Mrs T M I love baking cupcakes but have never attempted bread! Am I likely to not have the things in though? We have a constant stash of flour but no yeast etc.

But yes please for the recipe! Our freezer is crammed unfortunately but I am contemplating looking for a second one on gumtree etc

Have updated my sig to show todays grocery spend. I have cut my grocery budget by only £5 a week, and i am hoping that because its such a small difference it'll be easy.

As from today, i'll be shopping at a different town to normal. Normally, i drive 8miles to the nearest Lidl, then a further 8 miles to Morrisons.
Well, to save petrol money (and time) i will be driving to a different town, 9.6miles away, and they have a Lidl and Morrisons right next to each other

Happy new year everyone. Well I am currently on track on my budget. DH had to buy a bottle of Jamesons for new year but it had gone up to £17 when he got to the shop. Never mind, it's the one thing he has to have on new year as we used to go to his grandparents for new year and he'd drink Jamesons with his Grandad.

Updated sig

Ok, I don't trust the online conversions that I've made with the recipe, so I'll be making these this afternoon and will report back on how they go. They do require yeast, but I'm thinking about making up a sourdough starter. I'm not sure that we will use as much bread as that can make though!

I'll post the metric recipe as soon as I'm finished making these buns!

I'm happy to take it in ounces etc if that's what you have as my scales do both

It's in cups (which 1 cup = 8 fluid ounces). If you have a measuring cup with fluid ounces on it, that will work!

Ah rats no I don't, lol.

Thank you though

No worries! I'm in the middle of mixing it up, so once it's time to let it rise I should be able to write it up in weights for you.

And don't worry, it isn't an inconvenience, I need to do this to all of my recipes, plus I enjoy converting and baking!

I'm going to give this a go again for 2013. I did try last year but I got too busy to keep on top of tracking everything. I have now got myself a new budget app and intend to record everything I spend though.

I'm going to set my monthly budget at£250


This is for 2 adults plus my dad for at least one week every month.

Done some shopping today, spent a bit more than I had planned but that was because I bought a big pack of toilet rolls on offer which should last almost two months!!

Walked to shops which saved petrol and as I have to carry it all means I don't buy too much!! Also took out cash and have meal planned!

Sainsbugs £13
L!dl £6.84
Icy £5.25
Mossy Market £1

Total spends £26.09.

Just need to go to Waitrose to pick up some soup for DH lunches and Hi-juice squash. We're on a low carb health kick this year so we'll being trying to fill up on veg rather than cheap carbs. (If he keeps to it might get him started on making soups as he already makes a mean chicken/turkey broth!!)

Hi Everyone,

Please can you count me in! I had a go at this last year and didn't do very well at keeping track, however I now have a very motivating reason - maternity leave (and going down to 1 income) starts in March, so the more I can cut back and save the better!!

Please put me down for £160 for January, but this should really come in as much, much less as I simply don't have that much money until I get paid!

This is to feed 3 adults and includes all household stuff and toiletries.
Thanks for the inspiration!

Peanut - Here's the recipe (it worked up quite well!)

Hamburger or hot dog buns
Makes 12 servings

1 cup (236 ml) milk
1/2 cup (118 ml) water
1/4 cup (55 g) butter
up to 4 1/2 cups (700 g) plain flour
1 1/4 tsp (~7 g) yeast
2 tbsp (25 g) sugar
1 1/2 tsp (~9 g) salt
1 egg

In a small saucepan, heat milk, water and butter until very warm, between 110F-120F (44C-48C) (if you don't have a thermometer, stick a clean finger in the mix, you want to be able to hold it there for about 4-5 seconds, but no longer).

In a large bowl, mix together 1 3/4 cups (270 g) flour, the yeast, sugar, and salt. Mix the warm milk mixture into the flour mixture, then add the egg.

Add just enough flour to form a loose dough, I added 3 doses of 100 g flour each time, for a total of 570 g flour used. This will vary based on the ambient humidity. The drier it is, the less flour you need, the wetter it is, the more flour you need.

Once the dough has pulled together (and by this point your arm will feel like it will fall off from stirring!!!), lightly flour a clean kitchen counter or table, dump the dough ball out onto the floured surface and knead for about 5-8 minutes.

Make the dough into a log (remember your play dough or clay from primary school!) and cut into 12 pieces. I use a pair of clean scissors to make this easier. They don't have to be exactly the same size, after all, that's one of the charms of homemade bread!

Shape the dough into round balls and place on a greased baking sheet (or use greaseproof or parchment paper). Flatten each ball slightly. Cover and let rise for 30-35 minutes. This step can take as long as an hour or so, depending on the temperature where they are rising and the humidity.

I placed the two pans of dough balls into the oven (turned off and cooled from when I was baking earlier) on the two top racks, then I put a baking dish under those on a third rack (the floor of the oven works fine, so long as there isn't a heating element down there!). Boil some water in the kettle, pour the water slowly into the baking dish, slide the baking dish into the oven and close the door. The heat and humidity from the boiled water will make the dough rise quicker, even with a cold house. Be sure to place a towel below your oven door, the humidity can run down the front of the door onto the floor. Great way to clean an oven door though!

Anyway - after the dough has risen, bake at 400F/205C/gas mark 6 for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.

For hot dog buns: Shape each of the 12 pieces into a 6 inch by 4 inch rectangle (or close to it, doesn't need to be exact). Starting with the longer side, roll up tightly and pinch the edges and ends to seal. Let rise for 20-25 minutes. Bake the same as the hamburger buns.

To make onion rolls (my favourite!): add 2 tbsp dried minced onion and 1/2 tsp onion salt to the flour mixture (reduce the salt in the recipe to 1 tsp (~6 g)). Brush with egg and sprinkle dried onion over the tops and bake as normal.

Hope this helps!

Also, sorry if I've made any mistakes with my spelling!

First spend of 2013 was €45.85, which I am determined is going to last us for at least 2 weeks.....OH doesn't know that,but if he wants to spend more he can use his pocket money!

Belt really needs to be tightened this year....first budget trial was €200 over income, so some severe tweaking to be done.

Marie

Hi everyone,

Worked yesterday so didn't get a chance, but now budgets are done to here

Welcome to those joining/returning:
lucylollipop, Penry, lynney88, hedgesparrow, Chloris, 4weeladdies, loobylou79, chirpycheap, Byatt, emmad5689, wannabe sybil, theskintfamily, TylersMummy, twisting, LMac, loveasale, Karb, hex2, WonderfulLife, thewestfive, FrugalinStrood, cheesedoffwithdebt, missmucksmum, Mrsgibbs1503, Sazdaz, dizzy lizzie, tyaca, Want-To-Fit-In, newleaf88, flyingmamma, xx_Jo_xx, jem132, totallybored and Lovethenight

DPJames - as others have said, the thread is very long this month due to lots of new people joining. For many people this thread is invaluable for getting a grip of finances, usually after a LBM or a change in circumstances. The recipe section is extremely useful and I for one have used it many times to great success. A lot of folks need to track their spends and like to share if they have seen something on offer that may interest others. This thread is a lot of things, to a lot of people. Please don't do it down. Keeping track, making lists, and being accountable for every penny is, unfortunately a way of life for many of us, and not just those born under Virgo

My own Jan GC is now up and running! Nice to see you everybody

Coxy

Went for a lovely long walk around town after ny marking today. Spent £10.90, picking up some toiletries, the bits I needed for the rest of the week, and a crochet hook. Obviously, the most important bit there is the hook - it'll keep me out of trouble later! Also, I'm probably miles behind here, but I was very excited to find WW biscuits and crackers (amongst other ww goodies) in poundstretcher today

£10.83 spent at Asda on veg, fruit and beans mostly. Tesco delivery came this morning - it was late so had the delivery charge refunded which was nice. Had some substitutions one of which I returned so I think my spend was £25.52, this is for this week and some dry/canned goods for next week.

Thank you so much for the recipe! Need eggs and yeast but am hitting Mr T tomorrow so will grab them then

Hello, hope you're all well!
I'm back in my flat and have stocked up on most of the cupboard items I will need for Jan- I got as much as I could carry in Mr.A so I hope I won't need another trip there this month but we shall see!

I got 2 each of SP pasta and SP spaghetti- 30p each, I know they were 20p for a while but prices seem to have gone up everywhere, these are the cheapest as far as I know. Also got basmati rice, bread flour, wine and nibbles for new year (not counting that as groceries though- that's my 'fun' budget!)
I won't have chance to bake any bread til the weekend but I resisted buying some and have opted to have pasta for my lunch every day rather than sandwiches this week.
Also got some fruit, veg, milk and eggs for the week. Managed to get away with paying 2p for 6 bananas I did try to tell the cashier the scales didn't seem to be working properly but he wasn't interested!

Forgot to get meat out of the freezer so looks like it will be a vegetarian dinner again tonight, whoops, must remember tomorrow morning!
Signature updated

Sig updated, £5.43 in the c0-0p, milk etc. Will need to meal plan from tomorrow but my dh does the shopping and I don't know when he will want to do it! We are so out of routine. Will look in the fridge and cupboards and work out what needs using up first and go from there!

I am new here but in contrast to DP James have found this forum motivating and useful. People explaining how they have spent their grocery money is exactly what I would expect from a 'Grocery Challenge' thread!

Anyway used up bruised bananas today to make banana 'icecream' - delicious! Car passed it's MOT so only the £47 for the test to pay - MOTs can turn into such an unexpected and unpredictable expense so relieved that it passed. Often wonder whether it would be cheaper to give up the car and use taxis!