Frugal Food

Thrifty tips, ideas, news & experiences on anything around the home to shopping to re-cycling etc.
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Spreckly
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Re: Frugal Food

Post by Spreckly »

I have enjoyed reading this thread Stef. We try to be as frugal as possible, from necessity, and rarely have any waste. All the best with your meals.
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Stef
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Re: Frugal Food

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It is really good to read other people's ideas.

OH has just been sent a contract and is just waiting for a start date. So we will have a second wage again )t'

We will continue to be frugal though, I want as much as possible for savings. Must remember to sort out his pension too.

It may be a necessity but I am determined to make frugality fun - an ongoing research project. I will not live like BIL whose wife started all of this with a single sentence:

"We enjoy every day like it is a gift, that is why it is called the present" - she was referring to annual holidays to Sandals resorts, paid for with loans, extended mortgage etc. A present to themselves. It made me shudder then and continues to scare the living daylights out of me know, 10 years later!

I seriously doubt I will ever regret not having had yearly, exotic holidays.
1 dumbo rat still without a name; 2 top eared rats Octavia and Ursula
1 Rhode Rock, 1 Sussex Star, 1 Blue Ranger - The New Monochrome Set

My crafty blog, it's Frugal too http://relovedremnants.blogspot.co.uk/
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Stef
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Re: Frugal Food

Post by Stef »

Salad in a jar!

New one to me. I love salad but hate the fact that we always seem to feed the daleks with quite a lot of lettuce and other soft salad stuff.

But I saw an interesting Pin on how salad can be made up and stored in jars, kept in the fridge and stay fresh for up to a week without going soggy, brown or a bit weepy.

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-pack-the-perfect-salad-in-a-jar-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-192174

You can make up a whole salad, dressing and all, ahead of time. Now, I may love salads but he doesn't. My problem is I like nice salads with lots of bits. They take time to prep and, with just one of us eating them, tend to create a lot of waste. Not any more!

I have quite a few jars of the right size, so I can see myself spending some part of Sunday making up my work lunches. Less waste, more variety and I may never have to set foot in the canteen again :-D

I'll let you know how I get on!
1 dumbo rat still without a name; 2 top eared rats Octavia and Ursula
1 Rhode Rock, 1 Sussex Star, 1 Blue Ranger - The New Monochrome Set

My crafty blog, it's Frugal too http://relovedremnants.blogspot.co.uk/
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lancashire lass
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Re: Frugal Food

Post by lancashire lass »

that's a clever idea - I have a similar problem and find salads too much hassle for packed lunches. I noticed cooked barley - never thought of using it for salads but I imagine it would be a lovely ingredient )t'
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Stef
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Re: Frugal Food

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Well, I wandered round the garden. Picked tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes and lettuce.

I have tins of beans. So I bought a big bag of cheap peppers at the farm market and scoured the fridge.

5 jars of salad now made, 3 Down Days, 2 Up days.

We are having crispy duck for tea. We were given the duck, another one of my swaps - 2 banana breads and a Victoria sponge, and it was marinated and steamed yesterday. The remnants will go in the Up Day salads and in the freezer for empanadas or spring roll things.

We will start shaking trees at 6am - greengages and apples, maybe! Sadly none of the plum trees have much on them. I shall take a bag when I walk in the mornings and see if any others in the hedgerows are doing better.
1 dumbo rat still without a name; 2 top eared rats Octavia and Ursula
1 Rhode Rock, 1 Sussex Star, 1 Blue Ranger - The New Monochrome Set

My crafty blog, it's Frugal too http://relovedremnants.blogspot.co.uk/
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Stef
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Re: Frugal Food

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Oops! I have been using the salad in a jar for a coupe of weeks now, I make 3 on Sunday and eat them on Mon, Weds and Fri. With a little bit of trial and error I have worked out what to put in which layer and have not had any disasters. Just as I worked it out the weather is changing, so soups are back on the menu.

We have been filling up a veg bag. It lives in the fridge and gets made into stock and/or soup on Sunday's. The veg stock this week will be used to make a quick chicken and veg soup. The stock from the Sunday roast chicken will get frozen back... I will make an egg drop soup next weekend.

I have asked the butcher for some soup bones. He will have them on Tuesday, so I will freeze them until I use the oven next weekend - he said he will chop them short for me. My stock pot has been sitting idle for too long....
1 dumbo rat still without a name; 2 top eared rats Octavia and Ursula
1 Rhode Rock, 1 Sussex Star, 1 Blue Ranger - The New Monochrome Set

My crafty blog, it's Frugal too http://relovedremnants.blogspot.co.uk/
Clucky Carol
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Re: Frugal Food

Post by Clucky Carol »

Stef, I love the sound of your ideas, can you let me know more details, and what your veg bag in the fridge is please?
Thank you and love reading this thread.
Carol xxx
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Stef
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Re: Frugal Food

Post by Stef »

Ooh! Thanks Carol.

The veg is literally anything that I find in the fridge that I don't have an immediate use for. Root veg, cauli and cabbage in one bag and others in another - including tomatoes, peppers, fennel, etc, minimum prep, just peeled and frozen as is.

Once I have enough I make a soup with them, or they get picked through and used in a stew.

As there are only 2 of us we sometimes get stuff we just can't use quickly enough and I am tired of feeding the daleks with perfectly good veg.

Recipes come from the BBC Good Food site or my Covent Garden Soup book. I just look at whatever else we have in and sling it all in a pot with some herbs or spices. We never get the same thing twice!

This week we have a lot of odd tomatoes in the greenhouse so I will make a plain passata and freeze that back. We may even have some chillies. I will whizz them down with oil in ice cube trays and freeze them too.

There is no real right or wrong, just trial and error. But you have to be sure you look in the freezer or it starts to take over - a bit like the breadcrumbs :?
1 dumbo rat still without a name; 2 top eared rats Octavia and Ursula
1 Rhode Rock, 1 Sussex Star, 1 Blue Ranger - The New Monochrome Set

My crafty blog, it's Frugal too http://relovedremnants.blogspot.co.uk/
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Linda S
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Re: Frugal Food

Post by Linda S »

Im freezing alot more things now Stef iv always made more spag bol to freezeb but i have made thick bean and veg soup and that froze well and tasted just as good heated through.

Also a couple of weeks ago we went to leeds market and got a big box of mushrooms for 1.50 as well as cherry toms and peppers cheap
I made some tom,mush,onion,and garlic sauce, i left some as that , and i had some cooked chicken so put that in with some and some cooked roast pork in others too.
I made about 15 tasty meals which warm through while the pasta or rice is cooking )t'

Since reading your posts and others on this forum i have made a lot more use of my rescources sp?
Nearly every time i cook now i try to make enough for the next day and try to freeze at least 2 portions.
Its also handy when my daughter comes home from the stables wet and cold by the time she has showered her tea is ready.

So thanks for all your ideas Stef and keep it up I also enjoy reading your posts but dont always comment )t' Lindaxx
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