January 2013 Grocery Challenge

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!

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 :wave:

Coxy

£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.

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 :eek: 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

DPJames wrote: »

I'll be doing the grocery challenge this year. But reading through this thread is far too time consuming. And once you've waded through all the inane comments, there's not very much advice at all really, and what there is is common sense. I've honestly nodded off twice just reading the last 5 pages.

I'll go it alone and save you all from even more pointless comments about how I spent £2.17 on milk and butter in Tescos today. Or about how many kids, dogs, fish, sponging brother in laws I have.

And to those sticking around, before you hit 'Post Reply', just have a think and see if what you're posting is actually relevant to anyone else.

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! :rotfl:

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!