Coronavirus food thread

[managedmis]

Thought we could have a food thread for those using up freezer food, batch cooking, using resourceful ingredients etc.

Anyone game?

I've made a big veggie and lentil soup - onions, carrots, swede, cabbage, red lentils and chicken stock.

Today I'm making red pepper, tomato and chorizo soup. Tomorrow will be a large vat of veg soup, some to freeze, some to eat. Made a large lasagna in the week and portioned and froze it just in case.

I'm going to do a whole chicken in the slow cooker, gives enough meat for 3 meals for us.

Made a batch of chilli yesterday & froze half.

We already have various leftovers in the freezer so it'll be a case of using what we've got if we can't get fresh food.

I made two big batches of soup today, and I’ve got veg chilli and Bolognese on the go. Luckily people don’t seem to be panic buying vegetables yet so there’s still plenty to be had!

I made a ham broth yesterday as had an out of date packet of broth mix! 😂

Plan to make a bolognese and pack it with lentils to make it go further.

We are having a chinese style curry tonight as have some mayflower mix and some out of date noodles, freezer prawns and peppers.

If this pandemic has done anything it's helped me to clean out my cupboards!

I’m not someone who cooks from scratch but would like to try and start batch cooking and freezing, anybody like to share their (easy) recipes for soup etc?

Do you have a slow cooker? For soups I just throw a load of veg and stock cubes in and hope for the best!

@juneybean I do have a brand new unopened slow cooker in the loft. Dc is off to overnight respite soon, will get myself to Sainsbury’s and pick up some veg and other bits, I’ve seen packs of veg for casseroles so will go for those.

Perfect, pack it out with lentils to go further, the red tiny ones disappear into nothing but help to thicken!

Luckily people don’t seem to be panic buying vegetables yet so there’s still plenty to be had!

Agree some shelves were totally empty this morning but at least there was lots of fruit and veg.

I’m not someone who cooks from scratch but would like to try and start batch cooking and freezing, anybody like to share their (easy) recipes for soup etc?

I sweat down an onion or two with some garlic for 10 minutes then add lots of chopped veg like carrots, leeks, parsnips, swede etc. Then add water, lentils and seasonings like rosemary, thyme, black pepper and salt not forgetting stock. Boil then simmer for 90 minutes.

@Rhubarbpeony I'm worried if we up on lock down I won't be able to get potatoes, peppers, carrots, fruit we love our fruit & veg!

@DitheringDoris there's a slow cooker Facebook page (actually there's probably loads) which have tons of recipes

@juneybean and @Nquartz thanks for the tips, I have brought all the bits including some braising steak, slow cooker down from the loft and washed, going to give it a bash tomorrow. If it’s successful I will post a photo. If not the dog is having braising steak and carrots for dinner.

I have a Delia Smith book with “cheats” - subbing fresh preps for canned. I’ll be digging it out once the kids are at school Monday and getting some recipes to make a shop up online.

I do have a lot of food here always because I spent my whole childhood hungry. We had leek and potato soup (just leeks and potatoes with stock and cornflour to thicken) with homemade bread (very cheap if you use vegetable oil instead of olive and buy the flour from lidl. Then homemade rice pudding afterwards, we are vegan I use soya milk and bake mine in the oven and it gets a nice skin.

@DitheringDoris Easiest slowcooker recipe I do is campfire stew.
A joint of gammon, a tin of beans, a tin of tomatoes, some frozen onions and peppers and a bit of garlic and paprika .
Chuck it all in and cook for 8 hours minimum. Shred the ham and serve with crusty rolls. Serves 6 depending on the size of your ham.

@DitheringDoris I think the secret to a delicious soup is a good glug of red wine (buy a cheap bottle and freeze portions in tubs/bags) and lots of seasoning.

@hidinginthenightgarden and @SlothTamer thanks so much, campfire stew sounds like my sort of cooking and there’s always plenty of red wine in this house, I have plenty of takeaway plastic tubs that I have saved over the years, always had good intentions of cooking and freezing but it’s never happened.
I’m starting to feel quite anxious about the Coronavirus situation and the thought of trying something new which will occupy my mind has actually lifted my spirits a little.

I have a large piece of brisket.

Tomorrow I'm going to slow roast it for Sunday dinner.

Then I'm going to shred the leftovers and put with a homemade BBQ sauce, stuff that with some rice and refried beans into tortillas. Cover with some more sauce and cheese. I'll get two dishes from that, one to serve and one to freeze.

Then I'll pull a large collar of bacon from the freezer.

I'll cook it and serve it with pease pudding.

I'll use the cooking liquid to make soup with some of the meat plus veggies.

The rest of the meat I'll use to supplement a chicken/bacon pie, use for sandwiches, use thick slices with a fried egg and chips (a bit like gammon), in an omelette etc.

I'll probably get 4 meals from it in total (it's a big piece).

Generally I find I can get more meals from one large piece of meat than buying a pack of chicken thighs or a pack of mince for example.