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

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Hey everyone!

1st thread is here

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

💐 and 🍰 and ☕️ to all!

Aww that's one fluffy piggy!! Ivy waves hello too ❤️ or at least she would do if she wasn't permanently sleeping....

Black cat is ginormous!!

Here is a map of where to buy wholesale flour, by postcode, if anyone is struggling

www.nabim.org.uk/news/article/1926/online-map-showing-consumers-where-they-can-buy-flour

Oh don't even talk to me about bindweed!

Squeeee at the little piggy! 🥰🥰

The beautiful cats are lovely too!

Pet photos are allowed to excess, just to be clear!

Today’s lunch will be the other half of the ready made tortilla, plus a cheese and ham sandwich while the bread is still reasonably fresh.

Dinner is going to be a ready-made creamy potato gratin, along with stuffed turkey breast steaks from the freezer and whatever veg I fancy when I start cooking.

Now that there is a little room in the freezer again I am going to freeze some of the leeks, spring onions and peppers.

So my vegan treat box just arrived (that was dispatched on the 4th April!!!!)

It has cauliflower flavour crisps inside. Yes cauliflower. I like cauliflower and eat quite a lot of it but I'm unsure how I feel about this. I'll report back after I have tried them.

In other exciting news it also contained cruelty free and paraben free cocoa butter soap. Which is lovely :)

I am loving all the animal photos. We have two guinea pigs...
The white one is quite a haughty little madam but she makes up for it in fur. Mr Pig is a proper comedy character who is excellent for disposing of leftovers.

Where did your treat box come from @cricketmum84? It sounds brilliant. I’m in need of some bubble bath and I always buy vegan, cruelty free.

@PurpleDaisies it's from The Vegan Kind. They do a treat box that has crisps and snacks and a beautiful product or they do a beauty box.

I pay £13 a month but it's literally the only thing in this house that I can say - that's just for me!

Have posted pics below of what I got this month :)

Ooh, fab! I know what to ask for for my birthday!

@Igneococcus ok to pm you the info? Bit outing for me to say as I'm ALWAYS recommending them on sm.

I can't participate in the pet photos as don't have any at the moment, in the past I've had dogs, gerbils, hamsters, fish...

Grew up with dogs and would love to have one now but it wouldn't be fair on the dog as due to bouts of housebound agoraphobia it wouldn't get exercise.

Yeah, that's fine Graphista, thanks.
I wonder when we'll be able to go to Glasgow, we had a Kelvingrove and going out for nice food trip planned for the Easter holidays.

Pm sent hope my directions make sense

Yes, thanks Graphista, I'll find that no problem. It looks great.

@Graphista - do you still have a lot of milk to get through? Ive just seen a recipe done by Jamie Oliver to make ricotta cheese with milk and a little vinegar! Will post recipe later if you like.

I've managed to use the milk thanks, only a little left now.

I've aubergines & courgettes to use at this point and I don't really want to do ratatouille again as still got last batch in freezer!

I fancy a curry or chilli but needs to be a mild recipe with the ingredients I already have which I'm struggling to find, thinking I'll have to create my own and hope it turns out ok!

I really need to start planning for the next day and taking stuff out freezer to defrost! I keep forgetting

What else could go in curry @Graphista? My new favourite is an aubergine dal made with dried red lentils, coconut milk, tinned tomatoes and standard curry spices.

I’ve been taking ibuprofen all day and my stomach is feeling a bit so it’s a beige freezer tea for me.

@Graphista

This aubergine chilli has been highly recommended on another thread:

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/burnt-aubergine-veggie-chilli

And I don’t know how many of these ingredients you have but it might be an inspiration at least:

www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/aubergine-recipes/stuffed-curried-aubergines/

Or maybe this one from thread number one:

notesonaspanishvalley.com/2017/10/22/a-cassoulet-of-aubergines/

• it calls for breadcrumbs for the topping which you can’t do without a machine for blitzing, but you could do croutons instead.

@Graphista what about Turing the courgette into courgetti? Spiral use and then do an aubergine chilli on the side but only mildly spiced?

I have an abundance of broccoli today so trying Parmesan roasted broccoli with vivera dairy free Parmesan :)

Spiral use = spiralise

Aubergine and courgette in a curry with one of your cans of lentils or chickpeas. You could even throw in some ratatouille for a tomatoey element.
Cumin/corriander/ginger/garlic/chilli etc to suit what you have available.
Fry an onion in a bit of oil, fry spices, add and fry diced aubergine / courgette, throw in tomato/ratatouille and pulses, bit of water, salt to taste and simmer.

What else could go in curry:

Quorn chicken style pieces
Baby plum tomatoes
Peppers
Shallots
Garlic
Mushrooms
Mange tout

Could but would rather save as tinned :

Chickpeas
Green lentils
Tomatoes
Sweet corn
Green beans

As op says I've nothing to make breadcrumbs or spiralise courgette with. I've only a manual grater.

Don't know how much of spices to use as also don't have any coconut milk which the mild recipes I've found seem to rely on to turn down the heat.

I have creme fraiche though

Oh yes courgette ‘pasta’ is nice. We just use a peeler to peel it into long strips. You don’t even need to cook it - just put the hot tomato sauce on top and it’ll cook it through just enough to be super tasty and still very fresh.

The prawn and courgette linguine recipe I linked to a little while back in the thread would also be just as nice without the seafood element, as long as you have basil or can get it, and you can add as much or as little of the chilli flakes as you like. You could have it with pasta (any type will do) or it would be nice as a topping for bruschetta.

I like the idea of using some of the ratatouille although it's kinda the point to use up CURRENT stocks of aubergine and courgette

Thinking courgette and bacon pasta tonight and make a curry on thu, I've a big chore to do tomorrow so an easy dinner on the cards probably a beige freezer to oven job.

I make moussaka with layers of sliced aubergine and courgette.

About a teaspoon of most spices, but less of the chilli if you aren't keen on heat.
You can make breadcrumbs by grating bread.
I wouldn't put mange tout in a curry, but that's just personal preference.
You could use the tomatoes and shallots though.