Emergency food tin

Galtizz · 3 November 2004 at 3:34PM

As a gift for a young man I know who has just moved into his own home I want to make an emergency food tin. !The idea being that provided he keeps the tin stocked up with a certain 10 cheap long(ish) shelf life items he will always have food to eat. !He is a meat eater, but will eat veggie food. !He isn’t keen on curry or anything too hot. !I am going to put the 10 items in the tin and print out recipe cards to put in the tin too.

These were the 10 items I had in mind

1) ! ! !Flour
2) ! ! !Yeast
3) ! ! !Tinned plum tomatoes
4) ! ! !Tuna
5) ! ! !Pasta shapes
6) ! ! !Mixed herbs
7) ! ! !Onion
8) ! ! !garlic
9) ! ! !Red lentils
10) ! ! !Vegetable stock cube
(I also intend to make a note to keep milk and eggs, cheese and butter in the fridge)

These were the recipe ideas I had (all taken from this site):

Catrina’s Pizza (Add pepperoni, tuna or other toping if required)
Tuna Pasta bake
Toad in the hole (just add sausages)
Lentil Soup
Corned beef hash (just add corned beef and potatoes)
Savory bread and butter pudding (just add mushrooms, and ham)
Garlic Bread, or Dough Balls with garlic sauce
Big Yorkshire pud (just add contents of freezer and/ or fridge)

Pasta bolognaise sauce (I haven’t got a recipe for this but I intend to suggest using lentils as well/ instead of mince).

Are these good items? Can anyone suggest any other recipes? !Has anyone got a good pasta bolognaise recipe?

I thought this post might be helpful to other people too. !I thought it would make a useful Christmas present for a student or anyone who has just moved into a new house or a recently divorced man !;)

Edit: 8) should be an 8, stupid auto smiley thing

Spendless · 3 November 2004 at 3:48PM

I would suggest rice - cos you can throw just about anything into bowl of rice to create a meal - but if you only want 10 i don't know which to suggest taking out.

when you put onion do you mean dried onion?

16011996 · 3 November 2004 at 3:48PM

what a wonderful idea.

have a look here for ideas for lentil recipes

some of them are very good, and could be made wirh whats in the tin and little else.

hth

Galtizz · 3 November 2004 at 3:52PM

I would suggest rice - cos you can throw just about anything into bowl of rice to create a meal - but if you only want 10 i don't know which to suggest taking out.

when you put onion do you mean dried onion?

Oooh didn't think about rice :-[, maybe I'll have to up it to 15 items :-/.

By onion I meant a fresh onion - same with garlic although they don't have as long a shelf life as the other items they should last a while in a sealed tin.

16011996 · 3 November 2004 at 3:54PM

you can get jars of chopped garlic. they are about £1.50 (think is the epc company the one i use) is much cheaper than fresh though cos lasts me 18 months ish.

rice is a good idea, as would be tomato puree?

Mrs_Thrift · 3 November 2004 at 5:17PM

What a fantastic idea!

Is he the type of young man who’s actually likely to d any baking with the flour and yeast, though? If he’s more like the typical young man I know, he might be better of without it, and including rice and tinned kidney beans or mixed beans. Tinned sweetcorn’s also a good one for adding to pasta and rice dishes.

And again, if he’s a typical young man, he might be more likely to actually use dried / minced onion and garlic.

When we were younger, Mr Thrift and I just about lived on pasta with sauce we made from tinned plum tomatoes, tinned kidney beans and frozen mixed peppers and we would vary it with sweetcorn, different herbs and frozen sausages when we were feeling really flush!

So some frozen veg and sausages might be good things to tell him about too, if he’s got a freezer. They’re money saving as they don’t go off when you forget about them for months and have to be chucked out! ::)

Galtizz · 3 November 2004 at 5:46PM

160 that Lentil site is great, thanks, I've made a note of the lentil chilli for a start. Might try it for tea tonight

Is he the type of young man who’s actually likely to d any baking with the flour and yeast, though?

He's quite into cooking. Sees himself as a bit of a Gordon Ramsey (without the language!) He doesn't like 'fussy' food though just 'basic' food i.e pizza, chips etc.

I've got to admit, I didn't know that you could buy chopped garlic. It's a good idea think I might get that instead.

Kidney beans might be a good idea too :-/

Gonna need a bigger tin

16011996 · 3 November 2004 at 5:56PM

if you like the lentil one, try this one for the kidney beans too. kidney beans

hth some more, haven't got a large tin though.

160 that Lentil site is great, thanks, I've made a note of the lentil chilli for a start. Might try it for tea tonight :)

He's quite into cooking. Sees himself as a bit of a Gordon Ramsey (without the language!) He doesn't like 'fussy' food though just 'basic' food i.e pizza, chips etc.

I've got to admit, I didn't know that you could buy chopped garlic. It's a good idea think I might get that instead.

Kidney beans might be a good idea too :-/

Gonna need a bigger tin

Caterina · 3 November 2004 at 7:55PM

Are these good items? Can anyone suggest any other recipes? Has anyone got a good pasta bolognaise recipe?

I would add a small bottle of good quality extra virgin olive oil - use with care and thrift because it is fairly expensive - but it can make all the difference to the flavour of a sauce or salad dressing!

Basic Bolognese sauce recipe:

Ingredients:
1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 stick celery, 500 g minced meat (beef, chicken, pork, lamb, whatever takes your fancy - if vegetarian substitute with minced quorn or cooked lentils or other pulses), 100 g mushrooms, 2 x 400g or 1 x 800g tins of tomatoes, olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste.

Chop onion, carrot and celery finely. Heat 2 tbsps olive oil. Fry onion, carrot and celery gently, with a low flame until soft then add mushrooms. Fry until all vegetables are soft, then add meat. Turn fire up and brown the meat at high temperature, stirring all the time.

Once the veg and meat mix is browned, turn the flame down again and add tinned tomatoes (chopped in advance - MONEYSAVING WARNING: don't buy chopped tomatoes! The producers charge you extra for the chopping! You can chop them by using a pair of scissors, nice an' easy, and save yourself 10 pence at a go!). Add salt and pepper to taste and simmer covered for at least 1 hour.

Now for the fancy additions:

If you pass a laurel (bay leaf) bush in a road that is not too busy with car traffic (to avoid lead deposits from car exhausts), take a few leaves - they go very well in bolognese sauce. Tear a couple of leaves and add to the cooking sauce.

Also, if you have nutmeg, add a half teaspoonful it to the meat and veg mixture before adding the tomato. It is worth having nutmeg in the house as it gives flavour to all sorts of homely foods (including tinned custard).

Also, in the HIGHLY UNLIKELY case that you might have any leftover red wine *yeh right, heheheh

* you can add it to the veg/meat mix when you turn the fire to high. Let it evaporate, it will leave a great flavour behind.

Ideally the 'real' bolognese sauce should simmer for at least 3 hours but it is not always possible to let it go for so long because people are too busy!

You can make this sauce in BULK!!! by multiplying the ingredients by 4, or 8, whatever, and FREEZE it! It freezes very well. It can be used as a nice base for shepherd's pie, put in baked potatoes, on pasta, rice, or eaten on its own with chunks of bread. Very versatile!

Incidentally: it is called BOLOGNESE because it originated in Bologna, Italy.

Buon appetito

Oh dear, do I have to copy this post to the recipes thread or will the mod do it?

Ciao, love to all

Caterina

Galtizz · 3 November 2004 at 8:07PM

Thankyou Catrina :-* I knew you'd have a good Bolognese recipe.

I'll put a link into here from the recipe links board

Quackers · 3 November 2004 at 9:52PM

You can make this sauce in BULK!!! by multiplying the ingredients by 4, or 8, whatever, and FREEZE it! It freezes very well. It can be used as a nice base for shepherd's pie, put in baked potatoes, on pasta, rice, or eaten on its own with chunks of bread. Very versatile!
Caterina

We do all of the above & also use it as a pizza topping too ;D Well, hubby does, I'm a veggie so it's a veggie option for me ::)

If we make lots of it we sometimes add kidney beans & chilli powder the following night & voila 'a chilli' ;D ;D ;D

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Emergency food tin

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