£10 challenge - supper tonight

Supper tonight was leftovers from last night; we had cottage pie last night, and there was still some bolognaise, so we had it with spaghetti. Don't tell my aunt though (she's married to an Italian and would have a fit if she saw my version....)

Bolognaise

400g Minced beef - bargain corner, £2.12
2 Onions - about 30p?
2 cloves garlic, crushed - 10p
Squirt tomato puree - 5p?
Pudding spoon of marmite (LOVE IT!) - 5p?
Can value baked beans (yes, horrid I know) - 20p
Can value chopped tomatoes - 21p
Box passatta - 29p
Dried mixed herbs - 5p?

Finely chop the onions, when they are soft, add in the crushed garlic. Fry this all off for a minute, being careful that the onions don't catch.

Add the mince, stir well, and fry until it starts to colour. Add the tomato puree and the herbs and stir. Add the marmite and the other ingredients. Use a little boiling water to rinse the marmite spoon and the tins (I rinse the marmite spoon into the bean tin, and then swill it and pour it into the passatta etc. This means that you get all of the flavour and your tins are clean enough to recycle.)

Stir well, then cook on a low heat (so it is simmering - gently bubbling) for 1 hour at least (I often bung it in the oven on a low heat all day.)

This made 7 portions of slosh, so:
Total cost for entire dish: £3.32
Total cost per portion: £0.47!

We served this with mash (for cottage pie - baked in the oven till crispy on top) or with spaghetti...

After supper, I realised that we were running out of bread, so I decided to make a loaf! I used Jamie's Kitchen's recipe for Basic White Bread... It rose and rose so much that my tin over-flowed and this mutant dough took over the oven!

I'll write up the recipe and try to add some photos tomorrow....


I also did a little bit of food shopping today:

4 pints skimmed milk - 2 bottles = £2 (this was on special, but I have frozen one for next week)
Haggis - 73p in reduced box... Sunday dinner here we come!
Carrots - 300g = 22p



If you have read this far, well done. You deserve a medal! Even my OH won't!!!
Sorry this was so long, but I thought that if I am going to try and do the £10 challenge properly then I need to note everything down as I go...

£10 challenge

First meal of the £10 challenge:

Houmous and Pitta bread (all ingredients from the freezer / storecupboard)

It doesn't look beautiful, but it does taste good...

I can't do any photos at the moment (sorry) as my camera is flat and so is my phone... now where did I put the chargers?

Houmous

Handful frozen chickpeas
1 clove garlic
Olive oil
2 teaspoons ground cumin
Sprinkling salt

First, bung the chickpeas in the microwave to defrost for 2 minutes.
Now stick everything in a blender, and blend until you think it is a good texture (I like mine chunky) You might need to add lots of oil to stop it being dry and crumbly. I have also made it with water and stock instead of oil for a healthier lunch.

I've been asked to properly write down the costs, so:

The chickpeas (God bless Delia's How to Cheat) are available in Tesco, for only £1.25 for 500g, and I used less than 100g, so about 25p.
The oil can be anything (I like olive best for flavour) and this uses a splosh...really no idea on how much, but if you want to save money, it does work well with water and a stock cube...
The cumin I inherited from my sister when she moved house, but if I had to buy it, it would have been 64p for a jar, so about 5p for the amount I used...
The pitta was from the freezer, and I got them in the reduced section (where I seem to live) for 50p for 5.

In total, lunch probably cost me about £1 (but as I didn't actually buy anything, I am not taking it from my budget...)

Death to worksheets

Our teacher's worksheet barmy
our school is worksheet mad
She makes the biggest worksheets
the world has ever had.
We fill in all her questions,
numbers, words and dates,
adjectives and clauses
(copied from my mates)
She says they test our knowledge,
they tell her what we know-
who is quick and clever,
who is dull and slow.
They tell her who remembers
phonemes,plants and names,
wires and magnetism,
kings
and queens
and reigns.
I know I can't remember,
I know I'm very slow
as I gaze beyond the worksheet
...and think of things I know

Peter Dixon – ‘Weepers’


I probably use too many worksheets, but they are sometimes needed; if I explain something orally, the kids don't always get it, so I have to do it in writing... then I get complaints from the reprographics department that more than one A5 sheet per pupil per week is too much...

What do you think?

Too much month left at the end of the money...

As many of you will have experienced, there is too much month left and not enough money at the rate we are going, so we are setting ourselves a challenge:

Eat for £10 per week (for 2)

So, not really a catchy title, but we are going to see if we can spend less than £10 this week, between us, on food and drink. We have quite a well stocked freezer and cupboards (I am a bit of hoarder) so it should be manageable. We'll need to buy vegetables, milk and bread but otherwise, I reckon we can manage... if all else fails, I have anchovies...

Wilkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!

I know this is how every one starts, but this is my first ever blog entry....

I've decided to bite the bullet and start a blog, less because other people will read it, and more because I don't feel like writing my essay at the moment.

This blog is going to be a way for me to brag about all the things that I do in my life that no-one in their right-minds actually wants to hear! I am proud of some of the things that I achieve, but my family get bored hearing about the fact that my year 9 French class actually sat down for a ten minute period today.

I am a student teacher at the moment, and I've only got 6 weeks left of the course. In that time I still need to find a job, and find my wonderwoman pants.... now where did I put them?

I really enjoy fiddling about with ICT in the classroom, and trying out new ideas on the Interactive whiteboard. Some work, some don't... Here, I plan to publish some of the ideas that I have come up with, and maybe entice other people into buying my CD of resources... more than 100 different resources, ready to use for French... months of work if you make them yourself, and only £35 to buy... better still, club together with a friend and I'll do you a special rate....

Right, that's the sales pitch done. You won't see that again. Well, until I run out of money.....

As well as writing about teaching and all the new discoveries that I am making there, I plan to write about my experiments and adventures with food. I love cooking and baking. I am less bothered about eating though, and tend to give things away!

Any way, I probably should be writing my essay now, so I'll sign off for the moment.