Beginner cooks, no fuss, cheap and easy thread.

[picklemewalnuts]

Would anyone be interested?

Basically I'm happy to chat with anyone who wants to, about cheap and easy cooking. I'm great at short cuts. At one time I had a big, high needs family so got excellent at being efficient.
There are better cooks out there, but I'm good when you're under pressure!

I'm good at making a meal out of whatever the supermarket had yellow ticketed!
I'm good at cheap subs for fancy items in a recipe.
No fuss, no frills.

@CPL593H?

Our easiest meal is beans and rice. In one pot make the rice. In another pot take a tin of either black beans or haricot beans (or any type really). Drain them and add them to the pot, then take a packet of taco or fajita mix (very clear if you get the supermarket own brand) and add half of the mixture. Then add a little bit of water to the pot to loosen it all and create some sauce. Heat through and serve on top of the rice. It is so easy and so cheap and delicious. When you feel more confident you could add other ingredients such as onions or garlic but it is fab even without.

Thank you so much.

Can you make tasty things from tins? I often think I should buy tinned goods for the cupboard, but don’t know how to cook with them (I realise this sounds pathetic).

@Hillrunning that sounds delicious

Yes, snowdrops. What would you like to know more about?

From my usuals in my cupboard, I can make:

tomato sauce
Tomato soup
Curry
Pie filling/stew based on condensed soup and meat/veg.
Baked bean casseroles
Kidney beans make amazing refried beans.

Tinned potatoes make good fast roasties.

Fruit can go in a pie or cake. I don't buy much tinned fruit though, I find it expensive.

@rurbane

That sounds exactly like my dd food likes and same happend with us /omlettes..

No good suggestions but yesterday I batched cooked fresh stuff to add to future pastas sources/spaghetti.
Chopped into miniscule pieces celery/mushroom/pepper's etc tons of garlic all the stuff she won't eat and made it into ice cube tray. I figured if I can add a a couple of cube's even once a week to a dish she's getting fresh.

Because of this excellent thread and @picklemewalnuts advice re batch cooking onions in the slow cooker in advance, I had an idea.

The basis for many dishes and sauces, Italian/French/self concocted is the soffrito/mirepoix mix. This is finely chopped onions/carrots/celery in the basic proportions 2:1:1. I can't see any reason why this can't go in the slow cooker (mixed with some oil) and then be kept in the fridge for a few days, or frozen in batches.

Making that base is very often the worst part of cooking anything, so it might help to have it done!

I keep bags of cooked veg in the freezer to save time in the evenings.
-Chopped and fried onions and garlic (for bolognese, chilli, etc.)
-Chopped and fried onions, garlic, carrots (for yuk sung)
-Simmered onions and ginger (for curries)
-soffrito
-Mix of raw chopped veg (for stir fries)

At the moment I'm still adding courgettes to EVERYTHING.

Placemarking as I’m always after new ideas. We don’t eat meat although do eat fish.

We like cabbage, potato and white bean soup - doesn’t sound very appetising but it’s very nice. Onion or leek, celery, carrot and cabbage with tinned beans - I usually use butter beans, some tomato paste and stock. You can switch the veg for whatever you have in that needs using really, and I usually stick some dried herbs and garlic in. DH covers his in chilli flakes as he does most food!

You could also use bacon/ chorizo or some other meat.

We like porridge - cooks even quicker if you soak the oats in the milk for a bit/ overnight. I make enough for a few days usually. Often add grated carrot/ courgette/ apple (lucky to be getting apples from MIL’s tree at the moment) or frozen berries. Other toppings we might add depending on what’s in

• Nut butter or ground nuts
• milled seeds
• desiccated coconut
• cinammon, nutmeg or all spice
• vanilla extract

We’ve been known to have it for dinner some nights - especially if DH isn’t in - as DD loves it and it’s quick and easy.