Minimalist cookery? What can you save on?

[poocatcherchampion]

I hate having masses of herbs and spices or what not in my larder, which are out of date when I come to use them for the second time, so I am wondering about your tips and tricks to having less. Here are my two to kick us off:

• recipe tonight needed beef stock, we didnt have any so flung some Bovril in hot water and it was good.
• oats as the only cereal, good for homemade granola, porridge and flapjacks

Also we use frozen onions and garlic but that is more about laziness cost and wastage.

Anyone else got one?

Ah - no one...

I tend to use veg stock cubes and a pot of mixed dried herbs for everything. Also i have just started buying bags frozen sliced peppers as we were buying them every week but not using them up.

We buy a bunch of fresh herbs, then freeze the rest- I.e thyme, Rosemary etc but we tend to only use severAl different ones.

if we have wine left over I freeze it in ice cube trays to add to cooking - saves opening a new bottle

also if using lemon / lime juice, zest it first and save in freezer bag. or if just using the zest, zest it then juice them and freeze

don't throw away stale bread, make it into breadcrumbs

always make stock from roasts, and freeze (lots of freezing!)

lol @ wine left over

i dont see why having herbs and spices is a problem.

dried herbs are fine well over date (unless mouldy of course).

but I agree to the 'buy what you actually use' approach.

we freeze leftovers and have a 'bitsy' leftover dinner every couple of weeks or so.

also buy big bags of veg and chop and freeze what we don't immediately use instead of thowing lots of greens out.

Onions and garlic. Buy what you need, if any left over chop and freeze. Same with herbs with a little water in ice cube trays (spices tend to last for ages), including freezing stems separately for when I have bones to make stock. Always use the trimmings and waste from veg to make stock so i always have stock in the freezer.

Sort of meal plan - not on a weekly basis, but check what is in fridge before bed, decide what that can make and then get the meat out of the freezer before I go upstairs.

Oats are great, also buy dried fruit for lunchboxes (break down into small pots. After a week or so chuck whatever is left in "muesli jar (starts as half a jar of oats. Do the same with mixed nuts (cheap from lidl) and left over chop roughly and chuck in muesli jar. Once the muesli has reached eating point then just chuck in fruit/oats and nuts every week to keep a steady supply. If you don't want to wait you can start with shop bought meusli and top up from there.

If you are grating cheese for a sandwich do it into a Tupperware tub, then you can use exactly as much as you need and put any spare into the fridge for next time.

Thanks for the tips. I love the idea of muesli reaching a critical eating point.

I keep a tub of old fashioned custard powder and make up custard from that and milk when needed, rather than buying readymade. I never have to remember to buy custard, because a tub technically lasts for approx 1 million years, and I can make the right amount so no waste.

Not truly minimalist (or perhaps it is?) but I think in terms of minimising effort - 'stuff' to be done rather than purely physical stuff. So your oats only for cereal wouldn't suit us because it would introduce an overhead of regular breakfast prep, that our current cereals eliminate. I even buy Oatso simple because having the oats and sugar all measured out, and cooking properly in 2 mins, simplifies (declutters?) my morning significantly. Of course the actual oats are healthier in many ways than cereals, though they aren't fortified.

It is stating the blindingly obvious but having a designated place for everything helps avoid over-buying. When we end up with 3 of anything, it's usually because I couldn't find the 2 we already had

Re the wine, I keep vermouth in the cupboard for cooking so the wine can all get drunk!

You can buy most fresh herbs already frozen - cheaper and probably fresher than fresh.

I buy fresh root ginger and freeze the whole thing. Easier to grate what you need off the lump when frozen and return the rest to the freezer. The same goes for horseraddish.