Batch Cooking

 I had a quiet day to myself yesterday so I thought I would take the opportunity to get some batch cooking done for next months menu plan.  I had already done a rough plan last week so I could make the dishes I needed rather than just random ones.

The cost of the ingredients amounted to £15.77 approx and that gave me 28 good portions (14 meals), I could have stretched the meat further by adding more veggie or lentils but I was happy with the costings and even taking into consideration the salads and veggies I need to add to each meal, I should still average a £1 per head.

The dishes and portions are Lasagne 8 portions will serve with Salad and garlic bread/coleslaw, Beef Ragu 4 portions these are the same meat sauce, the ragu will be served with Pasta twists and grated parmigiano - Chilli with Red Beans  6 portions will serve with fluffy white rice.- Mince & Onion in gravy 6 portions,  will be served with mash & veggies - Mince & Onion pies 4 portions served with veggies.

Everything has been labelled up and added to the freezer to join the pork dishes I made last week. I have bought 2 large Chickens and some Chicken Breasts and a large Beef joint  which I will cook for  Sunday Lunches and enough leftover for sandwiches.  I need to make pizza, quiche and some fishcakes then we will have enough meals for the whole month of May and some leftover for the beginning of June

. Phew!! To think I'm actually organised for the whole month!! It's a long time since I planned this far in advance.  That should leave time for crafting and caravanning :-)

Have you batch cooked to save time or planned what you will eat for a whole month?

What are your favourite recipes for batch cooking?

Thank you for popping by

Frugal Purse Report for April

We have been shopping today and as it's the last shop of the month I thought I would declare my first month of using £50 per week cash over.  I just have to pick up my eggs which are ordered and pay for them.

It has been much easier than I thought it would be, the first week I did panic a bit and took my debit card with me, I found it better to have a purse just for the housekeeping although my personal spends have been minimal.  I think its just making a statement to myself that if there is nothing left in the purse its tough so I'd better make sure we had everything we needed.  It has taken a bit more effort but I soon fell back into my old ways of canny shopping and still managing to do a bit of stockpiling, so the cupboards and freezer will still stand us in good stead for next month too.

I think the meal planning is a must for a tight budget, checking cupboards and freezer contents first and then  writing a shopping list.  I wasn't too comprehensive with the list as I needed to get the best value on things like fruit and veg so my list would say 3 veggies, salad stuff, and 4 fruits. Meat and fish were mainly from the freezer and there is still some left  towards next month, the only meat I need to buy is 5lb minced steak and 2Chickens.  I have done a basic menu plan for May and know what I need to batch cook. Hopefully   the budget of £200 will continue to feed us well and healthily and  with a bit of luck and good management there will be a little left over.

This is whats left in the purse £61.37 (after a bit of swapping change about with hubby and odd pennies have gone into the pot) my total spends for April have been £140.73 if I hadn't stockpiled on basics then it would have been much less.  Before Christmas the food spending had shot up to about £70 per week, no wonder the freezer was over flowing and the cupboards bursting at the seams, at least they are at a more manageable level now.

My goals for next month are to continue with the £50 per week cash,  meal planning, careful shopping and batch cooking.  We will be away at some point in the caravan so homemade ready meals will be cooked frozen and ready to pack into the little freezer at the top of the caravan fridge.. its frugal all the way even on holidays!!

How has your month been, have you done anything different to save money?

Have a little read of this.  What do you think?

Thank you for popping by and have a lovely weekend

Wartime Baking

Not much happening on the homefront  today, the washing is happily drying on the line and all the morning chores are done.  Time for a little wartime baking.  I have had these books for years and they are well thumbed, I have made quite a few things from them or at least adapted the recipes for our own needs, the wartime housewife would have done that too to incorporate what she had in the pantry.  

First we have Apple Fruit Cake,(from the Victory book) I have made this before and its one of those recipes that you can add or take from as long as it looks cakey when it goes into the tin. This one had a few changes today which I will explain with the recipe

 Apple Fruit Cake

350gm Self Raising Flour
100gm Margarine
100gm Sugar
1 teasp Ground Cinnamon - I used Mixed Spice
225gm prepared cooking Apples - I used 2 eating apples chopped small
75gm Sultanas - I used 1/3 jar mincemeat + 1tablespoon Cranberry Sauce
1 large Egg - I used 2 medium
Milk if required

Rub the fat into the flour and then add the rest of the ingredients and give a good mix, use the milk to make a soft mixture.  Because I used 2 eggs and the mincemeat I only needed a little milk. I sprinkled brown sugar over the tops to give a nice sweet crust
Bake in a moderate oven for about an hour or until cooked and golden brown.

 Here they are waiting to go into the oven.  I have used 2 x 1 lb loaf tins.

Next up we have the Dark Sticky Gingerbread from

the We'll Eat again Cookbook I used a deepish tin 2" x 10" x 8"  and made double the quantity

Dark Sticky Gingerbread

175gm Self Raising Flour
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon Bicarb of Soda
1 teaspoon ground Ginger
1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon -I used mixed spice
1 Egg beaten
50gm Margarine
50gm Sugar
2 good tablespoons Black Treacle OR 
Golden Syrup - I used bit of both
1 1/2 tablespoons Milk
6 tablespoons  water -
 I used boiling water and rinsed out the treacle tin

 Line a tin 7 x 4.
Place all dry ingredients in a bowl
put the fat sugar and treacle/syrup into a pan and melt over gentle heat.
Pour on to the dry ingredients with the eggs and milk and mix well. Pour on the hot water and mix again.
Put the mixture into your tin and bake in the centre of a moderate oven for about 50 minutes until just firm.  Cool in the tin for 30minutes then turn onto a wire rack until cold.
Don't forget I made DOUBLE QUANTITY FOR MY BIG TIN

Then onto my Be Ro Book  

 For a lovely Date & Walnut, before I eat all the dates!!

Again I have used 2 x 1 lb Loaf tins

Date & Walnut Loaf

200gm chopped Dates softened in
1/4 pint boiling water + pinch of bicarb of soda
75gm Margarine
75gm Sugar
1 large Egg
200gm Self Raising Flour
75gm chopped Walnuts

Cream the margarine and the sugar and add the egg
Stir in the flour and the nuts and lastly the dates and the water. Mix well.
Pop into your tin (s) and bake in a moderate oven
180* for about an hour.

I baked all my cakes together in the oven at 160* fan oven and the Apple fruit cakes took the longest. Everyones ovens are different so times and temperatures may vary.



I am really pleased with today's baking and it means lots of yummy treats for the next month.  I had most of the ingredients to hand and made do with a substitue for the ones I didn't, I think the wartime housewife would have been proud of my efforts too.

The are all too hot to cut just now but I will take some pictures later so you can see the insides.  I think the Gingerbread will get sticky after a day in the tin.

What have you been doing today?

Thank you for popping by

Spicy Pork and Beans

DC over at Frugal in Norfolk has requested the recipe for the Spicy Pork and Beans I made on Sunday, its a bit of a mish mash made up recipe, sort of a goulash lol  but here goes with the rough quantities!

Spicy Pork (or Beef) and Red Kidney Beans

400gm cubed leg Pork

1 onion chopped

1 teaspoon Lazy Garlic

1 big handful of frozen chopped peppers

1 lg can Chopped Tomatoes

1 lg can Red Kidney Beans . rinsed

1 heaped tablespoon Plain flour

1 Chicken Stock Cube

a good squirt of Tomato Puree

salt and pepper

1 heaped teaspoon Hot Paprika,

( you can adjust this to taste, we like it quite spicy)

 if you use the mild sweet one you may need 1 desertspoon full.

This one I bought at Lidl a couple of weeks ago, not used this one before but it is hot!

Make by the usual method

gently fry the onion in a little oil and add the meat until its sealed
Sprinkle on the flour salt and pepper and stir
Add the rest of the ingredients along with enough water to cover the meat
Cover with a lid and cook at 160 for a couple of hours or until cooked through

we usually have it with mash and veggies

Hope you enjoy it 

Love

Where did the weekend go?

Weekends seem to go so fast these days, we have been lucky with the weather too. Friday was cleaning day and all the washing and ironing got done, so that would leave the weekend to spend doing our own thing.

Saturday was an ideal flying day for Philip and as he had clocked up some free flying time from his voluntary job at the flying club, he took to the skies with his victim passenger and off they went  flying over the  east coast of Yorkshire.

 First off there was all the planning to do, lots of lines drawn on a chart, he also sets up maps on his ipad and GPS, no chance of getting lost!

 Flying over Flamboro, you can just see the lighthouse through the haze.

 The round the corner towards Bridlington, follow the beach and you come to the harbour jutting out into the sea.

They had a really good flight and it took about 1hour 20min, then back to the clubhouse for a coffee and chat.  I'm really glad he has a few mates who like going with him, I will go, but to be honest it makes me feel unwell for a couple of days after, I don't like the motion. I would much rather be on a 747 going to the sun :-)

My weekend consisted of cooking for the freezer, not a chore for me as I do like cooking.

 3 Cheese and onion Quiches, 1 for tea and 2 for the freezer

 The pastry crumbled a little when I took it out of the tin, but it tasted lovely.

 I had a large back of pork leg chunks in the freezer (1.5kg) so that got divided into 3 pots, 1 stew, 1 spicy Pork & Beans and the other with onions and mushrooms for pie filling.

 All portioned up and ready for the freezer, enough for 5 different meals for the 2 of us.

 Today I made Turkey burgers with some free range turkey mince, we had 2 each with a few oven chips and beans and some  homemade coleslaw.

These are for tomorrow to have with salad and roasted tomatoes from the freezer (homegrown ones from last years crop).  I sealed them in the pan then finished cooking them in the oven.

So a busy weekend with the walk on Sunday, and lots of ready meals in the freezer for next month.

Hope you enjoyed your weekend

A Sunday Bimble on the Moors

Such a lovely day today it's time to get those walking boots on and go for a bimble round the moors nature reserve.

 The geese were making such a racket

 This area is just peatland even during the summer months its still quite wet, but the adders make there way out of the bracken to sunbathe  according to one of the guides, we have never seen any here.

 There is a little island you can walk to and it has a memorial plaque and some silk flowers, the area is covered with bits of broken areoplane. It is the remains of a Wellington Bomber from 305 (Polish) Squadron which crashed into the moors on 26th September 1941.

 It was far too wet today to have a walk out there.

 Back onto the path

 You can see from this picture the lovely peaty surface that the natural pathways are made of its lovely to walk on, all soft and springy. It would be wonderful to have all of this on my garden!

Just around the corner it was still a little bit boggy and you had to watch your step

 By this time we had worked up a bit of a sweat and regretted having put jumpers and scarves on.

 This is a lovely path in the summer when all the leaves are on the trees, it gives nice dappled light, its hard to imagine it all green, but on close inspection all the trees are full of new buds ready to burst.

 There are just a few signs of new life under the dead bracken.

 I loved this tree trunk and had to get a picture as it reminded me of something........

 ... these fabulous tattered coats of the border Morris Dancers :-)

The are the Bourne Borderers Morris Team, this was taken last year at the Southwell Folk Festival

 A close up of the tree 

There weren't many wild flowers about but we spotted these daffodils growing wild, I wonder how they got there!

 Hubby is on a misson, his ankle started giving him a bit of gyp... ouch!

 He did wait for me at the kissing gate for the obligatory kiss before letting me through.

 It is very well signposted with arrows all the way round and you can stick to the colour coded routes if you want to.

There was loads of catkins and pussy willow.

 I wanted to have a walk down to the hide to wath the swans but it was too painful for hubby and would have added at least another 1/2 mile to the walk, and we still had another mile to the car park.  Unfortunately my camera isn't good enough to pick them up.

 At last the car park is back in sight and time to go home for a well earned sandwich and cuppa.

This nature reserve is exactly 6 minutes by car from the car park to our drive a great resourse for us especially as its free!  Its nice to see people using it, even at this time of year  there were quite a few people walking dogs.  Our walk today was about 4 miles.

Hope you are enjoying the sunshine where you live.