Thursday, 6 April 2023

The Last Day of the V.R.E

Thank you for comments yesterday, sorry I didn't reply, I've got  6 year old Eldest Granddaughter here for a couple of days - makes things a little  busy!


 Day 31 which I decided would be the very last of the experiment because almost everything I'd bought had been eaten!

 I used the other half of the home made pizza dough which I'd frozen and made a tomato topping by cooking an onion and the last tomatoes from the 4th tin and a squirt of tomato puree. Then on top I added all the remaining grated cheddar plus a good amount of the remaining parmesan and the second half of the mozzarella from out of the freezer.

I was going to take a photo but then thought it looked just like the first one I'd eaten so didn't bother again.


So what's left over from the things bought? 

Almost everything from the two pictures of stuff from the cupboards is still around in smaller amounts.(I'd added £4 at the beginning for the parts of things used)
Plus also left...............
Part packs of Rice Crispies; Self Raising Flour; 1 can carrots; Some of the grated cheap Parmesan; Half tub Gravy Granules; Almost all the Mayonnaise; Pasta; Most of the second cabbage; Few slices of the sliced wholemeal bread; a few of the Very small Yorkshire puds; some of the bland frozen mixed vegetables; a little coffee; two pieces of the frozen white fish; a couple of apples and pears from the last fruit purchase and  2 medium potatoes.

I'll come back tomorrow with more details.

Sue

P.S. A brief bit of pastry info to answer a question for readers not in the UK..........

Shortcrust pastry is flour, butter in the ratio 2:1 and water and that's about all

Puff pastry is pastry that's folded and butter  added and then folded again and butter added and I've never made it because it's easier to buy ready made if needed for something lighter and fluffier than shortcrust.

Flaky is Puff but without so much butter and folding and rolling - I think.

There are other sorts too like filo - never made that either.

In other words I only make ordinary what we call short-crust!


21 comments:

  1. A day with a six year old! Lucky you!

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  2. Have a lovely ongoing time with Granddaughter. xx

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    1. We've done every sort of craft I can think of so far!

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  3. Enjoy your time with GD. No doubt you will be busy, and having lots of fun - but it is hard to find a quiet space for blogging. Have a lovely Easter

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    1. I reckon one 6 year old on their own is probably harder than your holiday club!

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  4. For short crust pastry making I would always use lard instead of butter as my mother did. In fact all pastry she made was with lard and I follow her ways. I rarely bother with pastry making these days though and have never liked the taste of ready made pastry from the shops that you roll out at home.

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    1. My Mum used to use half butter/marge half lard in everything like pastry now it's easier just to have one thing in the fridge

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    2. I forgot about marge. I think she used marge for cakes. Butter was never used in cooking.

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  5. A day with a 6-year-old is a holiday (of sorts) in itself.

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    1. It will be 3 days and two nights - quite exhausting!

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  6. A pizza on the final day is a good way to use up lot of the leftovers and have a nice tasty meal. I always find that I am tempted to do a couple of extra days when I have lots of things leftover at the end of a challenge, but it is nice to 'get back to normal' isn't it after something that's gone on for a month.

    I don't think I will have anything leftover after my current challenge, £3.50 didn't buy a lot. :-)

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    1. Making pizza dough in the bread-machine is something I'll do again now I know they just need 5 minutes cooking before freezing

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  7. Southern Hemisphere meat pies (the kind you take away and eat on the hoof) are made with flaky pastry. Here in UK you tend to use short crust for those. Downunder we really only use puff pastry if we are making those vol au vent things.... or possibly a custard square. There are easy cheat ways to make flaky pastry by making the basic shortcrust, then grating in very cold (frozen even) extra butter and rolling it out once. It works but isn't quite as good as the hard work version.

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    1. Thank goodness shortcrust is easily made in the mixer - everything else is too much faffing about!

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  8. Enjoy your granddaughter! Does she have to eat your special meals or have you gotten something else for her?

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    1. I've been working a couple of days ahead of the posting so finished before she came to stay.

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  9. A few days with your granddaughter will be fun for both of you. After your value shopping and meals experiment, it would be fun to dine at a restaurant with your granddaughter. I love an occasional restaurant splurge!

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    1. We had breakfast out after I picked her up which was good

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  10. Enjoy having your grand-daughter staying. Great to build memories with her that she will treasure later on :)

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  11. Thank you so much for your answer to my question. I am lucky enough to get phyllo pastry and puff pastry on sale quite often here in Canada.

    Enjoy your time with your granddaughter.

    God bless.

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