Hi Peeps

i shall be updating my siggy soon as DH has just emptied his wallet of reciepts - i suspect that a good few of these will be food


Kathlicos - Thinking of you and your family ((((HUGS))))

Nickjw - Another one here with the Co Op members card, every bit is a bonus

Pinwheel - I don`t include alcohol spends in my budget as we rarely buy it but i do include the ingredients for the wine that i make.

SD

Thank you Helen, I think I will do that too. It's a treat rather than a necessity (well most of the time!) so I think I should keep it separate.

PWx

Wow Sunnyday what sort of wine do you make? I had a demijohn for Christmas because I want to start making wine, can you recommend a good wine for a beginner to make?

Thanks
PWx

I can recommend a very good one which was originally posted by Jenny Jelly, i discovered it about three years ago - amended it slightly and haven`t stopped making it since. Its very cheap to make and very easy. Start to finish in about 5 weeks sometimes 6.

Into your demijohn pour 1 litre of apple juice & Half a litre of white grape juice

In a large pan pour 2lb sugar, add a kettle full of boiling water and stir, you may have to turn the heat on under the pan to dissolve the last bit. Allow to cool until its just warm and then pour into the demijohn.
Top up with cold water to halfway up the curved shoulder.

Add 1 teaspoon pectolase
1 teaspoon citric acid and 1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient, pop the airlock in and leave until the next day.

Next day add 1 teaspoon of wine yeast and give it a good shake then replace the airlock. It will start to ferment, when its totally finished syphon it into a clean demijohn (don`t forget to sterilise before use) i run it through a coffee filter in a funnel into the clean one. The nasty stuff left can go down the drain. I then add 1 teaspoon stabilising powder and 1 crushed campden tablet. Replace the airlock give it a good shake and leave it for a couple of weeks. It will start to clear and then you can bottle it. Best served freezing cold

If i`m not bottling it i don`t bother with the stabiliser or campden tab. I just pour some from the demijohn into a jug and pop it in the fridge

The best results come from the clear apple juice and white grape(usually from MrM`s) make sure its the not from concentrate stuff. Avoid the juice with the nasty additives.

The yeast, pectolase etc all come from Wilkinsons for around a pound, the yeast is a couple of pounds and they will all last ages.

Hope that you have a go as its lovely. Even with the price increases it works out about £1 a bottle. The initial layout for the yeast etc is small and will make a good few dj`s full. It is quite strong

Happy brewing - let me know how you get on.

SD

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this out Sunnyday, I am definitely going to try it. It looks like a trip to Wilkinsons is on the cards for the weekend.

How exciting!
PWx

declaring at £359.48 thats £40,52 under
thanks Mrs M

Katholics so sorry to hear about your dad , my thoughts are with you and your family

Thank you all for being so kind and for offering words of sympathy and comfort at this difficult time. The messages both on the forum and pm's are all very much appreciated. Many thanks!

Ok, back to food...wanted to keep busy, we came back home for the first time since the early hours of Sunday morning when we were called to the hospital...have been staying with mum, but she wanted us to try to get back to normal and as i only live 10 mins away from her, if she needs me i can be there in a jiffy, so anyways, i came holme and baked...'artisan' bread and flapjack and foaccia. I made Quorn curry for tea and served it with rice.

Hi Mrs M, I'm declaring at £387.62 for this month. A couple of quid over but I can live with that! I'll be in next month's challenge too but I have 3 big birthdays in March so I'll put my budget up to £425.

Thank you for running this challenge, it's really made me look at what my money is going on and that's got to be a good thing.

Kathlicos sending you deepest condolences to you and your family at this difficult time

xspender thank you for the recipe ive printed it off

just been MrS and spent just under a tenner will update my sig once ive sorted the receipt out

Hi everyyone,

I would like to declare at £191.86 for Feb out of £250. I am so pleased. Could I please be put down for £200 for March as there is only me, 3 kids, a cat and 2 rabbits now me and DH have seperated.

Eveie

All In One Apple Cake

6oz Self Raising Flour
1 Level Tsp Baking Powder
4oz Brown Sugar
4 fl oz [100ml] Sunflower Oil
2 Eggs
5-6 Sweet Apples [not cooking apples]
4 Tsp Cinnamon
1 Tsp Mixed Spice

1. Grease and line the cake tin with marg or butter and pre heat oven to Gas Mark 5 or 190C

2. Apples - remove core and skin and dice into small chunks

3. Mix the prepared apples with the sugar and spice [setting a few aside for the top if required]

4. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large bowl, make a well in the centre, add the sunflower oil, eggs and the spiced apples in no particular order, then beat the whole lot together on high speed for half a minute.

5. Pour the mixture into the tin and gently press the reserved pieces of apple into the top. Bake until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean - approx 40 mins.


I didn't use the mixed spice [I had none]
I used soft brown sugar
My apples were very chunky [DS aged 8 done them for me]
I used apples that had wrinkly skin as they were getting past their best
I have a fan oven so cooked at 170C for 30 mins

It tastes delicious and the smell is scrumptious

Helen x

katholicos - so sorry to hear of your loss.

Thanks for the recipe Helen, sounds like one to try!

Hmm, not doing well now. I went over the budget (not surprising, as I had less than £2 left for over 10 days!). Then, went away for a weekend with bf, we've got back tog, and he did all the buying, so that was fine, but then forgot that I had to cater for dd birthday party at the weekend. I haven't included the party food costs (although making loads of it myself this year - sausage rolls, hm nuggets, flapjacks, pizzas, twinks, lemon cookies etc) but of course I put other stuff in the trolley. I also did a stock up shop ready for next month, and I was going to include it in next month's money, but now I'm just going to accept that I haven't reached my target this month and lump it all in together. Then I can do an AP order for next month, and hopefully that won't take me over budget. I may also try and stay out of all sms for the whole month. I reckon, even if I only need half a dozen items, it's got to be cheaper to pay for the delivery than to go and mooch around myself!! I'm way more organised than I ever used to be, but there is still a long way to go until I can truly say I've cracked the gc.

Major bonus in baking today. I LOVE twinks, and I also made the cheesy biscs, man they're lush! Did them heart shaped for my dd. Also, lemon cookies are the way forward - never really used lemons in cooking before, but these cookies are fab! Does anyone have any good recipes (savoury or sweet) that use lemons, so I can use up the rest of them! Thanks in advance.

Declaring £213.36 for Feb , but hoping that march will be better!
Mrs M, please put me down for £150 for March again.

Thanks all!
PG x

katholicos verysorry for your loss..(I didnt read through the posts earlier when I updated) .


Can I just ask what people are paying for a bag of granulated sugar at the mo. I just payed £1.09 at sainsbugs..and is it cheaper anywhere!??

Bertiebots - do have or know anyone with, a Costco card - you have to buy about 16 bags but it works out at approx 50p a bag [well it did the last time I bought some]

Poundstretchers usually sell it cheaply too

Helen x

can i be put down for £150 for march?
im lumping everything together in the grocery budget and that includes home bargains visits for cat litter!
ive come in about £145 for feb... not bad but can do better!
im going to order my nhs cashback card and load it up with £150, so i have to stick to budget or face embarrasment at the tills! eeekkkk! and cashback from asda and sainsburys as well as lots of high street shops!

Hi bertiebots

I got 1kg of granulated sugar in my T***o delivery today for 68p. The make is 'Mr Sugar'.

Hope this helps
PWx

68p in Asda and Quality Save for a bag of sugar

katholicos - sorry to hear of your loss.

Katholicos - sending my condolences to you and your family at this very sad time.

Bertieboots - Last time I was in our local B&M (about 3 weeks ago) sugar was 69pence so a huge saving if you have one near to you.

Evie189 - Well done on the large underspend thats brilliant. Almost £60

Got mum out of hospital so nipped into Te$co to get her a few things and spent £8.49 myself mainly salad things and also got a large chunk of cheese reduced - it was to good to miss. Am doing weekly shop tomorrow and seem to have more meat on my list this week than usual, even though freezers are still really full will also want milk on Saturday so expecting a higher bill than usual, however have £84 left of budget so will manage it. Must do an inventory of the freezers as soon as possible but just lately something has always cropped up.
Have meal planned up until March 5th and am hoping can stick to it. Trying for 3 meat free days in this period and also a couple of new recipes.
Made some more soup for lunch today using up half a chicken carcass, onions, swede, celery and some sorry looking pak choi but it tasted fine.
Am really watching what I throw away food wise latley and this week it has just been one smallish carrot and an apple which was brown and not nice. Only found this out though after taking a bite.