Rice, pasta, grain, potato economics

irchy_mum

Pitlanepiglet wrote: »

I love pearl barley, but I do only use it in the slow cooker in soupy type things. Does anyone have any other suggestions for using it?

Same here, ideas for barley, couscous & rice please without ALWAYS having to have meat in it -oh and that's tasty too
I don't ask for much:rolleyes:

wigglebeena

Barley is what I was thinking before I finished reading your post - and it's what I'm eating right now! A cup of barley cooked up, then a couple of fillets of cheap frozen white fish microwaved (not cod or haddock, probably coley or something cheaper than that). Small tin of tomato concentrate, a third of a jar of leftover white label pasta sauce, and a third of a tube of 29p liver pate and a white-label veggie stock cube both microwaved in a cup with a couple of cm of water to soften. All mixed up for a tasty barley/tomato risotto - is it arzotto that the Italians call it?

Yummy, and enough for three people at least.

wigglebeena

Would be even better with a little grated cheese but I don't have any in the house. Or a few olives.

Guapa1

irchy_mum wrote: »

Same here, ideas for barley, couscous & rice please without ALWAYS having to have meat in it -oh and that's tasty too
I don't ask for much:rolleyes:

You can do loads of things with rice without meat. veggie fried rice, cabbage rolls, beans and rice. Same with cous cous, I made a chickpea tagine with cous cous recently. Barley I'm interested in learning more about. I'm definitely going to try it as rice and see how I get on with it.

Churchmouse

thriftlady wrote: »

Thanks Angelnikki:T that's really useful.

Waitrose is considerably more expensive but I've had such poor service from Tesco recently that I've vowed never to go there again. Waitrose seem to really go that extra mile for their customers so I'm willing to pay. Tesco can't even be bothered to serve you anymore -witness the arrival of self-service checkouts. Mark my words they'll do away with actual human staff altogether soon to Tesco:D

Well I've hardly ever used Tesco but can assure you that Sainsbury is no better:rolleyes: ( even though one DS works for them in IT;) ) I LOVE Waitrose, but it's further to travel, and even then it's not a big branch, that's miles away :rolleyes: But their customer awareness and service really are second to none. Now if I can convince my nearest branch to do veal on the butcher's counter and not just prepacked....................

competitionscafe

Barley is great in a 'risotto' - as you say different to a rice one but I like the nutty taste and the texture. Barley and roast butternut squash risotto is a really nice one - you can use any of the squash in season now, eg: Acorn squash, red onion squash, crown prince, etc.

There was a short article on Times Online last week with a couple of recipes:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article5246932.ece

Some more ideas:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/apps/ifl/food/recipes/queryengine?templatestyle=refine_by_1_gg&orig_kw=barley&config=db&scope=recipes&page=1&pagesize=15&attrib_26=keywords&oper_26=eq&val_26_1=%2Bbarley&search=Search

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/search.do?keywords=barley&searchType=recipes&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&x=26&y=7

Butternut squash and pearl barley risotto:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/recipes/article5046025.ece

Pearl barley and squash soup:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/recipes/pearl-barley-and-squash-soup-400994.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelingmcmahans/3035849797/

recovering_spendaholic

I love barley but the dd's don't like it, and I love bulghur wheat - I much prefer it to cous cous as it is not as mushy textured. It is also worth mentioning that aldi have got Maris piper potates 2.5kg bag for 39p at the moment. I got 5kg today and will get more next week, as I think the offer is on for the month (it says so on the website anyway). They should keep in my overspill fridge until Christmas and that is a huge saving as they are currently 31.99 for 2.5kg in Sainsburys.

Justamum

recovering_spendaholic wrote: »

they are currently 31.99 for 2.5kg in Sainsburys.

:eek::eek::eek: Surely not? And if so, would anybody actually a bag of spuds for that price? :eek:

Allegra

Justamum wrote: »

:eek::eek::eek: Surely not? And if so, would anybody actually a bag of spuds for that price? :eek:

LOL. I think Recovering's finger must have slipped on the shift key so the £ sign turned into number 3....

Mind you, with the way the prices are shooting up, even that would not greatly surprise me....

Allegra

I mean to add - I have recently rediscovered pearl barley after forgetting about it for years and years... We used to have it at least once a week when I was growing up - usually in a kidney bean stew. The trick is to use plenty of onions, garlic, herbs and paprika for flavouring - and you can also fry off bits of bacon to make it taste meaty without actually using any real meat. You can also chuck in diced potatoes and carrots in for added texture and colour... And the end result should taste divine, and go on and on and on and on until you are sick of the bloody thing and can't face another kidney bean or a pearl of barley ever again