Frugal Foodies, thread 3! Favourite leftover dishes, avoiding waste, menu ideas. Plus pets, and other chat.

[Ninkanink]

Hey everyone! 🌺🌼🌸

1st thread is here

2nd thread is here

Looking forward to another lovely thread! ☺️ Eat, drink and be merry!

Should say fruit based yeast strains!

Hey everyone!

It was my birthday yesterday so 🎂🍰🧁🍦🍧🍨 for everyone, plus 🍗🍔🌭🥨🧀🥐🌮🍟🍕 and 🥤🥂🍻🍸🍹🍺🍷☕️🍵 too!

Have a great continued weekend! 🌹🌼🌸🌺🌷

Happy birthday @Ninkanink 🎉🎂🍰

Hope you had a great day!

I'm on new meds (antihistamine) and they're helping but knocking me sideways in other ways, drowsy all day, appetite diminished...

Hence not posted in a couple days

Think I'm starting to adjust.

Just had grocery delivery and I have ice cream! Yay!

Fridge & freezer full to bursting and I'm due another delivery Thursday (I wouldn't normally have deliveries so close together but it's down to having to grab slots when I can)

Need to do a meal plan, it does help both with avoiding food waste and making me cook when I don't feel like it.

Would be great if you guys could help?

I have needing used:

Loads of fresh veg (mainly peppers and mushrooms but also baby corn, mange tout, tenderstem broccoli, asparagus)

Half a tin of sweet corn leftover from last nights meal

Half pack fresh filled pasta

Eggs & milk

Half pack grated cheddar

Half pack each quorn pepperoni (opened sunday) and quorn bacon (opened Monday)

Also available but not needing used urgently:

Veg (aubergine and courgettes)

Quorn sliced fillets

Natural yoghurt

Brie

Unopened grated cheddar

Tomato purée

And of course a store cupboard full of various items inc herbs and spices, stock, gravy, instant mash, flour, Tinned veg, Tinned fruit, cous cous, noodles, lentils, chickpeas, stuffing mix, sauce mixes (casseroles and roux style), batter mix...

I'm planning on making scones at some point, debating possibly making some puff pastry to make some kind of savoury tart maybe? The kind you score and lay on a topping and the pastry rises to create the sides? Any tips/recipes for this would be great

At the moment I'm thinking...

Today - something fairly easy, maybe use up the pasta

Tomorrow - poached eggs, asparagus and hollandaise sauce

Monday - toad in the hole

Tuesday - casserole or maybe a curry

Wednesday - stir fry needs to be quick & easy as got to be busy this day

Thursday - vegetable tart or moussaka maybe

Friday - freezer something with chips

Baking - I'm getting low on self raising and haven't been able to get more of either so far. Wanting to save SR for scones but thinking to use plain for puff pastry and possibly a banana loaf? Need to try a different recipe for the banana loaf this time the recipe I used last time was too moist/oily to be honest. Any recommendations?

Indian takeaway tonight. We have a lovely one in the village and fancied a change.

Enjoy your takeaway. I've not bothered as I've had so much fresh in needs using and also there's been a lot in local Facebook pages about the local takeaways taking several hours to deliver here as they're overwhelmed with orders especially at the weekend, and food arriving cold/inedible

Our takeaways aren't great to be honest. One disadvantage of living in the sticks. When I lived in the city it was lovely having good quality and wide variety of takeaways.

Here it's only basic Indian, Chinese, pizza or fish n chips

Happy birthday @Ninkanink! Hope it was a really lovely day with cake.

I’ve been eating Greek mezze leftovers all day. Apparently a fab local chip shop is reopening next week so we’ve got that planned for a treat. Enjoy your Indian weeds, and thanks for the pizza recipe. That’s Friday’s fake away sorted!

@Graphista your delivery is full of lovely things. Definitely screaming stir fry with the baby corn, peppers, mushrooms, mangetout and maybe some quorn.

Are you thinking of making puff pastry from scratch? It’s a bit of a faff and I’d always buy it instead. I’d probably do shortcrust pastry tartlets instead (much less hassle!) and top them with something like Brie and chutney, then eat them with a green salad or some fresh crunchy veg.
This sort of thing...
www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/red_onion_and_brie_80420

Yes I was thinking make pastry from scratch but yea it does seem a faff may add ready made to next delivery.

I just need ideas that are a change from my usual staples of pasta, casseroles and stir fries (I love stir fries but trying to extend repertoire)

Happy birthday @Ninkanink 💓💓

We have a chippy and an Indian ( well, Bangladeshi) and they're both good.
Takeaway was very nice, especially the Bengali lamb.

Rough puff isn't too hard Graphista and ic you have mobility problems with your hands ( I know standing for a long time was an issue) it's easier than shortcrust as you don't rub in the fat, just dice and mix.
Full on puff is fiddly and I don't usually bother, unless I'm in the mood!

Yes standing for long isn't ideal and while hands ok-Ish for the moment (nerve damage means I sometimes lose grip on things or even grip them more tightly involuntarily) it's more my shoulders that can end up sore/aching.

I have "workarounds" for things and some adapted items that help a little.

Rough puff could prove to be your signature pastry then

Sourdough pancakes for breakfastn

Food shop arrives tonight so keen to use up some older food, so:

Fruit salad of strawberry, kiwi and melon for breakfast

Creamed spinach with bacon on toast for lunch - (which used up all the old spinach and some crepe fraiche.

Lunch sounds delicious, I love creamed spinach

I’ve made a vat of bean chilli this morning. Used up some open wine I’d forgotten about (at least three weeks old!) and some sad mushrooms. Not a pretty lunch but really tasty and loads for the freezer.

Forgorren about wine, Purple?
Tut, tut, we'll have none of that here!

Forgotten. Tut, tut, must check before I post!

Maybe weeds

I've just done the dishes and blitzed the kitchen ready for cooking later.

Pancakes look yummy. Might make some tomorrow when making toad in the hole to use up batter

Haven't had spinach for ages, when freezer a little more empty might get some in or maybe some fresh. Creamed spinach sounds yummy easy to make?

@p

Blasted thing posted too soon

@PurpleDaisies chilli looks good! I think we need to remember that food pics in cookbooks and on recipe sites/pages are hugely manipulated not only with IT trickery but "tricks of the trade" eg shaving foam used as "whipped cream" etc our real homemade efforts aren't going to look the same at all

Wine lasts a while here...but is never forgotten

Made some more focaccia. Still haven't quite got the hang of not burning the veg even though I covered them in foil for some of the bake. They'll still taste good though.

I don’t officially know how to make creamed spinach, but I cooked it with a little butter, added some chives, stirred in the creme fraiche and added lots of nutmeg and pepper.

weeds that looks so good

That's creamed spinach Wilderness. Nutmeg with spinach is the best combination

Help yourself dinner of bread, salad, leftover cold chicken and padron peppers

Time for some shoddy pictures of Eid goodies!

I did curried rice, I have made this so many times as it’s just rice made with chicken stock and veg and spices but not in such a big portion before and it ended up a little wet but everyone ate it and enjoyed it so can’t have been that bad 🤷🏼‍♀️

Slow cooked lamb shanks that I’d marinated in various seasonings including baharat spice mix, was really pleased with this as hadn’t cooked lamb shanks before. Did it in a casserole pot in the oven and was falling off the bone.

Tandoori chicken, this was just from a jar but was really nice

Curried roast potatoes, they didn’t get crispy (I hadn’t been to the shop and was ekeing out the last of my oil, usually I’d use more) but tasted really nice

Salt and pepper chicken, bit of an odd one out due to being Chinese but it was requested, first time doing it and apparently it was better than the one from our takeaway but I think they were lying as to me it didn’t even really taste similar.

And then chocolate cake for dessert, I make a good chocolate cake but this is Betty Crocker, I made it last night (well, Saturday as it’s Monday now) and just couldn’t be bothered to do it from scratch.

Not entirely happy with it all but everyone cleared their plates so must have been ok! Have some leftovers so that’s lunch tomorrow sorted now I can eat lunch again!