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!

@Weedsnseeds1 that focaccia is simply stunning. 👏🏻

@ToThineOwnSelfBe chilli dog looks good, may steal idea for own meal planning. And even fussy three year old might eat a hotdog without too much of a fight.

We have one take away open around here. It’s done wonders for my figure but I miss junk food! I’ve been doing fake away type meals on Fridays and Saturdays.

Thank you to whoever recommended Pesky Fish peskyfish.co.uk

I ordered pollack fillets and cuttlefish which are arriving tomorrow!
Cuttlefish is a new one for me...

I thoroughly agree with their ethos

@Weedsnseeds1 thanks for food safety guidance once again

I was thinking similarly re sugar unfortunately I've more icing sugar than granulated might be able to get more granulated though

@ToThineOwnSelfBe welcome from me too, this thread has really helped channel my anxious energy and got me cooking again after a few years of living on pasties and pot noodles!

These guys have me eating more, eating more healthily and from a new feature on my online banking apparently saving me £100's!

Thanks guys!

Thanks op for your reassurance re granulated the casserole was yummy, leftovers now in fridge until freezer more empty

I have acquired 2 packs of ready flavoured giant cous cous which I've never tried before. Now the main reason I love cous cous normally is because it's effortless and doesn't use a pan!

But apparently this stuff needs actual cooking? On the hob is that true? If so can I do one pot dishes with it? Also can it be cooked in oven?

Takeaways round here but from Facebook comments issues with orders being correct and loooong delivery times which would stress me so I'm sticking to home made

Ahh I do love this thread! Might have to start avoiding it during the day now tho as I’m finally able to start fasting for Ramadan! Good inspiration tho...

It was bin night tonight so I went through my fridge and was really annoyed to see I’d let some stuff go off, just totally forgot about it. Annoys me at the best of times as such a waste but especially now when I can’t just run down the shop whenever I want.

I have also remembered I have a huge red cabbage, not sure why I ordered it but need to remember to use it! I love it raw in salads and apparently it’s good in smoothies so might try that. Got a lamb curry marinading for tomorrow so considering cooking some of the cabbage as a topping, I like to cook brassicas separately and for less time as otherwise I find it takes over the whole soup/curry and my house smells like farts for the rest of the night. If I cook it separately, it smells more like someone farted yesterday

I think that’s the kind of thing they should teach you in home ec. I remember a few years ago I cooked a load of veg including cauli and blended it to make a hidden veg sauce and I hadn’t really cooked with cauliflower before and it STANK. I think it was the blending that really did it. I’ve cooked with cauliflower plenty of times since and I’ve never known quite such a smell. My house honestly smelled for days. They should tell you in home ec that brassicas release terrifying fart gas but they didn’t teach me that, they just taught me how to chop fruit and pour juice on it to make a fruit salad.

Also I really miss takeaways, they have been closed where I live and no word yet on when they will re-open.

I love cooking but I’m so bored of thinking what to cook, occasionally I plan ahead and marinade something but when things are normal I generally just go to the shop after work and see what I fancy that day. Today we just had burger and chips from the freezer! Not even in buns. Heck it...

They should tell you in home ec that brassicas release terrifying fart gas

We veggies already know this...but not necessarily from cooking it!

Ramadan Mubarak - I have family who are Muslim, I think I would struggle to fast. Even though I don't eat much I think knowing I "couldn't" eat would have me thinking of nothing but! My relatives are amazing cooks too so goodness knows how they do it!

Nowt wrong with a freezer dinner on occasion sometimes it hits the spot

I really do think it was the blending the cauli that did it, it was horrific. And even tho the end result tasted lovely and not like veg, the nephews still wouldn’t eat it! Probably because they could still smell it lingering in the air.

Thank you, it’s only my second one but last year I found it surprisingly easy! Well, easy in terms of the hunger and resisting food, the tiredness is really hard going. I think because I’m doing it for a purpose beyond just trying to lose weight or anything like that, as on diets I’ve really struggled.

I’m going to be having lots of soups, I found them a really good post-fast meal last time but I also foresee some more freezer meals in my future! When I was getting out the burgers I realised I’ve actually got quite a lot of frozen leftovers so might try and work my way through some of those. Not entirely sure what some of them are but I wouldn’t have saved them if they weren’t nice...probably...

That chowder looks delicious, @Weedsnseeds1 and I would probably eat focaccia with anything, so the combo sounds great to me.

@Ninkanink We have a lot of takeaways, but not a lot of variety. What I wouldn’t give for a Japanese restaurant!!

On the subject of cauliflower, I don't really eat it/cook with it normally. My mom must not like it because I don't remember eating it as a kid at all, so it's never really been on my radar.

Then when those keto cauliflower-base pizzas were all the rage few years ago, I thought I'd give that a go. It took a lot of cauli to make a decent sized pizza base. I think we ate the equivalent of one and half heads of cauliflower each. Oh my. It was the gassiest (is that a word?) smelliest night of my life!!! DH and I agreed we would not try that again, although it was quite tasty.

Thanks for all your welcoming words, lovely people!

@Graphista I had the opposite problem recently, I had plenty of caster sugar and not enough icing sugar and I was making frosting!! The internet told me I could stick caster sugar in the blender to make it icing sugar, but I don't think my blender was powerful enough because for the first day the frosting was a bit gritty, but I think it must have dissolved eventually because by day two the texture was fine.

@ninkanink this aubergine curry is in this months good food and looks delicious.

Weeds that focaccia looks amazing! I now have increased bread goals

Graphista Giant couscous cooks similarly to rice, so if you wanted to do a one pot you could chuck it in toward end of cooking time and simmer for 8-10 min.

ImpatientWino Thanks, it does look delicious! I’ll put that into my file for trying. I do really fancy it fried this time, as we’ve had it in quite a few tagines, curries and casseroles lately. I’ll do a curried flour dusting, I think. But next time I’m in the mood for an aubergine curry I’m definitely giving it a go! 👍

On cauliflower...we tend to roast it, mainly, as that’s our favourite way to have it, plus sometimes fry/simmer (as in aloo gobi), or steam. That keeps the gassy smell to a minimum, I find. Luckily neither of us react badly to brassicas so no, er, significantly increased emissions...😆

Curry has been bumped to tomorrow as we’re in the mood for pork today. Plus it will allow us to use the last packet of ready made sautéed potatoes which was due to be eaten several days ago.

I can definitely see that fasting would be comparatively easier when it’s done mindfully for reasons of faith, transcending the usual diet motivations - it switches the focus from perceived deprivation to the benefits and potential spiritual fulfilment. I have low carbed quite seriously for many years now (with several eased off periods scattered here and there, one of which I’m in now) and find that fasting is actually quite easy if you’re in the right mind frame for it and maybe more importantly, keep the carbs very low/fats very high which really helps for hormone regulation (e.g. hunger/cravings) and sustained energy.

It’s raining today...not really an issue since we’re holed up inside, in fact I do quite like the cosiness factor. And we do need the rain! However sometimes it does bring me to quite a pensive place. I’m going to chill today and try not to let myself get caught up in too much thinking.

I’ve got some bananas to use so I shall be making DH’s favourite loaf cake today.

The big news from the purple household is that Sultana of Swing has started producing bubbles. I gave him a little shake and he was fizzing all over the place. After yesterday’s mould scare, I am now quite hopeful.

Yay, the Sultana lives!
Interesting that he's a he, despite being a Sultana, but all mine are male too, I don't know why!
That aubergine curry does look good.
Unfortunately I have now used all my aubergines.
Roast pork tonight, so will try to use up some of my root veg.
I initially thought mixed root mash, but as I have purple carrots, that may not be the most visually inviting use!
I also have a cauliflower, so maybe just mixed roast veg.

Hmm, yes. I think I was thinking of sultan as male so sultana also male. Now he is fixed as male in my head, I’m not sure how easy that would be to change. Maybe he needs a lady friend.

I’ve got soup for lunch-my super spicy jalapeño one from yesterday. I was really pleased with the Thai green root vegetable experiment from last night. This evening I’ve got a class on so it needs to be something easy. I can’t decide what I fancy, apart from aubergines which we haven’t got.

Maybe he needs a lady friend.

They could go on a date.

(Sorry)

Ha!! That’s genuinely made me laugh out loud.

Sultana is the wife of a Sultan, so female, normally
If one of us produces a female starter, there's going to be a bit of competition from all the males. There's a bit of an imbalance!

I still haven't named my starter, but she is in a Ball jar and is definitely a she, I realised I was thinking of her as a she reading all your posts. Feeling frugal today as I haven't even made a loaf of bread yet, but I made sourdough discard pancakes (trashcakes?) with the discard created as I made the starter. I keep it in a trashpot in the fridge and make pancakes, crumpets, etc.

ByeBye that was me that suggested Pesky Fish! Aren't they brilliant? I have 500g cuttlefish in the fridge right now as well, going to do this Ottolenghi stew tomorrow. I'm also making lobster stock with the shells and shrapnel left over from my 2 lobsters on Tuesday. That will turn into chowder eventually with potatoes, bacon, corn, mussels and smoked haddock!

But as tomorrow will involve so much cooking (and shaping bread, to bake on Saturday) - it's burgers and chips for dinner tonight

Xiaoxiong I have made a similar stew in the past, using octopus. I think it was a Rick Stein recipe, I used. It is delicious, wherever the recipe came from!
A female starter? - I will inform the lads!

In Anthony Bourdain's book "Kitchen Confidential" he talks about a baker of genius (who is also possibly psychpathic), who he refers to as "Adam-no-last-name".

Adam's starter is definitely female as occasionally he disappears and various workmates get calls from him pleading:
"Feed the Bitch... Feed her or she’ll die!”.

It's an interesting book.

Soups make sense for breaking a fast as easy to digest and not necessarily overloading your system.

Hope it goes well for you.

I'm currently sitting doing myself a new schedule for my new normal (with my health issues I need to be organised) and I'm about to include "defrost frozen leftovers to use!" Because I keep bloody forgetting and even though freezer stores for ages it's not indefinite and the quality wanes plus I need the freezer space! For new leftovers 

I am careful to label properly (at least the ocd comes in useful at times) I've got a biro stored in the kitchen now for just this purpose. Easier to write on food bags BEFORE you fill them too.

@ToThineOwnSelfBe When I had a processor (yonks ago now, I don't have room for one now) I did occasionally do that to "Make" caster sugar but I didn't use it for icing just general baking, I'm not big on buttercream to be honest though I know it's become very popular I prefer other types of icing I find it a bit sickly. Don't even get me started on cupcakes!

Giant couscous cooks similarly to rice, so if you wanted to do a one pot you could chuck it in toward end of cooking time and simmer for 8-10 min. oh really? Could I make a type of golden savoury "rice" dish with it then? I've been craving something like that. Back when I had a microwave (again no room here) used to regularly have the golden veg micro rice. Thinking sauté some veg, then add cous cous and some stock rather than just making up with water?

Yay! For sultana of swing hope it works for you

I definitely think of her as female! Creating new life from apparently nothing...lots of feeding, nurturing, growing...turning a bit of flour and water into food for all. I'm going to get a bit feminist mystical in a minute...!

Xiaoxiong mine lounge around, waiting to be fed, then get to do the impressive stuff and take all the credit. Definitely male