This weeks shop and a few ideas..

Had to rush off to the shops after taking my daughter home , reason no 1-she had eaten us out of house and home reason no2-the laptop packed up!Last week in the middle of the night, the fridge freezer broke down..Very bad luck as we had just stocked up on meat..I had to run  off to town to see if I could get one delivered that afternoon..
First of all, I tried the recycling place. they did have one but he wanted £400 for it!second hand!
I ended up going to my local electrical shop, who said they could deliver that day, so that was brilliant..but we were £349 poorer..just as well we had something put away for a rainy day but when it rains it usually pours..They were as good as their word and delivered and installed the new fridge that very afternoon, we still lost a quantity of stuff, and I was told by my insurer that it wasn't worth claiming as we would have to pay the excess of £50 and for a claim of £30 they would increase my premium next year by £90..and I would lose my no claims bonus as well..apparently most people are not aware that household insurances have a no claims bonus built into them..so in the end we decided not to claim ..it really hurt me to have to throw food away-we tried to use most of it up but some of it already begun to deteriorate.How annoying!I hate waste but not worth risking your health.
Fridge freezer now installed I went food shopping.
As we had already spent a good deal of money  decided to try and do a budget shop as I had a freezer full of meat anyway so off I  toddled to LIDL..
I had already written a list of what I intended to cook and what I had in the fridge ect-this is a good idea if you are on a budget as it helps to stop you overspending and making impulse purchases (well , most of the time anyway!)

Here's what I came home with
As you can see we eat a lot of veg and fruit..I do tend to make at least three veggie meals a week, the rest of the bill went on toilet ,shampoo and washing up liquid, there were two bottles of
cheap white wine for hub two bars of cheap chocolate, and a pack of bagels-treats for us but we hardly ever go out or spend money on ourselves..

The chicken was only small one, so we had roast chicken (cooked by hub) all the trimmings and lots of veg left over...for a reason, I might add..The spicy sausages I will chop up and put on top of a pizza- any left over I will use in a rice stir fry, with lots of veg or in a Spanish Tortilla...the mackerel I will make a smoked mackerel pate with and the cheese will come in handy for a  pasta bake later in the week.Tonight I made a leftover pie..all the chicken leftovers, chopped sautéed leeks , leftover carrots and a handful of frozen sweetcorn-I also added a few spoonfuls of quorn chicken style pieces, made a sauce with leftover gravy and parsley sauce, with a spoonful of mayo mixed in..   I topped in with ready made puff pastry (LIDL 49p) cheating I know, but butter is over a pound for half a pound these days..Its looking rather nice!I will post a pic later..we will eat it with left over roast potatoes and cabbage, warmed up of course..The other things in the picture are clotted cream for my visitors (not for us!) and some margarine, milk and eggs  (free range)The grocery section-the tinned beans I put into stews and casseroles so I don't need to use so much meat, or in fact none at all..the pineapple will be a pizza topping or maybe in a cake(pineapple upside own cake) the salsa I use as a pizza topping as well with a spoonful of ketchup..the bread flour is self  explanatory as is the coffee!The cat food is for my dog who prefers It to dog food!I use the white balsamic vinegar to top up my fig vinegar which I will include at a later date..

On the rise..

Here's just a little something i decided to do at the last minute as i had previously had the kenwood out to make cakes..i made two Madeira cakes
This makes one
8ozs plain flour (sorry to you folks who work in metric but I still go by lbs and ozs!)
1tsp baking powder
6oz butter or marg ,softened
6ozs caster sugar
3 medium eggs beaten
few drops of vanilla extract
2tbls milk at room temperature
Cream together the marg or butter with the sugar-its much easier to do this with a mixer or hand held mixer unless you are hell bent on toning up your biceps ...
When it begins to look creamy add the vanilla, and begin to mix in the eggs a bit at a time..add the milk  and begin to add the flour..the object here is to incorporate the flour carefully and not to overbeat-overbeaten flour (unless its bread flour) will make your cake tough...if you so wish you can add lemon rind at this stage..
Put in a lined ( i use greaseproof cake tin liners i think they are a gift from god and i don't know why its taken me 51 years to discover them) tin of about 8 inch round or a 1lb cake tin -you can buy cake liners from most cook shops or online or from a very famous emporium that is quite close to where we live..those of you who live in Cornwall will know where i mean!if you don't have the luxury of a cake tin liner-you can use greaseproof paper.By now i am hoping you have already warmed your oven upto 170 degrees electric..erm- sorry but I don't do gas..so you may have to convert it...i am thinking gas 4-5?correct me if i'm wrong..
the cake should take approx three quarters to one hour to bake , keep an eye on it but don't be tempted to open the door or the cake is likely to fall..if it looks cooked press gently on top, it should spring back..I iced mine with a drizzle of icing sugar mixed with a little lemon juice..and as you can see some greedy blighter has already eaten a slice........wonder who that was....!??
So following this before i out the kenwood away i made a few breadcakes with a little yeast (frozen , that i found in the freezer.- I cannot remember how long its been in there and was a bit doubtful as to wether or not i could resurrect it,,surprise, it started up like a good un',,result breadcakes for tea, to go with some home made soup or maybe a burger?hub will be pleased....there is nothing like homemade bread and its so simple the hardest part is the waiting...

Note to self...

Note to self...I must keep up with my blog...I must keep up with my blog....
To be completely honest I have been ill for a good fortnight and have nothing nothing but sneeze cough, sleep (or try to!) or run to the loo..(as a result of the antibiotics!) my husband also has it now so between the two of us we have been fairly miserable and even sleeping in sperate rooms so at least one of us could get some kip...driving each other bonkers sneezing and snoring..!The only difference being is that poor DH has had to go to work with his..while I remain at home-not much fun being the breadwinner (wonder where that saying came from?)
I dare say they won't thank him at work for taking it in with him but then again they wouldn't thank him if he didn't go in either..
I have lost count of the multitude of (cheap) toilet rolls we have gone through , plus bottles of Benylin,, paracetamol, and Hot lemon drink...I am only now beginning to feel a little more human and its almost three weeks..DH  now has it on his chest and its a bit of a concern as he's asthmatic, maybe another trip to the docs is on the cards and another prescription or do we just carry on with the home meds?even the cost of health is becoming prohibitive with the cost of a prescription at almost £8..what do you do when you feel ill?do you have any home remedies that you'd like to share?
I will sign off now , and i'm sure you don't want to hear any more about snotty noses ect..so I will write again later when I am ober it..(sniff, achoo!!) x

Welcome one and all...

Well here we go...after having our household budget cut by a quarter..i think its about time i started my blog..its something iv'e been meaning to do for along time ..I have always cooked ever since i was a small child at my grandmothers knee..I remember coming in from school and the first thing i smelled was home baked bread, straight from the oven..oven bottom breadcakes, large and flattish with a hole in the middle ( i still dont know the purpose of that hole!)..she usually made them when she had something else in the oven in order not to waste power.usually a casserole or maybe a cake or two..we were never without home baking in our house, and i guess thats how learned.I remember her baking apple and blackberry pies for every kid in our street, after we had been out picking blackberries and scrumping apples which in those times was a major pastime..40 pies she made and no one went without.!The other think she used to make was corned beef hash..one tin of corned beef and a few vegetables would feed a hungry family especially when it was served with yorkshire puds!Yum!its a dish i often make in the winter..but i think our recipe might vary from someone elses recipe as i think its different in other counties!
Well now i am looking to cut our food budget and our general spending budget out of necessity , as things are always tight for us in the winter.I know there are lots of you out there who also have to do the same..trying to feed a family these days is no joke,but i enjoy a challenge!so here goes...

I went out today to do the weekly shop with only £40  this is to feed two of us and the dog and to buy cleaning stuff ect...i planned a menu, to include what i had in the larder and the fridge and freezer .We had a delivery from ROSSPA last week totalling £34
This included 2 large packs of muesli which will do us for breakfast for the next week or so (we eat tons of the stuff!) and also lots of bargain priced fruit, nothing wrong with it at all and about half the price of the supermarket.I also bought several bottles of cleaning stuff, and washing liquid , again half the price of the supermarket.Their stuff varies from week to week but its worth having a look at!