Frugal Foodies, thread 2! Favourite leftover dishes, avoiding waste, menu ideas.

[Ninkanink]

Hey everyone!

1st thread is here

Hope that link worked! I’ve never done it that way before...

💐 and 🍰 and ☕️ to all!

Oh and some spinach from the freezer!

Ooh very pretty weeds

Evening All!
Beautiful looking loaf Weeds and tasty looking dinner Ninka!
Sorry to hear about the excessively long days Cricket glad to hear you’ve got a welcome break now.
Leftovers for me this today (tortilla for lunch and stroganoff for dinner). The kids had freezer dinner tonight and DH will have some pasta I think.
We managed to get a click and collect slot for tomorrow, so DH will go while I’m working and baby is napping. I’ve basically ordered all the vegetables and fruit, very excited about that arriving as were down to our freezer and a few tired ends now.

@cricketmum84 re "wafer thin ham" had SO many discussions/arguments in cafes and restaurants about poultry and fish NOT being vegetables!

Bless both grans used to pile my plate high as they were convinced I wouldn't be getting "enough" if I wasn't having meat.

Even quorn wasn't widely available until the late 90's.

The onion tears thing is why I stick to shallots or frozen diced onions. I've tried ALL the "tricks" over the years and none have worked. It's not a minor irritation for me it blinds me for hours!

Impressive fancy slashing weeds

Fish as a vegetarian offering used to be quite common in the 80s, for some unknown reason!
I think chain pub offerings are still quite poor. Tends to be macaroni cheese, halloumi ( usually in burger form), some sort of insipid mock curry and ceasar salad ( without chicken, anchovies or parmesan).
Or mushroom risotto!

Oh dear - the first Christmas after my daughter became vegan I bought her a Cadbury Dairy Milk Advent calendar

I mean - the clue's in the name right?

(She never said a word. I realised in time and got a replacement. Happy ending)

A school I worked in two years ago had fish fingers as a veggie option until I spoke to them about it!

Noodle soup, with soya knots. Look like dog chews, but one of my favourite ingredients for this type of meal
Very tasty, but surprising filling.

I think chain pub offerings are still quite poor

I agree.

I'm quite easily pleased being there's very little that's veggie that I don't like.

But it is disappointing to see the same dishes as the veggie option repeatedly.

As you say normally a pasta dish, mushroom risotto and goats cheese tart.

LOTS of veggies (well people generally) don't like mushrooms and goat cheese and frankly there are SO many delicious veggie dishes it's really quite lazy of them.

The prices are usually a piss take too. I've worked in the food industry and understand extra costs for overheads etc but in some places £10 for pasta and tomato sauce?! Usually without any extra veggies or even garlic bread included! Total rip off!

I hate weatherspoons on principle for several reasons but sadly they're actually one of the better ones as they've done a deal with quorn so there's quorn dishes included too and they do a veggie Cooked breakfast, which many of the chains don't.

Where I live a cooked brekkie is HUGE (Scotland) so independent places are actually very good for either having a veggie version on menu or being very happy to accommodate making me up a veggie version (fried eggs, tattie scones or hash browns, mushrooms, beans, grilled tomatoes, toast or fried bread)

I'm afraid I've resorted to a lacy beige freezer meal tonight as I had a lousy nights sleep and I'm REALLY Sore today (muscles, nerves AND eczema)

So I'm having veggie Kiev (Tesco not tried before), chips and beans. Does mean freezer a little emptier though, so hopefully next few days will make a casserole or a chilli maybe to pop in freezer.

Tonight’s dinner was lamb mince from the freezer fried down with red onion, courgette and red pepper. Added ras el hanout and lots of harissa.

Roasted a halved aubergine with garlic, mixed herbs, chilli flakes and plenty of olive oil.

Made some houmous.

Served with pita breads.

Also the photo is misleading - we had six pitas between us, just in case anyone gets the idea that we’re the kind of household where it’s one each. 😄

Looks lovely Ninkanink
And mmmm tattie scones Graphista!
I spend far too much of my normal life in hotels for work and Premier Inn in particular gives me a sense of foreboding.
They are always attached to z Brewers Fayre, Thyme, Bernice Inn or whatever, that all have the same menu, all bought pre-prepated, frozen and deep fat fried / microwaved.
The accommodation is fine, but the thought of the food depresses me?
I much prefer to pick an independent if I can, not a guarantee of great food , but I havd stumbled across some gems over the years.

Re: the veggie offerings - yes, they are still often terrible! Amd sometimes only one option. I have a colleague who is coeliac and vegetarian; a quick work lunch was horrendous to find somewhere she would have had choices and this is central London!

I used up bacon by wrapping it round frozen chicken breasts, with pesto, butter and cheese. With mash and kale.

Used up the following in a thai curry for tonorrow:
Roasted a cauliflower (while baking the chicken)
Green beans
Red pepper
Somewhat sad 2 x small carrots
Shallot
And have a courgette sliced to have as sort of zoodles to go with it.

Hoping DP has to shop tomorrow, then I can get him to chuck a bag of prawn crackers in....

New veg and meat box coming tomorrow - always exciting!

I’ve been off colour today. Dh made pasta with quorn meatballs for tea. Tomorrow I’m planning on getting through some of the root veg.

Hope it's nothing serious PurpleDaisies?

Nothing bad weeds, just particularly bad period pain and the pain killers I took made me feel nauseous and dizzy all day. Thanks for asking though.

Independents are my favourites.

I've raised dd to be a total foodie too and she despairs of friends of hers who won't try anything more adventurous than Nando's!

She's just about now got them to try "Japanese" in the form of yo sushi! 

Whereas if she and I are going out to eat we'll go to an independent Japanese place we know that is tucked away in a side street in glasgow. Owned and run by a Japanese family I said to dd you know it's authentic when most of the customers are also Japanese (we get chatting to other customers most times we go it's a fabulous place)

@PurpleDaisies Sorry you're feeling rough, hope you feel better soon

Ah, I want to say "that's good", which isn't exactly the right response, but you know what I mean!
Get well soon

I know what you mean! Thanks. Just waiting for the last load of cocodomol to do rtye business then it’s bed time. New day tomorrow.

Here is a gratuitous picture of my huge cat sunbathing, as pet photos are allowed in moderation!

Whereas if she and I are going out to eat we'll go to an independent Japanese place we know that is tucked away in a side street in glasgow.

Graphista, can you tell me which restaurant that is? I have a dd as well who'd walk over hot coals to get to a good Japanese restaurant.

I have an infestation of miner's lettuce in my potato bed. This is yesterday's haul. My lunchtime salad is secured until the potatoes grow too big.

Handy having an edible weed, I mainly have bindweed!

That cat weeds!!! If we’re going for gratuitous pictures of pets...

Awww, love a Guinea pig!