tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24408756445291848072024-03-06T03:37:05.330+00:00Domestic Goddessing on a Shoestring!I'm a frugal foodie who hunts out cut-price bargains on the supermarket SOS shelf (all those yellow stickered items nearing their sell-by date!) and shares bargain tips and recipe ideas. To all those who think eating well equals empty pockets, Domestic Goddessing on a Shoestring is here to prove you wrong! Get shelfing (SOS raiding!) and get creative with your cooking to see just how much money you can save whilst also feasting frugally! Follow me on Twitter @cutpricekateAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.comBlogger121125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-75188318360480195352014-06-01T19:23:00.001+01:002014-06-01T19:25:47.347+01:00Recipe: Brown and wild rice salad with smoked mackerel and edamame<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Bit of a health kick needed at Casa CutPriceKate - I have a wedding dress to fit into in a few months time (in a moment of braveness/madness I ordered it two sizes smaller than what I am now!) so am trying to plan my meals better to avoid unhealthy snacking. So packed lunches are very much the order of the day to avoid the temptation of buying a quick fix on the go. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">And I'm already looking forward to eating tomorrow's lunch that I've just made - brown and wild rice salad with mackerel and edamame beans and a few more veg thrown in to boot! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I love edamame beans but usually just have them straight from the pot as a healthy snack. They're often pretty pricey though so I was delighted to find a pot in Waitrose today reduced from £2 to 65p. This time I decided to thrown the beans into a rice salad - here's how I made it:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1) Boil a mixture of brown and wild rice for 20-25 minutes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2) Add a handful of frozen sweetcorn to the rice for the final few minutes of boiling.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">3) Drain the rice and wash with cold water so the rice cools quickly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">4) Remove the edamame beans from the pods and place in a mixing bowl.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">5) Chop a spring onion, red chilli and some fresh coriander and add to the bowl.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">6) Flake a smoked mackerel fillet and add to the bowl.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">7) Squeeze half a fresh lime over the mixture and then stir in the rice and sweetcorn.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">8) Healthy and tasty packed lunch - done!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I think brown rice is really underrated - it's deliciously nutty and great for salads like this. Do give it a try if you never have before.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This salad cost around £1.20 to make - the most expensive ingredient being the reduced pot of edamame at 65p! The lime and spring onion were just 6p as both reduced. I used one mackerel fillet from a pack of four from Aldi - I've just started buying fish from there and have been pleasantly surprised at the quality for how cheap the prices are. Will definitely be trying more fresh meat and fish from there in the future.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Now I just can't wait until tomorrow's lunch to tuck into this!</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-49883569700286025172014-05-29T21:16:00.001+01:002014-05-29T21:16:34.266+01:00£5.10 worth of food for 51p<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">£5.10 worth of food for 51p</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A quick nip in to Tesco Express on the way home tonight and I picked up £5.10 worth of food for just 51p. Two packs of cherry tomatoes each reduced from £1.70 to 17p and a pack of cinnamon and raisin bagels (Mr Kate's faves) again reduced from £1.70 to 17p. 90% savings!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">At that price the fresh tomatoes are cheaper than a tin! </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Bargain!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-36163144002456055882014-05-12T21:33:00.001+01:002014-05-12T21:33:58.571+01:00Recipe: Smoky bean and chunky veg soup<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Smoky bean and chunky veg soup</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I had quite a bit of reduced veg left in the fridge at the weekend so decided to try and use lots of it up in a soup. I've had a jar of chipotle paste in my cupboard for a while now so thought I'd experiment and make a hot smoky soup.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Here's how I made it but please don't be limited by the veg I've used as you can pretty much throw in whatever veg you have and need to use up!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1) Dice an onion and soften in a pan on a low heat with a glug of oil.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2) </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Chop two leeks, a few carrots, half a swede and a few sticks of celery.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">3) Add a teaspoon of smoked paprika and the chopped veg to the onion and continue to soften for five minutes or so.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">4) Add a clove or two of chopped garlic - or a teaspoon from a jar of ready chopped garlic. (I buy jars of chopped garlic from Asian supermarkets as they're very cheap and keep in the fridge for weeks</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">5) Stir in two teaspoons of chipotle paste - or more if you want the soup to be extra fiery!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">6) Add a tin of chopped tomatoes and give it all a good stir.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">7) Fill the empty tin with water and add to the soup.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">8) Add a can of drained cannellini beans. (You could use other beans such as black-eye beans, flageolet beans, kidney beans etc.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">9) Add a good grind of black paper and a touch of salt and leave the soup to simmer for 20 minutes or until all the veg is tender, stirring occasionally and adding more water if needed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">10) Add a handful of frozen peas and sweetcorn for the final few minutes of cooking.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">11) Serve with a sprinkling of coriander leaves and a dash of lime juice for extra zing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I really enjoyed this soup - although as the weather is starting to turn warmer I need to start making more salads as soup in the summer months never seems quite right to me! A good job the lettuces in our fledgling veg patch look about ready to pick - time to start planning some interesting salads for lunch instead methinks!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Oh and the cost of this soup? About £1 for four portions - I won't list the individual prices for all the reduced vegetables as it was so packed full of veg we'll be here all night!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-71537553316099798662014-05-12T20:53:00.001+01:002014-05-12T20:53:28.082+01:00Smoked haddock fillets for 79p and ten sausages for 99p!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl6jpfE7dZffMiYxV-ZbgqDiANidIdVQgys26Kwapa7FmzlwLIGkd-kIG2QvfP9MkCMTLI2Ii61gVIpZ1M_Fiz4EaVedxo6w69_bp9NgYwSq8PeBYcE-NSqtQ84we-yGcqiNUGF1lyC0Y/s1600/photo+(63).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl6jpfE7dZffMiYxV-ZbgqDiANidIdVQgys26Kwapa7FmzlwLIGkd-kIG2QvfP9MkCMTLI2Ii61gVIpZ1M_Fiz4EaVedxo6w69_bp9NgYwSq8PeBYcE-NSqtQ84we-yGcqiNUGF1lyC0Y/s1600/photo+(63).JPG" height="295" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Smoked haddock fillets for 79p and ten sausages for 99p!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A fruitful five minutes in my local mini Co-op on the way home from work tonight! Picked up a pack of ten decent sausages reduced from £3.50 to 99p and smoked haddock fillets reduced from £3 to 79p.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Both straight in to the freezer to use another day. I'm thinking of creating my own take on kedgeree with the smoked haddock - time to plan a new recipe...!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-3785296597088897122014-05-11T13:43:00.001+01:002014-05-11T13:43:44.267+01:00Recipe: Rhubarb and clementine porridge<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4JS7iocp4LD_guqlZ-Xw7VqfT0ewTJXHDIKzG4NKxsK5Pzhq7BrZ8_sEG3zP9MkPzMWt6NyD7afrzyTWcmT7c_zuuLG_jjWhBHpZt-gy31CGps0PNJzrXKfJs6n38ZRPFY51zBDP2BAI/s1600/photo+(3).PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4JS7iocp4LD_guqlZ-Xw7VqfT0ewTJXHDIKzG4NKxsK5Pzhq7BrZ8_sEG3zP9MkPzMWt6NyD7afrzyTWcmT7c_zuuLG_jjWhBHpZt-gy31CGps0PNJzrXKfJs6n38ZRPFY51zBDP2BAI/s1600/photo+(3).PNG" height="367" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Rhubarb and clementine porridge</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I've really got into eating porridge for breakfast of late. However I do have a confession to make - I've been having the individual sachets pre-packed with fruity bits. But the cost adds up and, when I saw this 1kg bag of porridge oats in Morrisons for just 75p, I decided it was time to change!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">And I'm certainly glad I did - not just for the price but also for the taste. Today I made rhubarb and clementine porridge for a fraction of the price and a much better taste.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Here's how I made it to serve one - simply up the quantities to make for more people:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1) Chop a stalk of rhubarb and slice a clementine in half.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2) Put the rhubarb in a saucepan with the juice of the clementine and one or two teaspoons of brown sugar.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">3) Heat gently on a low heat, stirring occasionally, for around 10 minutes or until the rhubarb is soft.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">4) Add half a cup of porridge oats to a separate saucepan with one and a half cups of milk.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">4) Bring to the boil and then simmer for around five minutes - making sure you stir now and then to avoid the porridge sticking to the pan.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">5) Transfer the porridge to a bowl, add the rhubarb and then drizzle the remaining juice from the rhubarb around the edge of the porridge.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">6) Enjoy!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I really loved this - the best bowl of porridge I've ever had. The clementine juice set the rhubarb off perfectly and added a lovely zing to the porridge.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The rhubarb was free from Mr Kate's Uncle Gerald's veg patch - we've got some growing in our fledgling veg patch at the mo as well but it doesn't seem to be doing too well unfortunately.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The clementine was left over from a bag of reduced fruit and cost just 7p. So allowing 3p for the sugar, 7p for the clementine, 15p for the milk and 5p for the oats, this came in at 30p per portion. If you need to keep the costs down even more you can of course replace the milk with water to make the porridge or use half water and half milk. It won't be as creamy but will still taste great.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">If you have a satsuma, mandarin or orange lingering in your fruit bowl then these are a great replacement for the clementine - just make the most of whatever fruit you have and need to use up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">No more porridge sachets for me (well, when I've finished the two packs I've got left!) - it's proper porridge all the way from now!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-79972215475217856632014-05-10T21:47:00.002+01:002014-05-10T21:47:48.396+01:00Recipe: Tortilla wrap pizzas<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrIMIH7G8L2FGbASYn3cZnlFKv9rOy8b85z4OJKcOXG8Ij2R6f7iXZ_LIRXS7ZBlmPdzwfInYzEUsK50HkYFsxbjZYoqwQIyNO0UtLbu4XWJ2MKc_cHZehT_wm-K8kKLSUOIe7a_lfGjE/s1600/Diptic+(4).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrIMIH7G8L2FGbASYn3cZnlFKv9rOy8b85z4OJKcOXG8Ij2R6f7iXZ_LIRXS7ZBlmPdzwfInYzEUsK50HkYFsxbjZYoqwQIyNO0UtLbu4XWJ2MKc_cHZehT_wm-K8kKLSUOIe7a_lfGjE/s1600/Diptic+(4).jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Love pizza but don't love the calories? I made these lighter option pizzas when I stumbled across a packet of wholemeal wraps reduced from £1.89 to just 10p. We always seem to have a few wraps left in a packet whenever we have fajitas - wrap pizzas are the way forward to use them up! They're also a great way of using up leftover veg and meat from your fridge.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I made these by spreading a dollop of chilli pesto on each wrap as a replacement for a tomato base. I then lightly fried a few leftover slices of bacon chopped up with a yellow pepper, some spring onions and a sprinkling of cajun spices. I also threw in a handful of frozen sweetcorn. Once the topping was cooked I popped it on the bases along with a grating of cheese for Mr Kate. No cheese for me though as I'm really not a fan!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I then popped them into a pre-heated oven for 5-10 minutes until the cheese melted and the base was crisp. And there you have it - a pizza with about half the calories but still full of flavour. And they cost me next to nothing!</span><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-72379014099638949022014-05-09T22:32:00.000+01:002014-05-09T22:32:23.015+01:00Recipe: Spicy cottage pie with root veg mash for 25p per portion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Recipe: Spicy cottage pie with root veg mash for 25p per portion</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I was delighted to come home the other day to find that Mr Kate had bought two packs of mince reduced from £2 to 20p! They went straight in the freezer to use another day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I love cooking with mince; it's so cheap and easy and proper comfort food too. But I do like to try creating different recipes with it instead of sticking to the usual chilli con carne or bolognese. So tonight I teamed up the mince with some reduced root vegetables to create a spicy cottage pie.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Here's how I made it (and my all important prices too!)...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Ingredients:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">500g of mince (20p)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Half a bag of parsnips (5p)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Half a swede (15p)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Three carrots (10p)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">One onion (10p)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">One fresh chilli (4p)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Garlic - I used a teaspoon from a jar of ready chopped garlic or you could use one or two cloves of fresh garlic. (5p) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A handful of tomatoes (10p)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Glug of oil (5p)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Ground coriander (5p) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Cumin (5p)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Beef stock cube (4p)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Salt and pepper (1p)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1) Chop the parsnips, swede and carrots and boil until tender.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2) Whilst the veg are boiling, dice an onion and soften on a low heat in a frying pan with a glug of oil.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">3) Chop the chilli (leave the seeds in if you want it extra spicy) and add to the onions along with the garlic.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">4) Add the mince to the onions and cook until browned.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">5) Chop a few tomatoes and add to the mince along with a teaspoon of cumin, a teaspoon of ground coriander and a crumbled stock cube.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">6) Add a splash of water to the mince.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">7) Spoon the mince into an oven-proof dish.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">8) Mash the veg and add a dollop of butter or drop of milk if you like (I didn't as we're counting the calories at the mo!) and add to the top of the mince, using a fork to finish the top.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">9) Grind a little black pepper and salt over the topping.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">10) </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Cook in the oven for 30-45 minutes until nice and brown on the top.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Once my head had got round the fact that this wasn't a traditional cottage pie with the usual spuds, I really rather enjoyed this! A lighter and much healthier version of cottage pie and packed with veg.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuDH5cCjvN2zdMo0K-Gu6YAAAF5UbDsAHRxa3tzIg4itBKsKCarTmK0-rAeBJ8Olw9J5A5HLU9Qc9dm1UBr9fQOJoZH6B__a1FMKmZ0wItyELRCU5Qax0YGLrB0USytzAbRveOelYLQeg/s1600/photo+(60).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuDH5cCjvN2zdMo0K-Gu6YAAAF5UbDsAHRxa3tzIg4itBKsKCarTmK0-rAeBJ8Olw9J5A5HLU9Qc9dm1UBr9fQOJoZH6B__a1FMKmZ0wItyELRCU5Qax0YGLrB0USytzAbRveOelYLQeg/s1600/photo+(60).JPG" height="149" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We had the pie with Tenderstem broccoli - reduced of course from £1.49 to 19p!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The cottage pie came in at exactly £1 for four portions - 25p each. Bargainous!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-10347462035194178092014-05-08T21:32:00.002+01:002014-05-08T21:32:45.141+01:00Recipe: Stewed plums, peaches and mint with yoghurt<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD_qyfp5nZMGyH-KIfN7fjqWeOJC32RXTcbBux_jRuuygy9zqNYnjF0N1EFmJMlcEtxhCWMcdHNIZrbFXwXCUdWZ4VS5fEQusi-IKkLauD788b-7T4qFA_mKtjN5QPXv5E_-DyLqpknms/s1600/photo+(2).PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD_qyfp5nZMGyH-KIfN7fjqWeOJC32RXTcbBux_jRuuygy9zqNYnjF0N1EFmJMlcEtxhCWMcdHNIZrbFXwXCUdWZ4VS5fEQusi-IKkLauD788b-7T4qFA_mKtjN5QPXv5E_-DyLqpknms/s1600/photo+(2).PNG" height="400" width="285" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Stewed plums, peaches and mint with yoghurt</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We often find bargain fruit in the reduced aisle and it's always good to do something different with it instead of leaving it in the fruit bowl to eat on its own.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Stewing fruit is an excellent way of making the most of reduced fruit. If you get a big haul of fruit in then simply stew it up and have in the fridge for several days worth of breakfast or desserts. Or even better - portion it off and freeze to enjoy another time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Last night we stewed up some plums and peaches for this morning's breakfast - and tomorrow's too! It's really simple to do - we sliced the fruit, added to a saucepan with two spoons of brown sugar and a little lemon juice, and then simply let them stew over a low heat for 10-15 minutes until soft but still with a slight bite. We also chopped some fresh mint from the garden and added to the fruit to give it a little extra je ne sais quoi!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">This morning we portioned the fruit into four glasses and poured over half an Actimel yoghurt drink (reduced of course!).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">And the cost?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Two peaches = 19.5p (from a punnet of four reduced to 39p)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Six plums = 24p (reduced from £1.20)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Lemon = 5p</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Sugar = 5p</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Two bottles of Actimel = 25p (reduced from £2.95 to 99p for eight)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Mint = from the garden</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIKa0p0wGutaEcoNuS61NboXcTteq-9hj2d2iSGWk5Yb3dl6_tCAQxYZkDQfmsmnk2SmkwfeCnRyw6NALPOoPN1TmLLCYN3BO2j2a5ivg6ar91tBgAAVK0aoUkFmGqnOrHzxE7aMcxjLk/s1600/IMG_0331.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIKa0p0wGutaEcoNuS61NboXcTteq-9hj2d2iSGWk5Yb3dl6_tCAQxYZkDQfmsmnk2SmkwfeCnRyw6NALPOoPN1TmLLCYN3BO2j2a5ivg6ar91tBgAAVK0aoUkFmGqnOrHzxE7aMcxjLk/s1600/IMG_0331.JPG" height="201" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So a total of 78.5p for four portions - just under 20p per portion for a healthy breakfast and two of your five a day!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-21524897491807079522014-05-07T22:43:00.002+01:002014-05-07T22:48:41.973+01:00£18.49 worth of food and plants for £2.79<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjo4d4rWywo-i5oRuewI-EWF44P1eMKpe7X5pxyIYe9j4JZTcQUnjNfSVF4cqr6iobqgIqvPB5MM5V7HZoU3BI4ZglDP0igveBJ8OjKsojTKX7Xhb_fhAPjFzuBnxHkF84FMk5sZj47EY/s1600/photo+(58).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjo4d4rWywo-i5oRuewI-EWF44P1eMKpe7X5pxyIYe9j4JZTcQUnjNfSVF4cqr6iobqgIqvPB5MM5V7HZoU3BI4ZglDP0igveBJ8OjKsojTKX7Xhb_fhAPjFzuBnxHkF84FMk5sZj47EY/s1600/photo+(58).JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">£18.49 worth of food and plants for £2.79</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Well, I've had quite a busy day today - quite unexpectedly my blog was featured on the Daily Mail website and I've had so many lovely tweets, Facebook messages and emails as a result! (Oh and some rather hilarious negative comments on the Mail Online - my favourite being someone saying they hope I get worms, much to my amusement!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Anyway, despite it being rather frantic, I still managed to pop into Tesco and Waitrose on my way home for my usual five minute check of the reduced section to see what I could make use of! And I'm certainly glad I did as I found some excellent bargains - in total I bought £18.49 worth of food (and plants!) for just £2.79.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Here's what I nabbed:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Two bags of parsnips reduced from £1 to 10p per bag</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Seeded loaf reduced from £1.50 to 15p</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Tenderstem broccoli reduced from £1.49 to 19p</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Pears reduced from £2 to 39p</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Peaches reduced from £2.50 to 39p</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Three pot plants reduced from £3 to 49p each</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUEbEMvTl0AAFlcjd533XFy8iDc0BSq0pXIVA-cnRkV2ca4BNAA4RK6riZhQHKREJiMXuNy5t5TAkkWmZx7b-ciSPLP7QJq1pTEYVbSmRACG_s7k1bBb64FNs87eXXHP3C8gzJQjFflNY/s1600/photo+(59).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUEbEMvTl0AAFlcjd533XFy8iDc0BSq0pXIVA-cnRkV2ca4BNAA4RK6riZhQHKREJiMXuNy5t5TAkkWmZx7b-ciSPLP7QJq1pTEYVbSmRACG_s7k1bBb64FNs87eXXHP3C8gzJQjFflNY/s1600/photo+(59).JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The fruit and veg were all perfectly fine and nowhere near past their best - several days left to enjoy those at least.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Now I've just got to plan what to make with all the bargains - anyone got any good parsnip recipes?!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-63637708116352568662014-05-02T20:46:00.000+01:002014-05-02T20:46:00.668+01:00Day 5 #BelowTheLine: 99.5p for three meals<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh23Lw9pB-aUQJW144CehHcVy_ELLyvDnKj3XU3Hrb1-YmzsSr5hp6aOi6-WYCdW70u9boAeOKCnwsCHUQFuvQVHpzyBIsEUsOOL0Z-v5T9rLu8IXq5gu_mYMoCj5QNA61MlSLiU6htywA/s640/blogger-image-1557205301.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh23Lw9pB-aUQJW144CehHcVy_ELLyvDnKj3XU3Hrb1-YmzsSr5hp6aOi6-WYCdW70u9boAeOKCnwsCHUQFuvQVHpzyBIsEUsOOL0Z-v5T9rLu8IXq5gu_mYMoCj5QNA61MlSLiU6htywA/s400/blogger-image-1557205301.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Day 5 #BelowTheLine: 99.5p for three meals</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Finally it's the end of #BelowTheLine - what a week!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">My last day living #BelowTheLine started with another smoothie - this time with strawberries and raspberry yoghurt. The yoghurt was the last of the reduced ones I bought a few days ago. About four days out of date but tasted absolutely fine and I'm still standing! Breakfast total = 17.5p</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Lunch was tricky as I was travelling to Sheffield for work so needed a packed lunch. Egg rolls it was - a bit stinky on the train though! More reduced rolls (4.5p each) and two of our cheap farm eggs (6.5p each) meant 22p for lunch. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I also managed to keep a few strawberries aside from the breakfast smoothie as a mid-afternoon snack.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Dinner was time for a bit of creativity with a pack of Morrisons sausage meat reduced from £2.99 to 69p. We chopped an onion (10p) and mixed it into the meat before shaping them in to patties and cooking them on a griddle. Add to that the leftover reduced potatoes (19.5p), the rest of the reduced spinach (16.5p) and a veg patch leek (5p) and we reached a total of £1.20 for two people. So dinner per person was 60p.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">That made a grand total of 99.5p for my three meals today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">And there we have it - #BelowTheLine is over. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I hope I've shown that it is possible to eat three decent, healthy and balanced meals on £1 a day - hard work, yes... but it is possible. However I'm acutely aware that if you're living in real poverty it would be a very different matter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Last year I was invited to speak about cooking on a budget at Bromford Support - a social business that helps people who are dealing with issues such as unemployment, homelessness and poverty. I met a man who had been struggling but, thankfully, had got his life back on track. He told me how he had resorted to picking food out of bins to survive. He said he could live out of bins or turn to crime. He chose bins.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">His reality at the time was that when he did have a little money to buy food he ended up buying ready to eat food or takeaways. Why? Because he had no cooking utensils. And no money for electricity and gas to power an oven or microwave - or even boil a kettle.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Eating cheaply is a fun challenge for me - not a necessity. I make the most of the yellow stickers and bargain offers to save money for the nicer things in life. So if you've ever read my blog and gone out and saved a few pounds here and there on your weekly shop as a result, please consider donating a little and sponsoring my #BelowTheLine £1 a day challenge. I'm raising money for The Global Poverty Project and there is still time to donate at: <a href="http://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/katebarrett">www.livebelowtheline.com/me/katebarrett</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Thanks to everyone who has donated so far and helped me to raise £220.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I'm back to eating normally tomorrow - no more £1 a day for the time being... but I'll still be hunting down bargains to turn them into something fabulous so watch this space for more cut-price action coming soon!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-10133624807139721732014-05-01T23:24:00.000+01:002014-05-01T23:36:19.181+01:00Day 4 #BelowTheLine: 96p for three meals<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi19weehktu6Q9e0ZG193eVuvfPhnHBz_g8ovCwBjBj7xkq6ijrlM3hUiDCuofm-YACVperDEJcmb5DQ-52FTJtvP_xS7xHWScjXf0wutB1KX-y8mk_QmrI9SkGhIFHVmAJ6nzlzGdAja4/s640/blogger-image--584588699.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi19weehktu6Q9e0ZG193eVuvfPhnHBz_g8ovCwBjBj7xkq6ijrlM3hUiDCuofm-YACVperDEJcmb5DQ-52FTJtvP_xS7xHWScjXf0wutB1KX-y8mk_QmrI9SkGhIFHVmAJ6nzlzGdAja4/s400/blogger-image--584588699.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Day 4 #BelowTheLine: 96p for three meals</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Day four of #BelowTheLine and I'm seriously getting bored of toast and reduced soup sachets. However, I'm just living on a pound a day for five days and have light at the end of the tunnel - other people aren't so lucky so I mustn't grumble.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Breakfast was plain wholemeal toast. Again. But it only cost 2p. Thank goodness that loaf is finished. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Lunch was a 5p reduced soup sachet and toast. Again. But only cost 7p which meant I could spend 25p to enjoy half a punnet of strawberries that Mr Kate bought from the market yesterday for just 50p. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So 34p for breakfast and lunch, leaving plenty to play with for dinner! Funny how I'm calling 66p plenty!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Cue another cut-price bargain - lamb mince reduced from £1.99 to 59p. And from Waitrose again! Time to use up some of the other ingredients from this week and make a bolognese. Here's how I kept it in budget:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">59p mince</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">20p tomatoes (from the reduced pack the other day)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">14.5p pasta (the rest of the pack we used on day one)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">5p soup sachet (the soup sachet saved the meal - it was one of these squeeze and stir soups so comes out like a tomato puree and made the bolognese nice and rich).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">= 123.5p total for two</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So 61.75p each - let's call it 62p! That makes a grand total of 96p for all three meals today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The good news is I've now used up all my 5p soup sachets - if I never see another one it'll be too soon!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Tomorrow might be hard - I'm working out of the office and travelling to Sheffield. Time for some serious planning methinks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">One more day to go - thank goodness I don't have to live like this every day, unlike some poor souls.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-20796602763276754742014-04-30T19:48:00.001+01:002014-04-30T19:52:49.831+01:00Day 3 #Below The Line: 94p for three meals<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Ht_ADzRk1TQ0pFRyJ1iYi2n1VF1-FwfvL86VMSQbOELEpn3BPqkglRRvwlej527QWkYHWfj0nvMva3HPbMD9yBNBcEkfPvtk3ETdAcGy6avvJ17yDYnksmTxXZV3jTidy4w-OxUbUZs/s640/blogger-image-1469394551.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Ht_ADzRk1TQ0pFRyJ1iYi2n1VF1-FwfvL86VMSQbOELEpn3BPqkglRRvwlej527QWkYHWfj0nvMva3HPbMD9yBNBcEkfPvtk3ETdAcGy6avvJ17yDYnksmTxXZV3jTidy4w-OxUbUZs/s400/blogger-image-1469394551.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Day 3 #Below The Line: 94p for three meals</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Today was very much a game of two halves in the #BelowTheLine challenge. I spent very little on breakfast and lunch so we could enjoy a decent meal in the evening using some reduced pork fillet. So by the time I got home I was more than ready for dinner and delighted to see that Mr Kate was already cooking away in the kitchen. Which was a good job because I had been craving cups of tea at work and having to stick to water - I was ready for a proper feed!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So here's how the day went...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2p breakfast = Two plain slices of toast from our reduced loaf - some peanut butter would have gone down nicely!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmuqG2YNEJ4epe-08XB22s0NgT8DrPPo7q3cyBOjVs0hYJqd6XvM0F8ATrrrOJPk1sfEHI3Tgl4ULfDPaCqai5OwX04-6-jh849miXXoHp4Q9s8pw4GFb6ZRmPOEzqGifELXvtB4g-yWk/s640/blogger-image--1720583066.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmuqG2YNEJ4epe-08XB22s0NgT8DrPPo7q3cyBOjVs0hYJqd6XvM0F8ATrrrOJPk1sfEHI3Tgl4ULfDPaCqai5OwX04-6-jh849miXXoHp4Q9s8pw4GFb6ZRmPOEzqGifELXvtB4g-yWk/s320/blogger-image--1720583066.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">15p lunch = The last two slices of Quorn and another reduced roll with a 5p reduced soup.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Dull, dull, dull - I'm used to a much livelier lunchbox than this!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">14p afternoon snack = Two reduced clementines</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP83lplHfBHFYfz7usF0-JCDnfg4B4K7AN_WwyLGaKx_OxjcAZdYq9sjnxdRk-fKJUl2S8dzBWagPYbOdtMe-KktxEz7MeQJtC6aVolcvM59BHdzlorOrFndcqjRLGsFB9D7EySpbCsPY/s640/blogger-image-940303429.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP83lplHfBHFYfz7usF0-JCDnfg4B4K7AN_WwyLGaKx_OxjcAZdYq9sjnxdRk-fKJUl2S8dzBWagPYbOdtMe-KktxEz7MeQJtC6aVolcvM59BHdzlorOrFndcqjRLGsFB9D7EySpbCsPY/s320/blogger-image-940303429.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">63p dinner = Reduced pork fillet, new potatoes and spinach.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj21LdJUb-BzKEwU6-Yfpymh-QN9fAiSxJqqIvPiZLgm234As8PfI3NLLhlsPVf6biro9kRj8wsjzgFz8ZzQ9znW5IKDyhY6IoxD1gXzZWCGgDEgJnK3MMEEHCmNsLNY0wCcLu8_2OjSXM/s640/blogger-image--1621277054.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj21LdJUb-BzKEwU6-Yfpymh-QN9fAiSxJqqIvPiZLgm234As8PfI3NLLhlsPVf6biro9kRj8wsjzgFz8ZzQ9znW5IKDyhY6IoxD1gXzZWCGgDEgJnK3MMEEHCmNsLNY0wCcLu8_2OjSXM/s320/blogger-image--1621277054.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">How did we manage to eat pork fillet from Waitrose on the #BelowTheLine challenge? Well, the pork was reduced from £4.02 to 59p! We had half the fillet each with a quarter of a bag of potatoes which were reduced to 39p for the bag. Add to that a quarter of a bag of spinach reduced to 55p so the total for each ingredient was:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Pork - 59p</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Potatoes - 19.5p</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Herbs and oil - 20p</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So the meal cost £1.26 for two - just 63p each!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">That means a grand total of 94p for three meals and two pieces of fruit!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Quite amazing how far a pound can go if you plan really well and hunt down the bargains - but I'm lucky in that I'm not living below the line for real. I have a freezer, a fridge and all the utensils I need to make my pound a day stretch as far as possible. People living in real poverty don't have that luxury. If you've enjoyed reading my blog and have a pound or two to spare, please do sponsor me at: <a href="https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/katebarrett">https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/katebarrett</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">All the money raised goes to The Global Poverty Project who are working to help people less fortunate around the world. To everyone who has donated so far - thank you!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-3176827846535327382014-04-29T21:53:00.001+01:002014-04-30T20:13:00.982+01:00Day 2 #BelowTheLine: 87p for three meals<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibvBcnKrhyzE7Nq9zLYU8JxWFk-ICoGGkufbkxsIpaMphtW1KtowOFH_j1ecauIU6C0X5nrzfrZlRJ7hfWseELUA79uEf2D_qnKV7jcdQLRyHV0YbVipcNt2Dh5tMBaQg1GJStfKM5ML0/s640/blogger-image--716279238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibvBcnKrhyzE7Nq9zLYU8JxWFk-ICoGGkufbkxsIpaMphtW1KtowOFH_j1ecauIU6C0X5nrzfrZlRJ7hfWseELUA79uEf2D_qnKV7jcdQLRyHV0YbVipcNt2Dh5tMBaQg1GJStfKM5ML0/s400/blogger-image--716279238.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Day 2 #BelowTheLine: 87p for three meals</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Day two of living #BelowTheLine and I thought it was going to be a very beige day full of breads and carbs. Fortunately a post-work trip to the supermarkets on the way home secured us some reduced fruit and veg to use today and over the rest of the week.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A bag of seven clementines reduced from £2 to 50p means we've got a piece of fruit every day now for just over 7p per piece. A bag of spinach down from £1 to 55p and tomatoes down from £1 to 29p completed the fresh veg reduced haul - we're nicely set to keep up our five a day intake during the rest of the challenge now. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So what was on the menu today?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">10p breakfast = Toasted roll with reduced Quorn (an odd start to the day but actually quite nice!).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">15p lunch = Two scrambled eggs on wholemeal toast.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR8RoHf6Vag72BWVZD2CyIBf_mGBXUdgUGDhnDM5cDQJlPzsl_QO3Viej9rQdw7L8aHLvUfgfc0YVcFbCJDWR4CpOyCmP-Dl5SdBnRF-YAr3tI3SSGyRlZG2Sm-bIiOwtLS7bll0-cvyk/s640/blogger-image--1308980334.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR8RoHf6Vag72BWVZD2CyIBf_mGBXUdgUGDhnDM5cDQJlPzsl_QO3Viej9rQdw7L8aHLvUfgfc0YVcFbCJDWR4CpOyCmP-Dl5SdBnRF-YAr3tI3SSGyRlZG2Sm-bIiOwtLS7bll0-cvyk/s400/blogger-image--1308980334.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A penny for each slice of toast from my reduced loaf and 6.5p for each egg (we get them cheap from a farm).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">55p dinner = Reduced fish cakes, baked tomato and spinach.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5EHMU46PEba5hX9G51VMRH3R6BxB2ylv7hyphenhyphenUhQl4XwPw9JZzp5xcHQB2lzbPX3pGv05djKa-gIPb-rAWc6J4HQuIpvhkVuVT-p7YpQeYx5e3jgZxle18kqjfet2Ogm1STWmXzP3JjAD0/s640/blogger-image--1484375212.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5EHMU46PEba5hX9G51VMRH3R6BxB2ylv7hyphenhyphenUhQl4XwPw9JZzp5xcHQB2lzbPX3pGv05djKa-gIPb-rAWc6J4HQuIpvhkVuVT-p7YpQeYx5e3jgZxle18kqjfet2Ogm1STWmXzP3JjAD0/s400/blogger-image--1484375212.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The fish cakes were reduced from £1.29 to 39p - pricey for #BelowTheLine but as I'd not spent much on breakfast and lunch today I could afford them. 5p for one of the reduced tomatoes and about 11p's worth of the reduced spinach - we will use the rest of the spinach and tomatoes in tomorrow's meals. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So 80p for the three meals and then a snack of a clementine at 7p means a grand total of 87p for the day. Not bad going at all! Keeping this up for five days is going to be hard though - and I'm missing the fizzy drink chemicals for sure!</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-40453373940605163042014-04-28T21:22:00.002+01:002014-04-28T21:36:02.519+01:00Day 1 #BelowTheLine: 93p for three meals<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXprAofjSa38tPkP3A9S1IETr1Q0w61WT4o8AI5spsLwdeJw8qZFqAkumPITQrOcI3DqZoga7JgTSNlJDvK9NwQxrKl5ZCJ4mRd2rnSJb6mTuhoFaeHP9jpDaNtA_FxoaR5yfteQE9iKI/s1600/Diptic+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXprAofjSa38tPkP3A9S1IETr1Q0w61WT4o8AI5spsLwdeJw8qZFqAkumPITQrOcI3DqZoga7JgTSNlJDvK9NwQxrKl5ZCJ4mRd2rnSJb6mTuhoFaeHP9jpDaNtA_FxoaR5yfteQE9iKI/s1600/Diptic+(2).jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Day 1 #BelowTheLine: 93p for three meals</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">This week I am taking part in a charity challenge to raise
awareness of poverty. I will be raising money for The Global Poverty Project
who work to improve the lives of people living in poverty. The challenge,
called #BelowTheLine, is to survive on £1 per person, per day. That's just £1 a
day for all meals and drinks for five days!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Regular readers of this blog will know that I live pretty
frugally already. I blog about eating and cooking as cheaply and healthily as
possible but for me it is simply to save money for the nicer things in life.
For many people it is a necessity, so this week I will be really pushing my
cut-price shopping habits to the limit to try to live off £1 per day - and
forcing Mr Kate to do the same (he's delighted about that...).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">If you have any spare cash please do sponsor me at:
<a href="http://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/katebarrett">www.livebelowtheline.com/me/katebarrett</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Please donate as much as you can to raise money for the
people for whom £1 a day is a reality instead of a five-day challenge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So, how have I got on today? Surprisingly well as I managed
to get some excellent end of day bargains last night! A 15p loaf, 24p punnet of
raspberries, 20p pack of Quorn and four yoghurts for 25p has got me off to a
great start! Here's what I had and how I got the meals so cheap:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">20p breakfast = Two slices of wholemeal toast and fresh
raspberry smoothie.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMVZhSNWWg-c4NZBgwfXEsyBjHR9jS4fVlrw6kX4lvUcLtvaX52Dmp8JHpdrvP_SBijGJ8KoDdxCC9qgmoP_V6v7fxZZz-hlhEsw5253MCsuVB2GIGGWpnT0rPgpQ6gti4Ui-kQry6WyM/s1600/photo+%252855%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMVZhSNWWg-c4NZBgwfXEsyBjHR9jS4fVlrw6kX4lvUcLtvaX52Dmp8JHpdrvP_SBijGJ8KoDdxCC9qgmoP_V6v7fxZZz-hlhEsw5253MCsuVB2GIGGWpnT0rPgpQ6gti4Ui-kQry6WyM/s1600/photo+%252855%2529.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Bread - 2p (reduced 15p loaf)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Raspberries - 12p (half a reduced 24p punnet)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Yoghurt 6p (25p reduced pack of four)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">34p lunch = Two rolls with Quorn, tomato and vegetable soup,
pineapple pot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiINpduNm-fyJaI1z-lu3OLlBq5XzuOLoX8mVh0PVDXEA-QLMNKV224PIcKyrziWQzI-7I87QNEEWQpPZelASZu4UhedCveNBk-2gxQYXwOt9KZV9KJXlaMKc4MD9BH5wUie88xYbTx1UU/s1600/photo+%252856%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiINpduNm-fyJaI1z-lu3OLlBq5XzuOLoX8mVh0PVDXEA-QLMNKV224PIcKyrziWQzI-7I87QNEEWQpPZelASZu4UhedCveNBk-2gxQYXwOt9KZV9KJXlaMKc4MD9BH5wUie88xYbTx1UU/s1600/photo+%252856%2529.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Quorn - 10p (half a reduced 20p pack)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Rolls - 9p (two from a pack of 12 reduced to 55p)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Pineapple - 10p (reduced of course)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Soup - 5p (bargain reduction!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">39p dinner = Sausage and tomato pasta.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtFUvOZ6GJW8LGHom70XS3khheRRZHR1tOez4LMof56NvIBPOl613KT0DlPaUZ0ySOwibgzjfyZOgZkvD3Ju3tH5pLpnymVSOx_MvsKHhgY3YatsHLVCE_nsISHYyUf3A4a_ziHlc8vy8/s1600/photo+%252857%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtFUvOZ6GJW8LGHom70XS3khheRRZHR1tOez4LMof56NvIBPOl613KT0DlPaUZ0ySOwibgzjfyZOgZkvD3Ju3tH5pLpnymVSOx_MvsKHhgY3YatsHLVCE_nsISHYyUf3A4a_ziHlc8vy8/s1600/photo+%252857%2529.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Sausages - 5p (half a reduced 10p pack)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Onion - 5p (half a 10p onion)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Tomatoes - 16.5p (half a 33p tin)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Chilli - 2.5p (half a reduced chilli)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Pasta - 5p (quarter of a bag of 500g of Tesco value penne
pasta)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Paprika and chilli spices - 5p<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So a grand total of 93p for three decent meals. And water is classed as free in the challenge so I've stuck to that all day long. With the
raspberries, soup, pineapple, tinned tomatoes and onion I even got a good four of my
five a day in too!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">One day in and it's not going too bad... although a bar of
chocolate wouldn't go amiss!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-65908399689793921532014-04-22T19:13:00.001+01:002014-04-22T19:13:47.648+01:00Restaurant review: The George at Brixworth<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3_BXhAFELRKkbOGMSikiqoy-Vieh-ZQPVn3u2E8xIfx74N_Ueh_73Gg77sfjHjzrWjgU0KavTWnQz6pHNk6sTUwlIAyiVZWcKsMMC2JE-mYqicfL9-hsd7BeJMPhvInsgnVNGK2eTQxg/s640/blogger-image--1938985380.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3_BXhAFELRKkbOGMSikiqoy-Vieh-ZQPVn3u2E8xIfx74N_Ueh_73Gg77sfjHjzrWjgU0KavTWnQz6pHNk6sTUwlIAyiVZWcKsMMC2JE-mYqicfL9-hsd7BeJMPhvInsgnVNGK2eTQxg/s640/blogger-image--1938985380.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Restaurant review: The George at Brixworth</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">When a Groupon restaurant deal came up for the pub in the village next to my mum and dad's I jumped at the chance - a good opportunity to take the parentals out for next to nothing I thought! Most of the Groupon restaurant deals I've had have been excellent or thoroughly decent. Unfortunately this wasn't one of them...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We arrived at The George at Brixworth with high hopes - the pub has new managers and the dining room and conservatory looked really inviting. We didn't get off to a great start as the waitress took a good 20 minutes to take our order - even taking orders from people who had arrived after us first. The waitresses were perfectly pleasant, just not particularly on top of their game and we were left waiting a long time between courses.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Mr Kate went for the Thai fish cake for his starter but unfortunately reported that they were severely lacking in the spice and flavour stakes. The parentals and I all went for the Brixworth pate which was absolutely fine and it was good to see a local pub putting a local producer on the menu.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">After a long wait for our mains, mum, dad and Mr Kate all had the beer-battered cod with chips and mushy peas. Alas all reported that the batter was on the soggy side and the fish wasn't the freshest. I had chilli con carne with rice and tortilla chips. The presentation left a lot to be desired but the flavour of the chilli was decent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It wasn't that there was anything particularly wrong with the food - it was more that there wasn't anything particularly right with it. Slow service and below average food. A real shame because the location and setting is excellent and could make for a strong local pub.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The deal was £30 for a two-course meal for four. Fortunately I had just been emailed a £10 off Groupon voucher so actually got it for only £20. So at just a fiver per person this didn't hurt the bank and I guess we shouldn't grumble too much at that price. Having said that, would I have paid full price (£52.70) for what we ate? I'm afraid to say I wouldn't. Not terrible but certainly disappointing. I wouldn't rush back in a hurry but would maybe try again in a few months to see if it has improved as it's a pub I really want to like!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The George, Northampton Road, Brixworth</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.thegeorgeatbrixworth.co.uk/">www.thegeorgeatbrixworth.co.uk</a></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-10221208302692010162014-04-21T15:51:00.003+01:002014-04-21T15:51:58.485+01:00Restaurant review: Dang's, Northampton<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiug7MAZ_bOrXtbjYFMGVTCfVf_cDpgytVEY5KwmfWfr2l3lHCHvM_6xO-jMH5ANqlOhCfA2aB4SOEWidoeek_c0feqSvBxENJ2p3HXJFfvUwWkVv9t4cs0JIQW0eYUOTcmMx2Jf7DQrsw/s640/blogger-image--150136763.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiug7MAZ_bOrXtbjYFMGVTCfVf_cDpgytVEY5KwmfWfr2l3lHCHvM_6xO-jMH5ANqlOhCfA2aB4SOEWidoeek_c0feqSvBxENJ2p3HXJFfvUwWkVv9t4cs0JIQW0eYUOTcmMx2Jf7DQrsw/s640/blogger-image--150136763.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Restaurant review: Dang's Northampton</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The best thing about buying Groupon deals for restaurants is that it gives you an opportunity to try out new places you might not have been to before - without the fear of paying over the odds for a meal. Once in a while you find a gem of a restaurant on Groupon and Dang's on Wellingborough Road in Northampton is exactly that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Groupon deal? A main course and a side dish for four people for £32 (or £19 for two people). A girl's night out on the cheap with some old work friends was on the cards! My friends had never had Vietnamese food before and I've only had it once or twice so it was a bit of a venture in to the unknown as we worked our way through the menu.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We shared the four main dishes between us so we all got to try a bit of everything. First up was the roast duck with bamboo shoots, spring onions, chilli and coriander. I'm not a huge duck fan (unless it's of the crispy variety!) but found this deliciously tender. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">My favourite dish of the four was the chicken breast with bamboo shoots and po ku mushrooms in lemongrass sauce - I could certainly have eaten the whole dish myself! </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The salmon with pak choi, spring onion, chilli and soy sauce came a close second to the chicken though - lovely and light and full of flavour.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">For our fourth dish we decided to try a tofu dish - we were all tofu virgins but thought would give it a shot! And I was very pleasantly surprised - the lemongrass sauce was the star of the dish and worked really well with the tofu. Something I've never eaten but certainly would give another go.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Full price with the side dishes and mains our meal would have cost just short of £60. The Groupon deal made it just £32.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The big question is would I go back and pay full price? And the answer is a resounding yes - t</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">he food at Dang's was lovely and fresh with excellent flavours. And it all felt deliciously healthy so was very much eating out without the usual guilt factor!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Dang's, Wellingborough Road, Northampton</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.dangsnorthampton.co.uk/">www.dangsnorthampton.co.uk</a></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-49310415234180415042014-03-13T21:18:00.001+00:002014-03-13T21:20:02.832+00:00£17.92 worth of Waitrose food for £4.94<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJEVdWr80uqmXND8sTdxnLfMaGQR02dJnLYhvF-NDnYnxXoRUdatHDpvkaL5DjD7w8DVb7SDf6y6dLCnnHyk_nHMTpvJsYyHLQrEfM3I0Dvq_kgY_NJnTUoG9inMFvNubRkxSKDOeejl4/s1600/photo+(53).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJEVdWr80uqmXND8sTdxnLfMaGQR02dJnLYhvF-NDnYnxXoRUdatHDpvkaL5DjD7w8DVb7SDf6y6dLCnnHyk_nHMTpvJsYyHLQrEfM3I0Dvq_kgY_NJnTUoG9inMFvNubRkxSKDOeejl4/s1600/photo+(53).JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">£17.92 worth of Waitrose food for £4.94</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I'm a happy bunny this evening! Why? That wonderful moment when you find a whole chicken in Waitrose reduced from £5.64 to £1.49, that's why! And plenty more bargains to boot - all now safely packed away in my freezer to cook another day.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHSEvl2UNTTmAv-mfVhQbgvUqsPR_1hl3pgrXEhTVtow4yE0SCIoirP8GjSbTYmymfOAXkMBxHuIGpv-s6qXHQS_NxKsluK1PzEb1axn9t8kPNRLuPY-rTq9kB0DZUUiaxe0JiadM5YSg/s1600/photo+(54).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHSEvl2UNTTmAv-mfVhQbgvUqsPR_1hl3pgrXEhTVtow4yE0SCIoirP8GjSbTYmymfOAXkMBxHuIGpv-s6qXHQS_NxKsluK1PzEb1axn9t8kPNRLuPY-rTq9kB0DZUUiaxe0JiadM5YSg/s1600/photo+(54).JPG" height="208" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">In total I got £17.92 worth of food from Waitrose for £4.94. Here's what I nabbed:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Whole chicken - £5.64 down to £1.49</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Chicken thighs - £4.64 down to £1.76</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Two packs of cod fishcakes - £1.29 down to 39 per pack</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Organic celeriac - £2.06 down to 28p</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">King Edward potatoes - £3 down to 89p</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">With an extra 26p taken off for having a myWaitrose card that meant a grand total of £4.94. Less than what the whole chicken should have cost on its own!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Waitrose might be one of the priciest supermarkets but their end of day reductions are some of the best around which makes them more than affordable. And sometimes if you get the right reductions they end up paying you to take the food off their hands, but that's another story for next time...!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-89375978968039682722014-02-13T20:55:00.002+00:002014-02-13T21:03:56.824+00:00£41.27 worth of Waitrose food for £7.18!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ8da8uU6g1edlgLrWv2OJRNSw-PTMFU3nTxvv1fXczRkqVoKDw5YSVj-IVTzVdqn9eld5qj64ZAdAymSKdTZae5oosVjBGeczLbJKvnbIENWx08uz8GYw6mgSn4Isy_GaFlezTwevSzM/s1600/photo+(52).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ8da8uU6g1edlgLrWv2OJRNSw-PTMFU3nTxvv1fXczRkqVoKDw5YSVj-IVTzVdqn9eld5qj64ZAdAymSKdTZae5oosVjBGeczLbJKvnbIENWx08uz8GYw6mgSn4Isy_GaFlezTwevSzM/s1600/photo+(52).JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: small; text-align: start;">£41.27 worth of Waitrose food for £7.18</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Well I'm ashamed to say that this is my first blog of 2014 - life and a busy job has got in the way. But I'm back in action now and back on the cut-price food hunt! Oh and I found myself a new day-job too and will be starting in a few weeks time - new year, new me!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">And what a good haul I got tonight in my local Waitrose for my first blog of the year - plenty of quality meat for the freezer makes me a happy bargain-hunter!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I was very surprised to find such good bargains at 5.30pm on my way home from work - the reductions were the sort usually kept for just before closing!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Here's what I bagged:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">- Five packs of pork fillet varying in price (according to weight) but the most expensive was £5.66 reduced to 83p!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- Lamb neck fillet reduced from £3.60 to 64p</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- Rack of lamb reduced from £7.92 to £1.15</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">- Three packs of smoked haddock fishcakes reduced from £1.29 to 49p</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">- Scotch bonnet chillies reduced from £1.50 to 49p</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A grand total of £41.27 worth of food reduced to £7.18. The meat and fishcakes are now safely packed away in the freezer, other than one pork fillet which will be used to create a Valentine's Day cut-price romantic dinner of some description! And to spread the cut-price love I will be sharing some of the meat with my mum too - happy Valentine's Day, mother!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-85544255539689152002013-12-01T18:15:00.001+00:002013-12-01T22:53:15.677+00:00Recipe: Mum's apple cake<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWOL6T1-r0DS8jyYh_nSDSbV39nwgmMKI3SQuNWBZBt4Pbt3TM8b7OhcHBqDjNW8IJ7-AkuNIsI2vM-92MKlUwBkI4zpB4ZSHgDSpOk9B2t-w_lodjIlkuJDo_37Yg2kakhqaAl2Wf5TQ/s640/blogger-image--1233286649.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWOL6T1-r0DS8jyYh_nSDSbV39nwgmMKI3SQuNWBZBt4Pbt3TM8b7OhcHBqDjNW8IJ7-AkuNIsI2vM-92MKlUwBkI4zpB4ZSHgDSpOk9B2t-w_lodjIlkuJDo_37Yg2kakhqaAl2Wf5TQ/s400/blogger-image--1233286649.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Mum's apple cake</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I'm really not much of a cake baker. After all, if you make a cake you have to eat it and I really don't need the extra calories! But my cousin Jess (a keen cake baker) came to stay and as we had lots of apples to use up I thought it was a good opportunity to try out my mum's faithful apple cake recipe. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">And you know what, I could get used to this baking lark as this recipe was so easy and made such a lovely moist cake - even I couldn't go wrong with this recipe and there certainly isn't much of it left! And it was cheap as chips to make as the apples were from Mr Kate's parentals' garden. A great one to use up any late fallers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Here's my mum's recipe:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">8oz plain flour</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2 teaspoons of baking powder</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">4oz margarine</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">4oz sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1 egg</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">8oz peeled apple</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Milk to mix</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A sprinkling of brown sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1) Heat the oven to gas mark five, 190C or 375F. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2) Sieve flour into mixing bowl. (Although I didn't bother sieving as I'm far too lazy for that lark!). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">3) Rub the margarine in with the flour until like breadcrumbs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">4) Add the sugar and egg and stir well. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">5) Dice the apple, add to the bowl and mix well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">6) Stir in enough milk to give a slow dropping consistency until the spoon needs a hard shake before the mixture drops into the bowl.9</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">7) Put the mixture into a greased and lined seven inch cake tin. I actually used a silicone cake tin).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">8) Sprinkle a few teaspoons of brown sugar over the top of the cake. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">9) Bake for one hour. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">This really is a deliciously moist cake. Lovely on its own but even better served with a dollop of custard. Would also be good adding in a little mixed spice, cinnamon or currants. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I've always loved it when my mum makes this cake - now I've realised how easy it is to make I think I'll be making it more often myself now too! Thanks for the recipe, mum!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNe19uXtn1HBdXezVxQ9woDtHtCQdTeJQ03QFMJm6O84ECOiELZhEy71MkKScJv8KjrIHFvmHfzyZK3MO02DZo3bQoAFwjUGLiOqD3bCA5yoJZGjheYViGNl14ue6t7M2yAPtSWV1v8Rk/s640/blogger-image--1245144265.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNe19uXtn1HBdXezVxQ9woDtHtCQdTeJQ03QFMJm6O84ECOiELZhEy71MkKScJv8KjrIHFvmHfzyZK3MO02DZo3bQoAFwjUGLiOqD3bCA5yoJZGjheYViGNl14ue6t7M2yAPtSWV1v8Rk/s400/blogger-image--1245144265.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Cousin Jess gets her bake on!</span></td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-81415005262418011312013-10-20T21:01:00.001+01:002013-10-20T21:01:54.290+01:00£10.77 worth of food for £1.65!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSDRXve3tPSdOB0l3GZAsaNWRAH0FP_m1jczVsDZ8pgIJTxnZomuQ_QKijy1tDe43BSJDOHpaL3k6C3IzxPG18IJGgI6rmasGaYMLVhuEcNCpi52IAhuVDBQsMPuX5A3z8kfuMYYy0dCU/s1600/photo+(51).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSDRXve3tPSdOB0l3GZAsaNWRAH0FP_m1jczVsDZ8pgIJTxnZomuQ_QKijy1tDe43BSJDOHpaL3k6C3IzxPG18IJGgI6rmasGaYMLVhuEcNCpi52IAhuVDBQsMPuX5A3z8kfuMYYy0dCU/s400/photo+(51).JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">£10.77 worth of food for £1.65!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A great little haul on the way home from the gym tonight when we popped in to our local Tesco Express and mini Co-op. £10.77 worth of food for just £1.65!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Here's what we got:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Greek yoghurts - £2.39 down to 65p</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Milkbread - £1 down to 25p</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Wholemeal rolls - 85p down to 9p</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Multiseed loaf - £3.15 down to 32p</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Houmous - £1.38 down to 14p</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Two lettuces - £1 down to 10p each</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Plenty of bread to stock up the freezer!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-2083735782689546512013-09-21T20:21:00.002+01:002013-09-21T20:21:20.241+01:00Recipe: 'Out of time' swede, celery, carrot and thyme soup<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKpMnPs2E0zDLRyRMUyXDHQmLyeB-_oD7L0-BlD31stB4V4lnA5ru6e1e3IHwjFzGJyF2b-tH7BSaKPndUi50okkugokGFg97YVfwUL0pc3Zesb7yWxl0-yf_JeM3OJncGv-Xi_QkgHNU/s1600/IMG_2063.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKpMnPs2E0zDLRyRMUyXDHQmLyeB-_oD7L0-BlD31stB4V4lnA5ru6e1e3IHwjFzGJyF2b-tH7BSaKPndUi50okkugokGFg97YVfwUL0pc3Zesb7yWxl0-yf_JeM3OJncGv-Xi_QkgHNU/s320/IMG_2063.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Swede, celery, carrot and thyme soup</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Do you get confused by sell by dates, use by dates, best before dates? No need. Just ditch them. Yep, that's right, ignore them. Use your senses instead. Sight, smell, taste, touch. Only ever use a date on food as a guide.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Since I've been writing this blog, so many people have told me they throw food out as soon as the date has passed. Or worse still... BEFORE the date has passed. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Fifty years ago did our parents and grand-parents have dates on food? No, they just used their common sense - and their senses.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm30yy1TsXfq7oblYCyf6k3tFZaKCB1OFQU3JWF6GeMIl1bpwEHe1JhpAiYOnnu2WPFtPwjKLJWqpqEz6ZbbEpylv0-4MtroJegNupqRNMjS3QkGTCSfcTbwFcnWOV9DzwW0YzJIfQQ8c/s1600/photo+(49).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm30yy1TsXfq7oblYCyf6k3tFZaKCB1OFQU3JWF6GeMIl1bpwEHe1JhpAiYOnnu2WPFtPwjKLJWqpqEz6ZbbEpylv0-4MtroJegNupqRNMjS3QkGTCSfcTbwFcnWOV9DzwW0YzJIfQQ8c/s320/photo+(49).JPG" width="301" /></a><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Many people these days would turn their nose up at what I did this afternoon - I cooked soup using a swede that had been left in my fridge for three months. Yep, you read that right - three months. And I've survived to tell the tale!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I must admit, I did approach the three-month-old swede with a little caution. But after a quick whiff, peel and chop, I realised it was absolutely fine. To reassure Mr Kate I did have a quick Google and read on several websites that swede can keep in the fridge for several months. In which case, why do the supermarkets put such a short date on them? I'd hazard a guess they're just playing safe in this health and safety obsessed blame culture we live in these days.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC1Q3K0Dr3WvJIICGXHpSeEW1sddz0fu6NeZkL9Lw-8WDojXM_3ekDduwMoLHmV1OhRYJenwA0eMA0q24nsLywDsGUcWQCg-IxkSMci0wZgTvUZezo-v2uPsbcYdS-QOpKNaVYQppoPSk/s1600/photo+(50).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC1Q3K0Dr3WvJIICGXHpSeEW1sddz0fu6NeZkL9Lw-8WDojXM_3ekDduwMoLHmV1OhRYJenwA0eMA0q24nsLywDsGUcWQCg-IxkSMci0wZgTvUZezo-v2uPsbcYdS-QOpKNaVYQppoPSk/s200/photo+(50).JPG" width="150" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">And it's not just swede. I had some month-old celery to use as well. And yes, that was absolutely fine too. Not as crisp as you might like it for a salad, but fine for a soup. I only used four sticks so still have some left - another week or two left for the rest of the packet I reckon!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So my plea to you, if you're not already a convert to yellow stickers and using your senses, ditch the dates and use your brain. If it smells bad and is moulding - bin it. But please check before you bin perfectly good food. And think about the money you're, literally, throwing away.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW9iNH3bv6sioMH1HHUpmdYCA9hhZS_YHtgn8BYkjXEHvVfTk9eX_je-GtEnazsKi78VktQW3u4LWSgS2opGBrv4zr69U0ZUgl7UYFBs3cZtEjDeCuUVAefc58w2J2RvBJyMPuNPyLF_w/s1600/IMG_2062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW9iNH3bv6sioMH1HHUpmdYCA9hhZS_YHtgn8BYkjXEHvVfTk9eX_je-GtEnazsKi78VktQW3u4LWSgS2opGBrv4zr69U0ZUgl7UYFBs3cZtEjDeCuUVAefc58w2J2RvBJyMPuNPyLF_w/s400/IMG_2062.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Here's how I made my 'out of time' swede, celery, carrot and thyme soup to serve four:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1) Peel and chop a whole swede, an onion, two carrots, and four sticks of celery.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2) Soften the onion in a large saucepan with a glug of olive oil for a few minutes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">3) Add a clove or two of chopped garlic.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">4) Add the chopped swede, carrots and celery for a few minutes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">5) Add a teaspoon of dried thyme.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">6) Add a litre of chicken or vegetable stock and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the veg is all soft.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">7) Add a good grind of black pepper and rock salt to taste.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">8) Serve and enjoy!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgIINmqCFp1CEOgWATSmZmceAx1oUVocmyNMv7U6NoVpmOvotH9KHq441d7S-850AuY68xWAOzrc0zWo_iAQ2MGx4iJ7x-CVpWxYSaCbnz91rhmQxivnkkzvMKJ1OHGfZgBTd5GP5wy7g/s1600/IMG_1920.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgIINmqCFp1CEOgWATSmZmceAx1oUVocmyNMv7U6NoVpmOvotH9KHq441d7S-850AuY68xWAOzrc0zWo_iAQ2MGx4iJ7x-CVpWxYSaCbnz91rhmQxivnkkzvMKJ1OHGfZgBTd5GP5wy7g/s320/IMG_1920.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">With the 19p swede, about 4p worth of reduced celery and a reduced chicken stock cube added to the cost of the other ingredients, this soup came in at around 60p. That's 60p for four healthy servings which are now portioned up and ready for lunch tomorrow and our packed lunches on Monday.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Ditch the dates!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-9152584542491615632013-09-13T19:42:00.000+01:002013-09-13T19:42:52.488+01:00£21.98 worth of food for £5.61!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiytXTkDuegbaIuZMq7e1WGdx82ccg275DVocz8ane80yVn_VL4zuSuboFXPwTyLQul2E6SQs5X7rDXypecfoe50DXkaDF2BCHFbxKPVqqveQW22RvIVxRnF8uKI5OGK5J7NrDcLMNd5Fg/s1600/photo+(48).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiytXTkDuegbaIuZMq7e1WGdx82ccg275DVocz8ane80yVn_VL4zuSuboFXPwTyLQul2E6SQs5X7rDXypecfoe50DXkaDF2BCHFbxKPVqqveQW22RvIVxRnF8uKI5OGK5J7NrDcLMNd5Fg/s400/photo+(48).JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">£21.98 worth of food for £5.61!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">My first blog for a month or so - I've still been hunting out bargains but just a little too busy with the day job to blog! But I had to let you know about this cracking haul of cut-price bargains from Co-op on my way home from work tonight. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I was surprised to see such good reductions at 5pm!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Here's what I popped in my basket:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">3 x fish pies down from £3.69 to 89p</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2 x Muller Corners down from 71p to 18p</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Roast chicken breast down from £4.05 to £1.09</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Fresh tortellini down from £1.95 to 55p</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Roast veg cous cous down from £1.49 to 39p</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Fresh blueberries down from £2 to 55p</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Should have cost £21.98 and I got it all for £5.61! Weekend lunches sorted, fish pies in the freezer and I'm planning on treating Mr Kate to a breakfast in bed of porridge and blueberries. Result!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-84259573238458453742013-08-13T18:57:00.000+01:002013-08-13T18:57:09.016+01:00Recipe: Aubergine and coriander dip<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisMq4vZNpVta8O-U3FhkYNlgU6LucCmPuO8GSx1kfq5oKSXAgWQ4v0chbEyAc_48d8QRTYezmruONmK1iiRn3bSqbQwDVqiZiAe0quoJtCCOuTdoxgu5SgGL1E-dan_f1KWc8fVg47ft4/s1600/photo+(46).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisMq4vZNpVta8O-U3FhkYNlgU6LucCmPuO8GSx1kfq5oKSXAgWQ4v0chbEyAc_48d8QRTYezmruONmK1iiRn3bSqbQwDVqiZiAe0quoJtCCOuTdoxgu5SgGL1E-dan_f1KWc8fVg47ft4/s320/photo+(46).JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Aubergine and coriander dip</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I've never been a particular fan of aubergines and as they're not at the top of Mr Kate's veggie list I've never actually cooked them myself. But when I saw two reduced from £1 to 15p each I thought it would be worth giving them a shot.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV6daEI6jtg7eh3G6Zf1cIIX4AExUc8izNR8U0z0yXNVxw-Uj5_PAxahOz2IosxNXsNlrzT0CSQZqCZlfuOJIPnDUDiKZQw9CiHdhddrg1dF_Ebomzj0AQwqdfwVakF1za78HCZtUn97g/s1600/photo+(47).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV6daEI6jtg7eh3G6Zf1cIIX4AExUc8izNR8U0z0yXNVxw-Uj5_PAxahOz2IosxNXsNlrzT0CSQZqCZlfuOJIPnDUDiKZQw9CiHdhddrg1dF_Ebomzj0AQwqdfwVakF1za78HCZtUn97g/s200/photo+(47).JPG" width="150" /></a><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We were having fish and veg for dinner so I thought I'd whizz them up into a dip to serve on the side. With some fresh coriander on the windowsill waiting to be used, aubergine and coriander dip it was!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Here's how I made it:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1) Pre-heat the oven, wash the aubergines and dry.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2) Prick the skin of the aubergines with a fork.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">3) Place in a baking tray and drizzle a little olive oil over the aubergines.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">4) Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the skin is all wrinkly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">5) Leave to cool for a few minutes and then scoop out the flesh.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">6) Whizz the flesh up in a food processor along with the juice of a lime, a finely chopped garlic clove, a few handfuls of fresh coriander and a glug of olive oil.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">7) Add salt and black pepper to taste.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">8) Serve with a little fresh coriander sprinkled on top.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">This dip would be great with carrot sticks or pitta bread and I certainly would try aubergines again after this tasty experiment!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-21525654610820210542013-08-12T20:06:00.002+01:002013-08-12T20:16:30.402+01:00Restaurant review: La Pazienza, Northampton<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIFpzahTjPNzb3YNYBK73Ne-iCoeaOXk6l44IllXKvtK9bb6mxYR0Rtv8FE_2vPgAEWIKLhLmGzvNCCk8liOU871gZsvvmqsHHmPLOyftDfmkY59zLidpqSx_wrr0mQ2-a3uH3fKY7WYU/s1600/Diptic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIFpzahTjPNzb3YNYBK73Ne-iCoeaOXk6l44IllXKvtK9bb6mxYR0Rtv8FE_2vPgAEWIKLhLmGzvNCCk8liOU871gZsvvmqsHHmPLOyftDfmkY59zLidpqSx_wrr0mQ2-a3uH3fKY7WYU/s320/Diptic.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">La Pazienza, Northampton</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I’ve
walked past La Pazienza on <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Northampton</st1:place></st1:city>’s
<st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Wellingborough Road</st1:address></st1:street>
several times since it opened earlier this year but never ventured in. So when
a two courses for two (and coffees!) for £17 Groupon deal popped up I thought
it was the ideal opportunity to try out the new Italian eatery. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">My
experience didn’t get off to a very promising start when I called to book a
table – I asked if I could book and was told to ring back in 10 minutes as they
were busy… Why answer the phone if you’re busy? If I call a restaurant and no
one answers I take that to mean they’re either closed or busy serving and I’ll
call back later. To actually answer and be told to ring back… well, that’s just
not good customer service in my book.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">As a
result, I wasn’t expecting great things when we arrived but I was pleasantly surprised
to be welcomed into a pretty dining room – spotlessly clean, tastefully
decorated and neatly laid tables with pristine pale green tablecloths. Someone
has clearly paid a lot of love and attention to the room.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Our
waiter was perfectly pleasant but we were surprised that our starter order was
taken and he left before taking the order for the mains – coming back ten
minutes later! Mr Kate asked for fritata for his starter and was told they had
none left. He then asked for octopus salad and was told they had none left. He
then asked for the coppa salami and was told (can you see a theme developing
here?) they had none left… Three out of the eight starters were off the menu so
we both went for the easy option and ordered bruschetta with fresh tomato
sauce.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: 11pt;">With the
fuss of ordering, our expectations were lowered once again but were soon raised
when the bruschetta arrived. A very generous portion of two huge slabs of
bruschetta each but we devoured every bit of the bread laden with delicious finely
chopped garlicky tomatoes. Things were looking up!</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYMqyBdNKu4etSkaZg3QiSHCZ3ehfCPykxlcxr-i7k8jF906gDK_2uge6Qtj4V8GGHXV-vmFcuhWFrT6Tv5zWmEiRsQ2h5HFsELjiwiOqta79UNbVJVUb41FfY8Iq09hfi2dm-NWwCaCY/s1600/photo+(44).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYMqyBdNKu4etSkaZg3QiSHCZ3ehfCPykxlcxr-i7k8jF906gDK_2uge6Qtj4V8GGHXV-vmFcuhWFrT6Tv5zWmEiRsQ2h5HFsELjiwiOqta79UNbVJVUb41FfY8Iq09hfi2dm-NWwCaCY/s320/photo+(44).JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Bruschetta</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The mains
arrived in good time and I went for fusilli pasta with a tomato and tuna sauce
whilst Mr Kate plumped for a classic spaghetti carbonara. Both dishes were
thoroughly decent and we ate every last bite. Good home-cooked comfort food.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuXSsRwMNc2giQHl8II_-YXQcqFLVsGIHGZtoZuNSiT7nEgRPFJsMrNNZWMPVpyjV__Y3nksXRhvf1hwgmjZxjRHoxLLeHQ4U2tRThYOPhB3VBdVC6lC7YrcgUnFHd3qBufjATy2wOz2o/s1600/photo+(43).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuXSsRwMNc2giQHl8II_-YXQcqFLVsGIHGZtoZuNSiT7nEgRPFJsMrNNZWMPVpyjV__Y3nksXRhvf1hwgmjZxjRHoxLLeHQ4U2tRThYOPhB3VBdVC6lC7YrcgUnFHd3qBufjATy2wOz2o/s320/photo+(43).JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Tuna and tomato pasta</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"></span></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: 11pt;">A nice
touch during our meal was the chef coming out to every table to enquire how
their meals were – something that doesn’t happen very often in restaurants
these days but was a happy addition to the experience.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqCFBKUjdyi9za7QglrJhUDG70uTV8Y-NkmrcQQ3plrYHouikgowGa7aIk3gEVxaHUOng-mWEaQn-cx4Zm1z0w6nKiL8Krzu0HzniwcSb6t48nlB_kAdIw9FxFq7doXmZHIzQxY_KiDe4/s1600/photo+(42).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqCFBKUjdyi9za7QglrJhUDG70uTV8Y-NkmrcQQ3plrYHouikgowGa7aIk3gEVxaHUOng-mWEaQn-cx4Zm1z0w6nKiL8Krzu0HzniwcSb6t48nlB_kAdIw9FxFq7doXmZHIzQxY_KiDe4/s320/photo+(42).JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Carbonara</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We were
both too full to sample a dessert but as coffees were included in the Groupon
deal I did opt for a hot chocolate to get a little post-dinner chocolate hit!
And the hot drinks certainly didn’t disappoint – Mr Kate’s Americano coffee hit
the spot and my hot chocolate was deliciously frothy (as all good hot
chocolates should be!).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The total
of our food and coffees bill should have been £30.15 but was just £17 with the
Groupon deal.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">If you’re
after a warming bowl of comforting pasta then La Pazienza is a good place to
try for a quick bite and ideal for families. If you’re after something a bit
more ‘restauranty’ then it might not be for you but it is well worth a visit
for decent home-cooked food in pleasant surroundings.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">La
Pazienza, <st1:address w:st="on"><st1:street w:st="on">268 Wellingborough Road</st1:street>,
<st1:city w:st="on">Northampton</st1:city></st1:address>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">01604
949017<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.lapazienza.co.uk/">www.lapazienza.co.uk</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440875644529184807.post-69440780767070654442013-07-29T20:19:00.001+01:002013-07-29T20:19:29.572+01:00Recipe: Stuffed courgettes on the cheap!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZDYQJplS2VSlkH5GdqdyDC9lMTLZZrWCnsqaMytr6kJJnKIi_Pw-ZFlD2IVfdw22622f7hXhGcZHvix24E-8Y3uPWBw4J5Dr-u-b4OXUwC3v_F6oRzA7H13B2VGLHaAldGoolsCQCcQ/s1600/photo+%252840%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZDYQJplS2VSlkH5GdqdyDC9lMTLZZrWCnsqaMytr6kJJnKIi_Pw-ZFlD2IVfdw22622f7hXhGcZHvix24E-8Y3uPWBw4J5Dr-u-b4OXUwC3v_F6oRzA7H13B2VGLHaAldGoolsCQCcQ/s400/photo+%252840%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Stuffed courgettes</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I'll be the first to admit that these stuffed courgettes weren't the most appetising meal I've ever cooked, but don't be fooled by appearances - they tasted great!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">And they were cheap too! The courgette, which was actually more marrow sized, was free from Mr Kate's Uncle Gerald's veg plot and I decided to use up some yellow-sticker specials from the freezer and cupboard.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhuiR4UVbXktuGQCHyxWzeriIFhccZY9Vz-ZGSoZOb_oCHXO9zieq18dKMpyub8RxNnpNIXTnC1Fvgkjo4cbGGCRZB-8SG0-E3G8cjfoU1y741rcbs0pBGDqIsMd1KAi0Sdo37qxky23I/s1600/photo+(41).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhuiR4UVbXktuGQCHyxWzeriIFhccZY9Vz-ZGSoZOb_oCHXO9zieq18dKMpyub8RxNnpNIXTnC1Fvgkjo4cbGGCRZB-8SG0-E3G8cjfoU1y741rcbs0pBGDqIsMd1KAi0Sdo37qxky23I/s320/photo+(41).JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In somewhat of an experimental mood, I used a small pack of minced beef reduced from 96p to 45p and a jar of salsa reduced from £1 to 49p.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Here's how I made my stuffed courgettes on the cheap:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1) Pre-heat the oven.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2) Slice the courgette in two length-ways.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">3) Scoop out a well in the centre of each courgette half for the filling.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">4) Brown the mince in a pan with a drop of oil and a clove or two of garlic. Add the scooped out courgette if you don't want to waste it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">5) Add the salsa to the mince and warm through.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">6) Rub a little olive oil on the skin of the courgette, add a good grinding of black pepper and salt and place on a baking tray.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">7) Spoon the mince into the courgette and sprinkle some breadcrumbs over the top.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">8) Cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the courgette is cooked but still firm.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I had some filling left over so popped it in a little casserole dish with some breadcrumbs on top and served it on the side.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It might not look all that but it really did taste good - the experiment certainly paid off!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">And with 45p for the mince, 49p for the salsa, courgettes and garlic for free (we've grown our own garlic!) and a few pence for the olive oil and seasoning, this came in at just over £1 to feed the two of us. Result.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Looks like we're going to be getting a lot more courgette deliveries from Uncle Gerald soon so I'd best get my thinking cap on for more recipes!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178786964560841223noreply@blogger.com0