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’d keep boiled eggs (unpeeled) in the fridge for about a week. I think it’s pretty normal for bread a room temperature to be going or dry by the end of a week. Do you find your bread isn’t great after freezing? I can’t really tell the difference. It might be worth trying wrapping it more closely so it freezes better. Then you can get it out a few hours before got want it and let it defrost.

Because of the heat, all bets have been off for proper cooking this week. I’ve made a really easy soup for lunch-big spoon of curry paste, tin of coconut milk and a roasted sweet potato cooked a week ago. It was really nice.

Tonight it’s more freezer food but tomorrow should be a Wagamama feast from their wok from home series.

I made a really great salad for lunch! Filling enough with the nuts and cheese, cold and crisp from the apples and spinach. It was total retro 1990s but who cares, it was delicious.

Baby spinach leaves
An apple, cold and crisp from the fridge, sliced thin into half moon slices (could have done strawberries but I didn't have any to hand)
Feta
Toasted walnuts
Thinly sliced salad onion
Dressing of dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, olive oil, a small clove of garlic grated to a paste, salt & pepper

I usually have boiled agg and soldiers for breakfast at teh weekend, and I'll boil a couple of extra eggs at that point to have duirng the week. They keep really well.

Last night was cauliflower cheese. Tonight I think I will use up my Thai red curry paste, so I'll see what veg I can find.

I find bread out the freezer can be a bit "damp" if not toasted. Plus I'm no good at organising myself and don't necessarily know when I'm going to want untoasted bread in enough time to defrost.

Thanks re eggs I shall give that a go.

Am I also right in remembering @Weedsnseeds1 saying fresh filled pasta is ok for a while past use by date? I've some dated today, which I'll probably have for dinner later but I can't eat all of it.

Really nice lunch today- Nadia was making egg and mushroom rolls on telly, and DH said oooh those look tasty!

I managed to produced the necessary ingredients- eggs, tinned mushrooms, black olives, and had some tortilla wraps in the freezer which I defrosted. And a tub of red pesto which needed using. Versatile recipe for using up bits and bobs.

Whisk about one and bit eggs per person in a bowl with garlic granules, herbs, salt and pepper. Heat some oil in a flat pan and put the egg in to cook, you want it quite thin. Top with mushrooms and olives ( or ham and cheese, or jalapeños and chicken, whatever you have)

Smear a tortilla wrap with sun dried tomato paste ( I used red pesto
) Recipe says small wrap, I managed with thE regular size ones ok.

Place the wrap, spread side down, onto the Egg, and squish to ensure they meld together. Carefully turn over so the tortilla side cooks for 30 seconds or so. Remove from pan, and roll. Serve sliced in 2.

Can be made in advance and served cold, or frozen for later use.

Ooh Segregate that sounds great, I love egg frankies! That sounds like a sort of all-in-one version compared to the ones I've had before, where you stir fry a lot of veg, ginger, garlic, onion, chili etc together to make filling, and then separately you make the omelette and press a paratha down into the egg. Then you roll that entire thing around some of the filling like a burrito. And did you feel very smug having been able to pull off something you saw on TV right then and there??

I conquered a demon today - I made quiche and it wasn't a disaster!!!! I used ready roll shortcrust because I had to use it up, and the "perfect" recipe in the Guardian. It was slightly touch and go for a while, the pastry case shrank more than i was expecting so a bit of the filling ran out but at least it didn't pour straight down onto the floor of the oven like my previous disasters. I have had SO MANY quiche incidents over the years that DH actually gently suggested that maybe I should step away from quiche for a bit. I also have in the cupboard 3 china quiche dishes, 2 glass and 4 metal of various sizes and shapes, all from trying and failing. But now I know I can make one there is no stopping me!!

Dinner is distinctly UN-frugal - I had a gift from one of DH's students of a 3kg rib of beef(!!!) so we are having roast beef, dauphinoise potatoes, honey glazed carrots, gravy, green salad and yorkshire pudding for dinner. Luckily, since we only had quiche for lunch we are all very hungry...

I love the sound of those @SegregateMumBev. I’ve got tortillas that have been in the fridge for ages so I’ll try them one day for lunch.

Tonight’s dinner was a Wagamama wok from home special. Spent ages in the kitchen but it was so nice. Loads of leftovers plus bottles of the base sauces ready for next time. I didn’t have wasabi paste but pretty much everything else was as on the video.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=KgZ3v1GSvo8

I haven't been very frugal recently as DP has come home with pizza and fish & chips but have cleared out the fridge today and made a cottage pie, risotto and chocolate & beetroot brownies. Had a very small veg box delivered this week so probably need to get another one soon, and DS2's strawberries went mouldy really quickly, which made him very sad (he's only 4)! I keep thinking I'll just pop to the shops and get some more, then I remember that even our little local shop usually has a queue to get in...

Wow Xiaoxiong 3kg of beef! Everything sounds lovely.

I have just eaten my first home grown courgette (fried with garlic, tomato and basil) and on some homemade bread toasted. However, it was slightly bitter - any tips?

Also, I have almond milk to use up. Had it in porridge today which was fine but could do with some other ideas.

I used up the almond milk in bread sauce, and the last of it in a chicken pie today. Today’s pie uses up the leftover roast chicken and stuffing from Sunday.

The leftover pastry from the pie has been made into cheese straws. Can you tell, I’m on a bit of a roll here?

Ah I was going to suggest pancakes to use up the almond milk. Makes them taste nice and nutty. Oat milk works well too!

A nice lunch today - halved a load of cherry toms that were on the turn, tossed with a sliced red onion, pitted olives cut in half, some minced garlic, oregano, the stalks of flat leaf parsley, salt pepper and olive oil. Then I put a block of feta in the middle of a small oven proof dish and dumped the tomato-olive-onion mixture on top, baked at 200c for 15 mins and ate with toasted ciabatta. The feta goes all warm and squishy, it's a nice veggie lunch for a grey day when you wish you were on hols in the Med

Made a fish pie tonight to use up an old bag of fish pie mix that I found buried in the freezer (my daughter used to eat it before she decided to just exist on chicken nuggets). I can't stand fish so I had something else, but my 6 month old was covered in it 🤢 I made DH do bath time tonight...

Joe Wicks veggie book tonight. Love Joe, and his recipes are often inventive. But far too big in quantities, and he insists on calling broccoli "midget trees", but then not listing either of the terms in the index!

Anyway, good way of using up a bit of stale bread and a lump of cheese.

1 head brocoli
1/2 onion
60g grated cheese (any, I used blue)
60g breadcrumbs
1 egg

Cook the brocoli until soft. Add to a big bowl with the cheese, chopped onion, breadcrumbs and egg. Season with salt and pepper, and herbs. A sprinkle of mustard powder is good too. Mix well togther.

Recipe says to shape them into "tots" amd bake for 15 mins. I put mine in a muffin tin, hoping to keep some for grab-and-go breakfasts or quick lunches.

Those broccoli things look good

I found a merchant gourmet lentil pouch from a self catering holiday two years ago which expired last month and a tin of tomato soup about to expire so goodness knows when I bought that, so making a layered potato hot pot thing with them with cheese on top for lunch

Have Sourdough bulk fermenting so 'things on toast' going to feature next few days, so many possibilities

That veggie lunch sounds delicious @Xiaoxiong! I've been using up lots of leftover veg in pasta bakes for DP's lunches. He came back with a very large bag of potatoes tonight - I have no idea how we're going to eat them all before they go off

I've got half a jar each of red peppers and artichokes that need using. All suggestions welcome! I find the peppers a bit sweet really, so haven't enjoyed when I've used them in a pasta sauce in the past.

Add a roast red pepper when you’re making humous.

Either would work in frittata muffins

Pizza toppings

Big salad bowl with baby spinach, hard boiled egg, cucumber tomato olive etc.

Red pepper blitzed into a salad dressing

@Xiaoxiong come and cook lunch for me, it sounds perfect.

@Spam88 could you use them with cooked chicken, new potatoes And something punchy like rocket in a warm salad?

Two stale fruit scones sliced and used for “bread” and butter pudding this evening - surprisingly successful.

My new chest freezer is taking forever to fill. I keep buying a bit extra every week but still. I love having it as a comfort blanket.

I've been cooking a lot of Chinese food recently, it's so brilliant for using up bits and bobs since you can make multiple small dishes if you only have eg. one aubergine or 12 prawns.

So far this week I've made clams with black bean and chili, sweet and sour aubergine, and mapo tofu. Tomorrow I'll make prawns with garlic, ginger and soy. And for tonight, I've got some pork belly marinading in 5 spice and Chinese rice wine for our neighbours coming round for dinner tonight, super exciting! Alongside I'll make tofu with avocado, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, some kind of green veg with oyster sauce, and rice.

But first...fish finger sandwiches for lunch!

Not particularly frugal, but Hello Fresh managed to lure me back in with some money off boxes, so I've got a couple of those coming over the next few weeks. Anything for a break from the meal planning!

Leftover veggie lasagne from earlier in the week Tonight, with a garlic pizza bread thing that’s been in the freezer for AAaAAgES!

And mmm sweet and sour aubergine sounds tasty!

Used up my leftover roast beef and some wrinkled plum tomatoes in some beef tostadas. Was actually pretty tasty.

Yesterday was a good using-up day! I made lamb mince curry which finished off 3 bendy carrots, a half box of frozen peas, the last of the ginger. Made raita alongside which finished off a pot of yoghurt, half a cucumber and a lot of fresh coriander.

For lunch I made a quiche which used up a whole pack of butter for the pastry, a lot of double cream, and all the rest of the eggs and bacon.

Today for lunch we'll finish off some smoked salmon, cream cheese and ciabatta, and for dinner I'm going to make something called "three pork soup" which basically ticks off almost everything else I have to use up: bacon, potatoes, turnips, savoy cabbage, chorizo and white beans!

I found it through that amazing Eat Your Books site which allows you to google your cookbooks. It's really helping me use stuff up at the moment.

Recipe here:
books.google.co.uk/books?id=QzZhicXEZ3cC&pg=PT466&lpg=PT466&dq=mark+bittman+three+pork+soup&source=bl&ots=YBg2xKCUSd&sig=ACfU3U2NDFbqZePahZktxTiyyNzTqQ0GcQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiJvJny_7XqAhWBh1wKHRgBBYQQ6AEwAHoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=mark%20bittman%20three%20pork%20soup&f=false

Made a veggie chillie to use up passata, pepper, carrots, and end of a jar of chillies. Leftovers for lunch today, and with a baked potato for dinner tomorrow.

Tonight will be pasta with grated courgette and pesto, maybe add some preserved lemon paste.

Tips please for smashed bits of lasagne sheets!