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

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Hey everyone! 🌺🌼🌸

1st thread is here

2nd thread is here

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

I don’t use my slow cooker much since going veggie. I find most things aren’t as good as in a low oven.

I’m quite keen on trying an instant pot. My sister loves hers.

I use my slow cooker intermittently, and surprisingly it is quite useful in the summer when you don’t want the heat of the oven.

Tonight’s dinner was leftover Quorn burritos from Thursday night reheated in the oven - best burrito recipe ever.

Really annoyed that some of the stars of my meal plan for next week are unavailable in my shopping delivery tonight so will need to plan around this. Why are peppers sold out? And the garlic & herb soft cheese, although nice, is not really going to cut it in my much longer for smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel 🙄😂!

Mine is an Instant Pot ( other brands seem very similar to be honest), it's very easy to use.
I use it as a pressure cooker, yoghurt maker, and rice cooker mainly. I don't think I have used the slow cooker function after trying it when I first got it, not because it doesn't work as a slow cooker, but because pressure cooking is so fast.
I work away from home a lot, so wouldn't be there to put slow cooker stuff in anyway, but I often stop off at Gloucester Services if I'm comming home down the M5 and get beef short ribs from the butcher there.
I can have that sorted and on the table in 30 minutes.

I love Gloucester Services!

Tonight’s dinner was a bit of a faff but a favourite here..
www.bosh.tv/recipes/cauliflower-buffalo-wings

I'd love to try an instant pot but for £80+ it would be an expensive mistake if we didn't use it! We use the health fryer all the time, I'd use my George Foreman grill if we had any room on the worktop to leave it out, but sadly not (we have a tiny kitchen). I have worktop envy at MIL's house where she has acres of space to have gadgets out, prep food etc

Like @PurpleDaisies I don't really use my slow cooker as I mainly cook veggie food, but might dig it out once the DC are back at school and I've got time to work out if we could use it better.

I have gone from running out of onions to having a glut of them thanks to a veggie box delivery and MIL shopping for us, onion soup may be on the menu soon!

I got mine in a black Friday deal a few years back.
I'm sure the cheaper versions do exactly the same job, to be honest!

@Graphista could you just prep your food in the morning so all you have to do later is pop it in the oven?

Decided to cook all recipes from The Roasting Tin this week, so hoping I don't get too many silly substitutions in my Asda delivery tomorrow 🤞🤞

I like the idea of the slow cooker but mine seems to be low heat even for a slow cooker so I need to parboil things like potatoes or they just don’t go soft enough so I don’t really use it that much. Last week when I did my slow cooked lamb shanks I was going to do them in the slow cooker but ended up putting them in a big heavy dish (think it’s a casserole dish, it’s a massive heavy thing we’ve had for years, think it’s ceramic) with some foil under the lid to seal it a bit more as there’s a little hole for the steam, and the lamb was perfect so I think in future I’ll use that dish rather than my slow cooker. I’m in a slow cooker fb group and I wouldn’t dare say about the ceramic dish on there, they are all very passionate about slow cookers and it gets quite nasty if you dare say you think something might be better off being cooked a different way...

I've found my slow cooker doesn't seem to get hot enough these days - it is old though so I wonder if it just needs replacing. Low on 8 hours doesn't cook potatoes, so I tend to stick it on high these days. A tea towel over the top helps keep a bit more heat in as well.

could you just prep your food in the morning so all you have to do later is pop it in the oven? that wouldn't work with this particular task as I can't go near cooker/touch oven until I'm completely done (due to ocd) so that would mean then waiting another 60-90 mins before it's cooked!

I'd be starving!

That's why I was hoping I could cook something very slowly in oven (I have a lidded casserole dish)

@Graphista Don't know if this is any good but I found these recipes that say you can slow cook in the oven. You might have to adjust to °c as they're in °f.
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www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.thedailymeal.com/cook/dont-have-slow-cooker-you-can-still-make-these-15-slow-cooked-meals%3famp

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Also, depending on where you are and your budget, Argos have a small slow cooker for about £13, you can collect or have delivery, again I assume depending on where you are.

@AngusThermopyle thanks I'll have a look at the link tomorrow

It's not cost that's the issue it's delivery under covid restrictions - I'm housebound and the ocd means I can't cope with doorstep deliveries which is all Argos are doing at the moment delivery wise - plus where I live it'd be nicked before I answer the door!

@Graphista not sure about veggie dishes but for my lamb, my lidded casserole dish was better than the slow cooker I’ve been using for sure. As I said I just covered it with foil and then put the lid on to really seal it and stop the steam coming off the tiny vent hole on the lid. I’ve seen recipes before that specifically say they can be done either in slow cooker or in the oven on low.

What’s everyone up to today? I haven’t been shopping in a while so I might head out this afternoon. I’ve got a load of screen time booked this morning doing some work so it will be nice to get out of the house for a bit.

I’ve got leftover brown rice I’m thinking of turning into fried rice. Beyond that, who knows! I fancy trying something new (and veggie).

Long-time lurker here, but wanted to add my vote for the Instant Pot. Fab for tenderising cheaper cuts of meat in very little time (chicken thighs, pork shoulder, stewing beef cuts etc etc), and for pulses that would otherwise need hours of soaking and cooking.

@Graphista, as a PP said, the Instant Pot can be used as a slow cooker as well as a pressure cooker. However, another option would be to prep everything (for a veggie dish) in the morning, leave it in the Pot and then put the timer on so that it switches on and cooks under pressure, v quickly, and is all ready and de-pressurised for whenever you want to eat.
Instant Pots do take a little getting used to, but for people who like to cook and eat but don't have limitless hours to spend pottering in the kitchen, they're a godsend.

@PurpleDaisies back at work full time now (last week I only did mornings) so got some mince defrosting and veggies prepped for tonight, think I will do some kind of soup, maybe with lentils

Think I'll have to stick to doing something quick and easy on the days I do that chore until I can get an instant pot or slow cooker. But I really appreciate all the help and tips.

I may well do the slow cooking in the oven as per tips on days I've got slightly less long chores.

I've not managed to stick to my meal planning at all this week as I'm so sore and I've been sleeping at odd times.

I have 4 brown bananas need using anyone got a good, not too moist banana loaf recipe?

I am liking the sound of the instant pot myself but I really need to stop spending 😳☺️!

My dinner this evening was Satay Chicken & Pineapple skewers with rainbow salad. My tinned pineapple didn’t arrive so my DH got a fresh one from the farm shop. Delicious.

Sorry @Graphista I don’t really like bananas so I can’t help (although I quite like homemade banana ice cream)

Made my soup! I call it Chinese honey soup but that’s just because it’s got Chinese 5 spice and honey in it, it’s not an actual recipe.

Also made banana cakes but @Graphista I don’t use a recipe I just bung it together so I didn’t think that was very helpful to you. They are nice but quite dense, good for breakfast. I added smarties and it turns out the shells melt and look like mould so that was good to know. They taste really good tho so next time I’ll just use chocolate chips like a normal person lol.

I have 1kg frozen artichoke bottoms balefully staring up at me every time I open the freezer drawer - any ideas guys?? The only thing I can think of is hot artichoke and cheese dip...

Graphista you can't go wrong with Felicity Cloake's "perfect" banana bread. It's not too moist, it lasts all week and after the first day you can slice it and toast it in the toaster.

Spam how are you getting on with your Roasting Tin week? I have 3 of them on Kindle bought for a 99p bundle but I have to admit, I love them as inspiration but they never seem to work for me as written. The temperature, timing, and/or liquid is always off. Maybe it's my oven, but the Diana Henry Oven to Table book works perfectly every time. I actually made the lamb with tomatoes, aubergines and harissa this weekend from the first Roasting Tin because I happened to have all the ingredients and again - the oven temp as listed was at least 30c too low, I needed to leave it in for an extra hour (and it could have easily used another hour or two), etc etc. I love the concept but it just doesn't work for me as written. See also: anything by Hugh F-W, including the Veg cookbook that was all the rage on here a few years ago - never works, everything too watery. Also some of Nigella's cookbooks don't work as well as others - How to Eat is rock solid reliable, Domestic Goddess hit or miss, Kitchen and Express weren't so great and I had some duds.

I've just done the meal plan for our Ocado shop arriving Thursday - the same day my parents move in so I've had to up everything by 1/3 and consider what they like to eat so it's all a bit different. Main thing I did was expand the size of the weekly fruit and veg box to "large"!! So we might have some things needing using up. Anyone have a recipe for turnips at this time of year??

We had socially distant drinks in the garden last night with friends, DS2 has gone back to school today and I got a takeaway coffee on the way home from the school run. And our new cleaner did a great job, I'm offering her more hours if she wants it so the house is no longer quite such a shit-tip as it was when DH and I were both trying to work full time with 2 kids online schooling.

Slowly, slowly inching back towards a semblance of normality, but there are many things I won't change - now I know how to make sourdough I'm never buying a £5 artisan loaf again!

I've only done one recipe so far - the spiced aubergine and potato with coconut rice from the first book - my DH was most unimpressed but I quite enjoyed it. Doing a pork shoulder tonight and a bit nervous that the cooking time is a little short, so especially after reading your post I might stick it in a bit earlier.

The slight return to normality sounds wonderful, I'm very jealous! I'm in wales so still very limited in what we can do. Haven't been able to drive for exercise until yesterday (I'm not sure it's strictly allowed now, but you can drive to meet someone else to go for a walk so I assume it's fine...) so we went to a playing field a few minutes down the road just for a change of scenery. My 3 year old totally freaked out though, she was screaming to go home and jumping at everything, poor thing was terrified :( going to take some time to repair the damage of not leaving the street for three months, and god knows how she's going to cope with interacting with other people when that's allowed again. Makes me so sad.

Made some bread pudding today. Not being doing much actual cooking the last few days, it's been too hot, so mainly picnics and salads.

@Weedsnseeds1 I made a fruit cake last night in the hope that it would last all week (DP takes a piece each day for his lunch) but it's dry already! I think I'll be going back to bread pudding...

Really need to clear out the fridge as I'm getting a shopping delivery Thursday and a new veg box on Friday. Just lack the motivation/ energy when it's so flipping hot!

Picnic photo in leui of food.