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You are here: Home / Archives for #shop

A Budget Family Meal With Aldi

November 4, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 5 Comments

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.#collectivebias

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How do you fancy a homemade family meal with a delicious main course and a dessert as well as a bottle of wine for the adults for under £10?

Yes I know most of the supermarkets do a £10 meal deal. But this is proper home cooked food with decent sized food portions and a lip smacking dessert to boot. Oh and the wine 😉

When I was challenged to create a family meal for under £10 at Aldi I knew I would find it quite simple to do as we do a large portion of our shopping there these days and I can easily do a weeks shopping for around £40. So I had to up the ante slightly and add in a dessert and drinks to make it more of a challenge 🙂

I enjoy shopping at Aldi. The stores aren’t huge so you can get about quickly enough, you don’t get a huge selection of branded goods but the actual own brand products are extremely high quality.

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I made smokey sweet potato and beef chilli which is perfect for bonfire night along with a choc chip brioche pudding and served with a glass of rose.

For the Chilli, You will need:

500g standard Beef mince (£1.75)
1 onion, chopped ( approx 23p)
2 garlic cloves, minced (approx 23p per bulb)
1 large sweet potato, chopped into small cubes ( approx 25p)
1 400g chopped tomatoes (31p)
1 tin of kidney beans, drained (23p)
1 beef stock cube, made up with 200ml of hot water (10p)
4 tbsp of fat free yoghurt (25p)
1 pack of lightly salted tortilla chips ( 46p )

From your store cupboard:

1 tbsp of plain flour
1 tsp paprika ( smoked preferably but whatever you have is fine)
1 heaped tbsp of mild chilli powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 heaped tbsp of dark brown sugar ( white if you have no brown)
Salt and Pepper ( optional – we only added pepper)

Total cost of Chilli: £3.81

Method:

Preheat your oven to gas mark 4.
Brown your mince and onions together over a moderate heat in a large frying pan, now add your sweet potatoes, garlic, chilli, paprika, flour and cumin and cook for a further 5 minutes until sweet potato begins to soften.
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Now add your stock, chopped tomatoes, sugar and kidney beans and stir well. Pour into an oven proof dish with a lid and cook for 60 minutes.

In the last 5 minutes pop your tortillas onto a baking tray – they taste so good when slightly warm.

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Serve your chilli in bowls with a dollop of yoghurt on top ( perhaps a herb garnish) and some tortillas. You could also sprinkle a little grated cheese over the still warm tortillas.

For very little ones, serve with bread instead.

For the Choc Chip Brioche Bread and Butter Pudding:

3/4 of a loaf of choc chip brioche (£1)
250ml of semi skimmed milk (30p)
250ml of single cream (50p)
3 eggs (45p)
3 tbsp of dark brown sugar ( from store cupboard – white is fine)
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract ( from store cupboard)
Butter/margarine ( from fridge – use whatever you have)

Dessert cost: £2.25

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Preheat your oven to gas mark 4.

Toast your brioche slices and spread lightly with butter/margarine.

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Arrange in a baking dish, slightly overlapping. Beat your eggs, milk, cream, sugar and vanilla together until smooth and pour over your brioche slices. Bake for 30 – 40 minutes until it has puffed up, there is no runny liquid and the texture looks a little like scrambled egg. Serve warm, alone or with cream or custard.

It will easily serve 4-6 people but beware this is so good you will want seconds.

Choc and chip brioche and bread pudding

We served our meal with water for the little ones and a nice glass of Australian Rose for the adults which cost £3.89 for the whole bottle and this wasn’t the cheapest wine you could purchase. There are plenty of nice bottles to choose from £2.99 upwards. We only drank half our bottle so we have the rest to enjoy with another meal.

And there you go. A bargain two course meal for 2 adults and 2 children with wine ( for the adults) for just £9.95.

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Filed Under: Recipes · Tagged: #shop, aldi, aldi ad, Aldi wine, budget meal, Cbias, Collective bias, family meal

A Battery Powered Life – Energizer Batteries Shop

March 26, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 3 Comments

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for #CollectiveBias and its advertiser.

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Where would we be without batteries? At 3am when only Ewan The Dream Sheep will settle my baby. At 5pm when I put Chloe in her swing just so I can have 20 minutes hands free to make food. At 7pm when I need to pump milk and don’t want to be stuck next to the plug socket.

At anytime of day when Izzy absolutely NEEDS her torch. We need them.

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They can get expensive though and buying cheap only means they last half the time. Keeping an eye out for good ones that are on offer or buy one get one free has become a habit of mine.

On the weekend I did my online shop with Sainsburys – I never do a main shop instore with Sainsburys as my local shop is too small but I do like to use them for my online shops. This week I shopped online mainly because I had a £15 off voucher but also because the Energizer batteries I needed to power up the Dream Sheep were 2 for 1.

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Typically when my shop arrived substitutions had been made and the batteries had been replaced with another set within the same brand but not in the 2 for 1. Grrr. It does frustrate me when this happens.

As soon as Izzy saw the packs – she does like to help me put away the shopping- she shouted yay batteries for my torch.

You see I may tell a little white lie every now and again. If I’m a bit fed up of her playing with something I may say its run out of batteries..even if it doesn’t contain them. Bad mammy but I’m pretty sure we all do it.

We had planned an adventure. A walk out to the local forest when it started to get dark for fun with our torches and to try to find some owls..she’s an owl fanatic but once again Pox hit our household ( this time with Chloe) so instead we used out batteries for something which we all need every now and again. And that was to replace the batteries in this..

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I try to avoid too much screen time for Izzy but on days when one of the girls are unwell it can be a real sanity saver.

We made up lots of snacks and settled in for a day of Peppa Pig and Iggle Piggle!

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What do you use batteries for that you really couldn’t do without? Favourite children’s toys? Do you ever make up that something has run out of battery?

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Filed Under: Family, Parenting/baby, random · Tagged: #shop, Batteries, energizer, sainsburys

Bringing The Cinema Home…A Night In with Coca Cola

February 25, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 1 Comment

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for #CollectiveBias and its advertiser.

Having two small children.. one of whom is permanently attached to my chest means we don’t get to do “date nights” at the cinema right now. I do miss these nights as films are our thing. We love watching films together. For Christmas I bought my OH a projector and screen so that we could have our own at home cinema nights. With this shoppertunity from Collective bias what better time to have a movie night in.. maybe with some popcorn, pizza, Coca Cola (caffeine free for me ;-)) and a good rom com.

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Perhaps the rom com was wishful thinking…my OH is not a fan.

Anyway… When life is chaotic as it definitely is for us right now the way to ensure you get some quality time as a couple is in the preparation.

Step 1: Buying the goodies..

Taking two small ones to the shop can be a bit of a faff so first up make sure the store you visit – Tesco for us – has a double trolley. We use the ones with a lay down cradle type for Chloe and a big girls seat for Izzy. Surely making life easier 😉

We buy some Coca Cola..

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Vanilla for him:

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Caffeine free for me:

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Chloe seems to have a caffeine sensitivity so I’ve completely cut it out while I’m breastfeeding.. I’m missing my Cherry Coke!

We also bought ingredients to make salted caramel popcorn, chocolate and pizzas..essentials for movie nights!

Step 2… Tiring the little ones out so we get a peaceful evening.

We head to the local river for a walk and some fresh air. Izzy runs around and Chloe sleeps in her pram – so much for tiring her out!

Step 3.. Making the snacks…

Back at home Izzy helps me to make the popcorn and we let her have a little bit to try along with some pizza and then we get her ready for bed.

If you fancy making the popcorn here is what you need:

A microwaveable pack of butter or salted popcorn
A jar of homemade or storebought salted caramel sauce – try this recipe

Make your popcorn following packet instructions then leave it in the bag while you microwave 3-4 tbsp of caramel sauce for approx 20 seconds.

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Mix the popcorn with the sauce until coated evenly. Divine.

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My OH sets up the projector while I organise the snacks and feed Chloe in the hope she may sleep during the film.

Yum:

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It’s been a while since we took the time to concentrate on just being a couple again and it was almost as good as being in the cinema.. Plus I got to wear my comfy lounging clothes AND make a cup of tea halfway through … I’m getting old!

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Filed Under: Recipes · Tagged: #shop, coca cola, Collective bias, night in

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