50p a day til Christmas - healthily?! Weezl's next challenge...

munchki

*does the happy dance*

thank you Weezl for the recipe index now!!!!!!! That is going to save me hours and hours of searching again!!:j

As for the recipe I was talking of earlier.....rather difficult to type it out but will give it a try. It was a staple of my families when growing up as was very cheap and certainly was a major food in my mums family when she was a child! Sounds strange but really is lovely.

Recipe

HM mash enough for 4 people as a main course
saurkraut in a jar - I get at asda for about 60pence and it will make two of these casseroles
leftover ham/gammon - whatever amount you have. I figure this costs about £1ish for at least 4 generous servings. I am not good at the calcs so could be wrong.

layer some mash in the bottom of a greased dish
add a layer of saurkraut
layer of ham
a bit more saurkraut
layer the remaining mash

dot with bit of butter and bake for about 40 minutes, sprinkle lightly with cheese on top just before taking from oven if desired.

the top of this gets all crispy as the mash bakes, you can add as much or as little kraut as you like, just make sure to squish most of the juice out of it. I have even made this without the ham!! To me it is the ultimate comfort food.

*just thought* this might also be good with leftover sausages as well cut up! Not that we ever have any left when DOH is home!! hehe

I hope you will like it if you give it a try.

Now off to cut and past recipes!!

Kath x:rotfl:

ZoeGirl_3

weezl wrote:

Zoegirl, I saw a recipe from NZ which was like a pesto made with green olives? Have you had it? is it nice?

Doctored that quote a bit (still learning about this board ) so hope it works. Never heard of this pesto. Mum makes basil stuff, yum yum, and does her own olives so will ask her if she knows. No doubt she would want to make it too...

Been thinking today about price of butter/ cheese. Is it crazy over there? I know from another board it is pretty high in America of late but not sure bout UK.


Looking for butter free recipes because I like cheese too much to give up but don't care much about the butter as it is just fat really.

Found a carrot cake and a chocolate cake if anyone interested? Will post how they turn out tomorrow as having a cook up soon!!:rotfl:

Cya.

hmkn

You might be interested to know that there is a view that says that cold cooked potato should be counted as a veg portion. It would count even if you then reheated it because it's to do with the change in the chemistry of the starch content (ie it becomes more 'useful' when it's cold).

It's probably still best to go for 5 other portions and consider cold spuds a bonus sixth, but interesting!
I imagine it would be too complicated to explain to the masses, and so the guidelines won't change. It would also make saute potatoes a vegetable...

Makes the potato bread healthier, anyway! Incidentally, potatoes will make the bread keep better (as does using the water from boiling peeled potatoes in any bread recipe instead of tap water) and it makes fabulous toast!

HMK

munchki

just wondering and may not be the right place to ask but.....

I live near the nottinghamshire and derbyshire border not too far from Haddon House and just wondering if anyone knows where I might be able to forage wild strawberries or goosberries please. We already forage wild bilberries which DOH and I always have a great time and giggle doing but would be interested in other foods as well that are wild and free. I dont have a lot of knowledge on foraging here.

I have been in the UK for about 9 years now and I still always shocked at having to buy asparagus and rhubard as where I come from in the States it grows everywhere for free!! Hubby has lived here all his life but cant think of anywher nearby for the other of natures freebies.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you ever so much in advance.

Plum_Pie

phizzimum wrote: »

thank you so much for the idea plum pie - I've just finished eating it now!

I see what you mean about it being thick - I added a bit of oil but didn't want to put too much in. I was pouring myself a glass of tomato juice to go with my lunch and decided to pour some of that in - it thinned it down and tasted ok. Maybe I'd use lemon juice next time.

Glad you liked it.:beer:

Lemon juice - now that sounds like a great addition - I will suggest it to my sis. I was thinking some tinned spinach could be blended in to make it more spreadable (dippable?!).

System

Thought some of you might be interested in this bean-based recipe, which in my experience has proved very popular with people who are otherwise not too keen on pulses. Besides being very easy and economical, and tasting great, it counts towards your fruit and vegetable intake. It delivers a healthy chunk of your protein requirements for the day, but it's probably best not to think too much about the fat content!

Recipe: Tuna-bean-bake

This recipe is loosely based on one in Jocasta Innes's “The Pauper's Cookbook” (the 1970s version, not the 1980s one from which it is inexplicably absent), where it is called “Brandade of Tuna Fish and Haricot Beans” and is described as a French dish. As always, I've tweaked the quantities to suit our preferences, and changed the beans to a cheaper variety. Actually, this recipe is infinitely tweakable - just add more or less of anything that takes your fancy, according to what you have on hand! Sun-dried tomatoes are good in it, as are fresh herbs. You can reduce the cheese (although you'd lose out on calcium intake) or even leave out the tuna, although I wouldn't then advise calling it “tuna brandade”!

Ingredients:
250 g (raw weight) cannellini beans, cooked (£0.21 - half a 500g bag of Sainsbury's cannellini beans @£0.42)
1 tin tuna, drained (£0.61 for Sainsbury's tuna chunks in sunflower oil, from a 4-pack)
100 g cheddar, grated (£0.44 - strong cheddar, bought on BOGOF at two 400 g packs for £3.49)
50 g butter (£0.17 for recent Kerrygold offer, or for Sainsbury's Basics)
1 clove garlic, peeled (£0.02)
salt, pepper (£0.01 - nominal)
breadcrumbs, to taste, suggest 100g (free)

General notes:
~ I use pre-cooked beans from the freezer for this. I soak then cook the beans in batches of 1 kg (raw weight), then split them into four portions (each serving four people) for freezing. Very convenient, and the beans defrost very quickly in the microwave.
~ I use a food processor for this recipe, although you could chop and mash everything by hand if you prefer and are feeling energetic.
~ In my domestic accountancy method, I cost a loaf of bread into the meal I plan to eat it with. If there is a leftover "heel", I freeze it to use for breadcrumbs when required. Because I have already costed the whole loaf into a previous meal, I consider the breadcrumbs to be cost-free at the point of use. If you cost things differently, you will need to add the cost of breadcrumbs to this recipe.
~ I'm not suggesting you shop at Sainsbury's or that they offer the best price! That just happens to be where I ordered my last big shop from, so I have stuck with it, for convenience. I usually shop at local shops which cost a bit more than this.

Method:
1. Start the food processor and drop the clove of garlic through the funnel, to chop it finely. There is only one clove of garlic in this dish, but somehow it always tastes as if there is loads of it. A vital ingredient, in my view, and not to be omitted, since I suspect the finished dish would be rather bland without it!
2. Add the cooked beans and blitz until pureed.
3. Add the tuna, grated cheese and half of the butter, together with some salt and pepper, and blitz again until well mixed and fairly smooth. Adjust seasoning to taste.
4. With a little of the remaining butter, grease an ovenproof dish. Spoon in the bean mixture, level the top, then cover with breadcrumbs (according to taste, hunger and availability), and dot with the remaining butter. (Note - if the beans are freshly cooked and not previously frozen, you could probably freeze the assembled dish at this stage, although I haven't tried.)
5. Bake at 200ºC for 25-30 minutes, until piping hot and browned on top.

Serving suggestion:
It's quite a filling and substantial dish, so a salad (green, or tomato, or grated carrot) is all you need to go with it.

Yield:
Serves 4.

Costs:
I made this last week, and it came to £1.46 (or 36.5p per head) with the costings shown above, which could be reduced to £1.20 (or 30p per head) if you used Sainsbury's Basics tuna instead of the regular own-brand. With a porridgy-raisiny breakfast, an economical lunch such as Weezl described on her previous thread, and salad from the garden (if possible!), I think this just about fits into the 50p per person per day target. And actually, it's very nice without the tuna but with a splash or two of Worcestershire sauce, when it works out at a cost of £0.88 (equivalent to 22p per head).

Fruit & Vegetable content:
This dish contains pulses, which count as a single F&V serving even if you eat lots of them, plus there is a second F&V serving if you add a side salad of some description. So if you were specifically aiming at five-a-day, you would need to include three other F&V servings in your other meals of the day.

How it might fit into a 50p, 5F&V day:
Breakfast = 1 F&V, total cost 5p:
25g Sainsbury's Basics muesli (1p), mixed with 2 chopped prunes (2p) and 45ml milk (2p)

Lunch = 2 F&V, total cost 10p:
Chicken liver pate sandwich (costed by Weezl at 4p); 1 large gherkin (2p - Lidl's gherkins are cheap and good); big handful of home-sprouted alfalfa (4p)

Evening = 2 F&V, total cost 35p:
Tuna Brandade (costed at 30p for the value-tuna version); grated carrot salad (5p for 80g Sainsbury's Basics carrots plus seasoning)

Which just squeezes into the budget, at £0.50 per head, with a healthy five F&V from a variety of sources. Not much room in the budget for puddings, so it's just as well that Weezl's chocolate crispies worked out at six to the penny!

Yategirl

Avocet - that sounds yummy! thanks for posting it... I shall be costing that into one of our meals from now on!

System

munchki wrote: »

layer some mash in the bottom of a greased dish
add a layer of saurkraut
layer of ham
a bit more saurkraut
layer the remaining mash

dot with bit of butter and bake for about 40 minutes, sprinkle lightly with cheese on top just before taking from oven if desired.

This sounds good. Quick question... You say to squeeze the sauerkraut well, but do you rinse it first? Or do you add it as it is, all pickly-briny from the jar? Thank you.

munchki

Avocet wrote: »

This sounds good. Quick question... You say to squeeze the sauerkraut well, but do you rinse it first? Or do you add it as it is, all pickly-briny from the jar? Thank you.

Hi Avocet

I squeeze most of the liquid out of the amount of kraut I am using, dont rinse it or you lose the lovely pickly-briny taste.

I just did a slight costing on this and I think for a family of 4 you could do this for less than a pound. most people think it a bit odd til they try it and find it is very nice. quick simple and I think even better the second day in the microwave. lol

moneydribbler

Hi Weezl et al, I'm a (really) long term dipper-in and lurker, but since a run in with the insurance company :mad: I'm needing to actually think about what changes I can make to my life to get the life I want for the money I have and OSing, and more particularly eating well for less seems to fit the bill .

I already love cooking and hate throwing out food (not that it's stopped me, I'm rubbish at cupboard managment) and this thread (and what I've read of the previous one - page 14 and counting) is really inspiring me! I've copied off a whole wodge of recipes to try out, and while I'm not aspiring to your fantastic goals, I am definitely working on spending no more than £1 a meal.

Right now I'm cheating by meal planning from what's in the freezer :rotfl: , but it's planning, right? and I'm subscribing to this thread to keep up the inspiration :j

Just quickly, before I go back to the other thread - lots of people have been talking about the potato bread, but I can't find the original recipe; could someone point me in the right direction please?