August 2008 Grocery Challenge

nessquic80 wrote: »

OK DENISE you persuded me, im in
Angelnikki, im in this month for £220 until the last thursday of the month(payday!)
Gonna take denises' advice and not let on to OH about GC,he's a bit of a moaner, bread too sweet ,filling to greasy, dont like this, dont like that, so hes gonna have to look after his own packups now.Still gonna do a quiche in the week as i love them and they are good to freeze and take work for tea!! Freezer has loads of batch meals in so better get a start on them else theres gonna be no room in the damn thing!! OMG i think the moaning is rubbing off on me.....:rotfl:

Brilliant, as my mum would say, "don't cut off your nose to spite your face.......":rotfl: . You can have a great time now, squirrelling stuff away without him noticing, slipping oats into food, hehe, he'll never know....

Men eh! gotta love 'em or no-one would!

PS: Just thought I'd add, I don't usually recommend 'fibbing' to OH, but 'ommitting' a few details to the betterment of our bank accounts has to be good eh?????

angelnikki wrote: »

Next time you make it Den, you could make the big batch without chilli powder/cumin and just add it to his portion that way you could both enjoy it

One of the reasons that I dont like that book is that recipe says to use 1KG mince for 8 servings:eek: but my recipe uses 500g mince for 9 servings :A (or 12 if you add lentils )

I know a lot of people on here have found it to be a good book but I found that in quite a lot of the recipes she recommends using twice as much meat as I would, and in one she actually says "to make this stretch further just use more meat" :rolleyes: I think it's probably a good book for anyone just learning or just starting OS but after reading the book I think my recipes are more OS and cheaper. Just wanted to share that anyone who has been OS for a while might not get much from it. So check it out online first instead of buying like I did :doh:

Anyone want my copy? :rotfl:

Nikki x

I actually agree with you Nikki. I'm using my copy from the library but should really have added to that post that I didn't use 1kg of mince, but about 5-600g (about 1/2 a bag) and then bulked it up with oats and the rest of the veg.

I really used the book for the meal plans - thought they were a good idea as I can never think of things to do, so sat up our local family club the other night reading it to get ideas (How sad, Saturday night in our local reading a cook book!...:rotfl: think I need to get out more, Oh, I was! )

I think the way to look at the book is for ideas - then use what you have learned on here to "adapt" it. If not sure, just ask, someone will always help. The general 'idea' behind the book is great - we don't have to live off fast food and readymeals and spend HOURS in the kitchen, and if you use this book along with this site to help get you on track then it's all good!

I hope that helps someone. Den x

PS: I am going to try your recipe next time

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

I've been searching for this dahl recipe and have failed to find it - if you got a chance could you post the link please? Need to start thinking of some new things to eat

I have the recipe on my PC, I've not made the potatoes yet. A bag of split peas is 500g so it is easier to just double the recipe and freeze half.


[FONT=&quot]YELLOW SPLIT PEA AND COCONUT DHAL[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]
Ingredients

1 sachet creamed coconut £0.10 (Pataks sachets x 4 £0.38)
600ml veg stock (one cube) £0.02 (Tesco 10 Value Veg Stock Cubes £0.19)
250g yellow split peas £0.20 (Tesco Yellow Split Peas 500g £0.39)
2tsp finely grated ginger £0.11 (Ginger root loose £0.33)
2 cloves crushed garlic £0.05 (Tesco Garlic each £0.35)
2 onions finely chopped £0.08 (Tesco Value Onions 2 Kg £0.78)
1tsp garam masala £0.05 (Tesco Garam Masala Spice Blend 38g £0.85)
1tsp ground turmeric £0.04 (Tesco Ground Turmeric 45g £0.68)
1tsp ground cumin £0.04 (Tesco Ground Cumin 45g £0.68)
1tsp ground coriander £0.04 (Tesco Ground Coriander36g £0.68)
2tbsp cooking oil £0.03 (Tesco Pure Vegetable Oil 1 Litre £0.98)

TOTAL £0.76

Instructions

Gently fry the onion, ginger and garlic until soft. Add the spices and fry for a minute, then add the yellow split peas and cook for another minute. Add the stock and coconut and bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 50 minutes until the peas are soft but not mushy. If the mixture gets too dry during cooking add some more water.

SPICY POTATOES

Ingredients

500g potatoes, boiled £0.23 (Cornish White Potatoes 2.5kg £1.12)
2tsp finely grated ginger £0.11 (Ginger root loose £0.33)
1tsp garam masala £0.05 (Tesco Garam Masala Spice Blend 38g £0.85)
1tsp ground turmeric £0.04 (Tesco Ground Turmeric 45g £0.68)
1tsp ground cumin £0.04 (Tesco Ground Cumin 45g £0.68)
1tsp ground coriander £0.04 (Tesco Ground Coriander 36g £0.68)
1tsp salt £0.01 ?
2tbsp cooking oil £0.03 (Tesco Pure Vegetable Oil 1 Litre £0.98)
5g chopped Fresh Coriander £0.14 (Fresh Coriander 25g £0.69)

TOTAL £0.69

Instructions

Cut the potatoes into medium size chunks and gently heat the oil. Add the ginger and spices to the oil and stir well, add the potatoes and fry gently until lightly golden. Stir through the coriander and serve.

Serve with 400g rice £0.27 (Tesco Easy Cook Long Grain Rice 2kg £1.35
Cook the rice according to instructions.[/FONT]

chelltune wrote: »

I have the recipe on my PC, I've not made the potatoes yet. A bag of split peas is 500g so it is easier to just double the recipe and freeze half.

[FONT=&quot]YELLOW SPLIT PEA AND COCONUT DHAL [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]SPICY POTATOES[/FONT]

Those recipes can be found here: Show Jamie How To Cook On A Budget Champagne Contest Along with loads of other really good recipes too.

I made the Lamb Koftas and Spicy potatoes from the winning post and they were delicious :drool:

Nikki x

Afternoon all Where did the morning go :eek: !!! Welcome to all the newbies, hugs to everyone and congrats to the two new Mum's :T 2 NSD's in a row for me now and I won't have to go to MrA until Friday, so I'm doing well. Thanks for sharing your veggie photos Orkneystar, I'll be picking some green beans and lifting some potatoes to go with the whoopsied salmon for tea tonight, I'm really excited lol! Pumpkin update... its now as big as a football, very green but growing lots, I'm impressed, will take a photo and share when I can find the camera. Looking forward to pumpkin pie when its ripened I noticed yesterday that the plum tomato plant has two very green plum toms on it, I picked up that plant for 10p when the local garden centre had a [strike]'its dying cos we didn't water it so take it away'[/strike] reduced sale so anything I get off it is a bargain, my gardeners delight that I grew from seed are flowering both in the greenhouse and outside, be interesting to see which do better?!

Yesterday's beef curry was a bit of a disaster, it was to runny and no amount of cornflour would have thickened it up, I know what I did wrong, I added too much water (first time I've made a curry in the slow cooker and didn't have a proper recipe) so will correct it next time! Luckily I hadn't told DH what he was having for tea, so I thought for a minute about how I could rectify it (the old me would have thrown it away and said I was too tired and lets go out for a takeaway! :eek: ) but the new me threw in some rice and lentils, a little more spice and served it up as muligatawny soup with lots of fresh crusty bread, DH said it was yummy, so I got away with it! The rest of the 'soup' is in the freezer for another day

Got some baking to do this afternoon, thank goodness its cooler here today so I can do some muffins and cookies, was too hot yesterday and DH complained he had no 'goodies' to take to work for snacks, he was sent off with some apples and a banana lol!

Thanks to JayJay14 and Turbo5019 for answering my Asda CC query, much appreciated :beer: Have a good day everyone