label and freeze. Some people like to freeze then stock in ice cube trays first. I just use tupperware containers which hold about half a pint at a time. I also pick off all the meat which comes off the bones and put it in the blender with the veg and a bit of the liquid to make soup for work - though I don't over blend it as it doesn't look a very nice colour!

BTW if you have a slow cooker you can bung it all in there and save elec too. I usually do this and leave it cooking for 4-5 hours on high.

HTH

Love M

mandy_moo_1

BigMummaF wrote: »

I had a bash at white bread rolls too--they doubled in size width-ways OK but didn't really rise. Any ideas folks?

i think this could have been one of 2 things....could be wrong mind either too much water, or you left 'em to rise too long in too warm a place

i always use this recipe in my BM if you wanna give it a go.........

2tbsp sugar
1tsp salt
2tbsp sunflower oil
1 cup tepid water
3 & 1/4 cups bread flour
1 & 1/2 tsp dried yeast

put everything in BM, making sure the flour and yeast go in last

put on dough cycle

when its done, take out dough, knead it for a min or so

cut into 8 equal sized bits

squidge each one about a bit, then shape into a ball

put on baking tray, leaving space between each one

i usually put 'em somewhere warm for about half an hour to rise

bake at 180 for around 15-20 mins

cool on wire rack

after about an hour, i put them in a plastic freezer bag, and whatever doesn't get eaten that day, i put in the freezer. it only takes about 50 seconds to defrost one bun in the m-wave

i make these nearly every day, so i hope you have some luck with them hun xx

Chuzzle

Thanks Monika will give that a go tomorrow in my slow cooker.

Sunny_Donny

Just sat down after preparing meatballs (thanks for the recipe) tasted one - well you have to don't you and they are beautiful. Made the lasagne for tea tonight for me and OH. 4 portions left for freezing and made a big big pot of chilli.
Used same recipe for lasagne - put all dry ingredients in first - 3 onions, 4 peppers, tub of mushrooms, 5 sticks celery, 3 tbspns oats, tin tomatoes, tomato passata and herbs, spices and garlic, fried off 2 large packs of Mr T's value mince and stirred in. Made lasagne with this.
Remaining mixture added 2 tins kidney beans, another tin of tomatoes, chilli mix (lidl one is brill), and tin of beaked beans - Branston baked beans 99p for 4 tins. Cooked it and leaving it to cool. Will portion up later for meals.
Off to make the bread now - will leave it brewing whilst I pop to town - need to go to bank and post office. Then making birthday cards and will post them tomorrow.

Have fun - still raining here!!!!! Hope it drys up as I have loads of stuff for the second hand market tomorrow - will also be putting stuff for sale on Amazon tonight and Gumtree.

MRSMCAWBER

Afternoon all

My 3rd NSD in a row :T ..have been in the kitchen instead
made a minted pea and goats cheese quiche and a bacon onion n mushroom one -just in case hubby isn't keen on the 1st and having just tried it for my lunch and have to say Oh MY God....i hope he doesn't like it :rotfl: its stunning.... whats the bet hubby will love it :rolleyes:



The original recipe was a good food one but i have altered it -as always
It was supposed to make 1 10" quiche and make 8 portions but with there just being 2 of us i thought i would do 2 smaller ones instead so we don't get bored..plus it the other one use up some bacon lardons and the last of the bag of frozen mushrooms ...i reckon we will get 6 portions out of each too as they are rich .....saving pennies and cals :j
I couldn't bring myself to do the cheffy thing of leaving the excess pastry hanging over the tin and cutting it of after cooking -what a waste :eek: ..so the off cuts -130g has gone in the freezer and will top a pie some day soone :T and there was a ramakin full of the egg, cream and cheese mix left -so that will make a kind of carbonara tomorrow ....eeeeeeee i like leftovers

I think im now going to sit and do some cross stitching its far too hot to go outside - 80 again ...still at least we had some drizzle this morning for the veggies :j
have a great day everyone:D

angelnikki

Originally Posted by mousytrap
Mainly because my OH is really funny about eating meals that have been frozen and reheated (not that he had any problem with the ready meals...) I'm not sure what he thinks I've done to them...

We lived on ready meals for a while after my caesarean because I couldn’t cook. They were minging and the portion size was tiny. It wasn't long b4 OH was nagging me to get back in the kitchen again. :mad:

Maybe if you just got ready meals for him and sat next to him eating your yummy homemade ones he would see and smell the difference and want HM for himself? Worth a try?

Originally Posted by mousytrap
Lightweight... I'm drinking about a litre and a half a day...

:rotfl:
The 10cans a week was after drastically cutting down. I had to wean myself off it slowly and then finally went cold turkey two months ago. I have only had 1 can since and that was with fish and chips - can’t have chippy chips without coke for some reason Oh, I do drink robinsons but its on bogof so dead cheap compared to coke


I've got my first MrT delivery of the month coming tonight. Should come to about £100 but that will completely refill my cupboards so the rest of the months shops should be a lot less. I'm a bit p'd off as my usual loaf of bread (kingsmill 50/50) has gone up from 88p to £1.22 this week!! But luckily I spotted it last night when I was checking through my order so I've changed it to Hovis, which is on 2 for £2 atm. More than what I normally spend though! Grrr! Next week I think we might have to try the own brand stuff. I should be getting a BM soon though as when my mum came to visit she bought me an ice-cream maker for my birthday. I told her she had already got me one a few years back so she's gonna change it for a BM.

I'll post tonight with my total.

Nikki
x

Phoolgrrrl

Well I am lost in this thread!Apologies.

Two spends to put on £16.59 for last week and £14.51 this week. Still eating out of the freezer most nights. Will need to buy chicken at end of week tho only enough left for 2 dinners.

Got good whoopsies granery baps down to 29p for 4 - 2 packets and fancy smoked ham 10 slices for 56p. Made up 8 ham and chese baps for prob £2.00-£2.50 dependin on value of cheese! Thats lunches for next week sorted in the freezer. Also got wee sushi packs down to 30p for a treat.

Made twinks last night 1/2 ord and 1/2 cin and raisin. Yum! Got about 45 out of the mix by taking my time and using 2 teaspoons to do my version of the cheffy thing. They are actual hob nob size this time not giant monster hob nobs!

OH is away on work form mon to thurs for next 2 months ish startin mon. Need to find some good recipies for one! No room in freezer to batch cook as we weren't expecting him to be goin till later in the month.Might use the time to go on a diet...hmmm.

madmalteaser

Thanks to those that answered my questions for me. It was so many pages ago and I've only been away from this thread a couple of days!

Lucifa73

A quick tip (sorry if its been given before):

If you're making fairy cakes/muffins/burgers or many other things that require dividng a large quantity into a series of small items use an ice cream scoop with the easy release mechanism. It keeps portions/cake sizes even and is less messy than using a spoon (well it is for me anyway)

Fi27

Hi everyone

Been trying to keep up with you all. It's like a roller coaster of up's and downs on here! Ah big hugs :grouphug: to those who need one, just think, if we didnt have any bad times how would we know when we were having a good time? Try to be positive and keep postin on here so we can share the up's and downs.

On the grocery front i did my second shop of this month. Spent £55.50 which wasnt too bad :T It's a lot less than i used to spend for a week but i do have quite a stash of non-perishables so that helps. I have been using 'my supermarket' which someone on here suggested and it has been really useful. It's handy just to print off the list and take it with me when i go to T's. I usual start my list on a monday and then pop back and fore to update/make changes through the week and then print my list and go shopping on a friday or saturday. It definately helps to be organised I would be lost without a menu plan now, i have no idea how i managed before

I have been doing alot of studying the last couple of days and i am sooooooooo bored of it now i think i'm going to go bake a cake or something as a reward Lasagne for tea tonight which i will make enough of to do tommorow night aswell.

keep up the good work guys

Fi