Alternatives to packet casserole mixes etc?

[Annababy]

I make a lot of casseroles and those bag and spice mix meals.I would like to replace the packet mixes for proper fresh or dried ingredients-I imagine once I have a store of herbs etc it would probably be cheaper anyway than buying packet mixes at nearly £1 each time!
Any suggestions will be great,

salt, pepper, cornflour (that's what's basically in those packet mixes).
I would get a good selection of spices, for example:
paprika (goulash, chilli)
cumin (indian)
caraway
oregano (mexican, italian)
herbs de provence
cheyenne pepper
thyme
rosemary

I tend to put whatever I have in! Start with a base of stock - either home made, or stock cube, or you can even buy gels which you dilute, and ready made fresh stock. For a quantity, put all the "chunky" ingredients into the casserole dish and cover them about 2/3 to 3/4 with stock. You can then top this up with other liquids (can include extra water if you have lots of flavoursome ingredients) - the finished liquid level should be roughly level with the top of the veg and meat. I tend to go for slightly under so that they are poking out by a couple of mm, but it depends how much gravy you want.

Then dried herbs, or even fresh if you have any space to grow them - often when you look on the jar it will tell you "Goes well with chicken and fish" or "Complements potatoes and lamb" etc. Supermarkets change their labels a lot so if you can't find any with tips, try looking on jars or packet sauces, in the ingredients, to gain an idea of which herbs and spices work well with which other ingredients. You can also use things like bay leaves and bouquet garni, which you remove after cooking.

Salt and pepper almost always help. You can top up the stock with things like wine, beer, cider, cream/milk, tinned tomatoes, coconut milk, whatever will complement your meal (obviously not all of these at once ) and you can add a dessertspoonful/tablespoonful (for a larger casserole) or so of ingredients like mustard, yoghurt or cranberry sauce etc to add a background/extra depth to the flavour. This is a weird one to judge as it tends to not come through explicitly - I can never taste the mustard in my beef casserole, but it just adds something which is missing without it.

If your main ingredients are fairly plain or limited, try adding some more strongly flavoured things like bacon, garlic, peppers, chillis and onions, again, probably not all together. Lots of different vegetables such as leeks, turnip, swede, parsnips, carrots. I don't like to put potato in things, it soaks up the flavour too much, I tend to serve with mashed or baked potatoes instead.

If you have used mainly very liquid ingredients like stock and wine, you will want to thicken up the sauce a bit. Either stir some plain flour into your saucepan/frying pan when you are browning the meat, and make sure this makes it into the casserole dish or slow cooker, or if you skip this step then mix cornflour with a small amount of water in a jug or mug until it makes a smooth paste and add it in. You need more than you think.

Experiment! If you're nervous, try following recipes, but generally you can play around with quantities of ingredients etc to see what works and what doesn't. I find a slow cooker is really helpful because you can literally just throw everything in, switch on and leave it and even if it's not perfect it's still nice because of the slow cooked nature of it. If a sauce is bland when it comes out, you can always add salt, pepper, mustard etc on plates, and make a note for next time.

Echo what bertiebots says, EXPERIMENT it's pretty hard to make food inedible unless you go overboard on hot chili and similar foods that make it too spicy - and even then yogurt will normally rescue it.

Soy sauce, worcestor sauce, balsamic vinegar etc. also perk up stews quite a bit, but just try things out looking on the packages or in the prepared food aisle for what flavours probably go together.

Worcester Sauce is a useful store cupboard ingredient. And if you are making a beef stew, using a bottle of beer (not lager) as the liquid makes an excellent casserole.

Second the idea to get hold of a few basic cookbooks. You can make lovely casseroles with very simple ingredients. Wine, stock or tomatoes for liquid. Salt, pepper, various herbs, Lea & Perrins and stock cubes add extra flavour. Thickness can come from flour, lentils, barley, potatoes or a simple reduction. If you start with a few recipes you'll soon be creating your own flavours.

Thanks so much!these are exactly the kind of things I wanted to know,but just have no idea about!!
Definitely lots of things there that I need to bulid up in my store cupboard,and lots of things that I had never thought of-like adding beer or Worcester sauce.I think I need to now experiment,looking forward to trying some ideas out.
We have been talking about a slow cooker,is it really worth it do you think?we both work full time and have 2yr old dts so things like casseroles,pasta bakes etc work well as we take it to work and dts have it at the cm.

Easy peasy sausage casserole:- This would make a dinner and enough to take to work/CM the next day (if you are not greedy like we are!).

2 finely chopped onions
one or two cloves of garlic
three finely chopped celery sticks
three finely chopped carrots (can add leeks too if you have any that need using up)
Fry the above for a couple of minutes - you want to start softening them but not to colour them. Add a teaspoon or more to taste each of grainy mustard, honey and paprika plus a pinch of chilli flakes and good grinding of black pepper. Add tub of passata and some water (i just fill the tub). Cook for about 40 minutes in the oven. Add a drained tin of green lentils (you could do it with dried green or puy and add with the water - would need more water then) or a drained tin of butter beans plus a packet of sliced veggie hotdog sauasages and cook until all warm and bubbly.

You can cook it on the stove too but I like to stick it in the oven and ignore it.

I can spell sausages really.

I don't have a slow cooker because I have an oven with an automatic timer.... v useful if you're out all day.

Simple Beef Casserole (serves 4)
1.5lbs shin beef, diced
oil or beef dripping
1 onion, peeled and cut into big chunks
vegetables cut chunky.... carrots, new potatoes, celery, etc.
plain flour
salt/pepper
dried thyme
Bayleaves
heaped tablespoon tomato puree
1/2 pint Beef stock, Guinness or red wine (less in a slow cooker)
Lea & Perrins

• Heat oven to Gas 2 (150C) and have ready a heavy casserole dish with a well-fitting lid
• Place the beef cubes in a plastic bag with a tablespoon of flour seasoned with salt, pepper and thyme. Shake well
• Cook the floured beef cubes in some oil or beef dripping until nicely browned. Place in the casserole dish
• Brown the vegetables in the same pan before adding to the pot.
• Tuck in one or two bayleaves with the meat and vegetables
• Rinse the frying pan with some beef stock, beer or wine, scraping up all the browned juices. Pour this over the top.
• Add the tomato puree and a dash of Lea & Perrins. The liquid should come almost to the top of the casserole contents.
• Place on a lid and bake in the oven for at least 3 hours. (Slow cookers take a lot longer). Check the meat is tender before serving and add more seasoning if necessary.

Somerset pork, brown a finely chopped onion in 2tbsp oil and a knob of butter, coat your diced pork in seasoned cornflour, I use salt, pepper, cayenne, dried sage and some mustard powder as seasoning. Brown the meat add 3 sliced eating apples. Add a bottle of cider, I tend to use Katy. Add a little Veg stock if needed. Cook for 1.5-2 hours. Lovely served with whole grain mustard mash or colcannon.