Rice, pasta, grain, potato economics

mummysaver

Wow timely posting Thriftlady! Many thanks to you and Angelnikki for your costings.

I picked up a couple of packs of barley the other day thinking they were so cheap I'd have to find a use for them other than stews, I wondered about using it like bulghar wheat in a salad but that was about all I came up with, now I shall be trying it out instead of rice and couscous.

Thanks to Allegra as well, will be giving kidney bean and barley stew a go, got a vast quantity of kidney beans delivered from Approved Foods earlier this morning, 10p for an 800g tin!

Oh and thanks to recovering spendaholic, I shall grab some maris pipers in Aldi, great price. Morrisons also do big sacks of potatoes, were £3.49 for 12.5kg, usually £5.49 but on offer. They usually have a choice of bags of red or white as well, they aren't washed either so don't go off quickly.

columbine75

I pressure cook my barley - saves time and money and tastes good! Check your pressure cooker book for times, I really can't remember how long its for, but it cuts cooking time down from about 45 mins to less than 15

clouds21

Hiya everyone!
I can't put my hands on the recipes just now but will do so on Friday when I'm back home. If any of you have Patrick Holford's Optimum Nutrition book or The Food Doctor there are some yummy recipes with barley, couscous, bulghar wheat etc in those. My other favourite is Eat Well, Stay Well (Good Housekeeping) book, they have some lovely recipes in there. Also, any Scottish recipe books will feature pearl barley!!!! It's a staple like oats! I have this lovely one my Sis gave me for Christmas called "Maw Broon's cookbook", made some lovely pies with skirt beef which is £7.99/ kilo at the farmshop at the moment. Hope I'm allowed to mention cook books?

Anyway, will be back on with some yummy, cheap barley recipes soon!

Happy cooking!

clouds21

dongle1000

Just proves - the cheapest is also the easiest. Couscous is so easy to prepare and goes well with stir fry or perhaps stew possibly anyone have any really simple spicey recipes for this.

Many people will not ear maize or sweetcorn as it is used as animal food however much as I question this would I eat cat food. Some of the packs look really delicious.

Sorry - rambling.

thriftlady_2

clouds21 wrote: »

I Hope I'm allowed to mention cook books?

Heavens yes, I can barely make a post without mentioning a cookbook:rotfl:

competitionscafe

The book 'Vegetables' by Peter Gordon has some great ideas - as well as the 'roast butternut squash and barley risotto' there is a recipe for 'cauliflower cous cous' which is delicious. His recipe here is very similar (just ignore the bit about Turbot and salsa, unless you want turbot and salsa which sounds delicious although turbot = £££)

Cauliflower couscous:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/griddledturbotonmint_85162.shtml

metrochick15

dongle1000 wrote: »

Just proves - the cheapest is also the easiest. Couscous is so easy to prepare and goes well with stir fry or perhaps stew possibly anyone have any really simple spicey recipes for this.

Many people will not ear maize or sweetcorn as it is used as animal food however much as I question this would I eat cat food. Some of the packs look really delicious.

Sorry - rambling.

In parts of Africa it's normal to eat cooked maize meal. We have friends from Zimbabwe who cooked it for us and it's really nice - tastes like chunky rice. They cook it in a slow cooker.

thriftlady_2

dongle1000 wrote: »

Many people will not ear maize or sweetcorn as it is used as animal food .

I've never heard of that before people not wanting to eat it I mean.

Swan_2

thriftlady wrote: »

I've never heard of that before people not wanting to eat it I mean.

I was just composing a post saying the same thing (shows how slowly I type :rolleyes:) what about polenta for instance?

metrochick15 wrote: »

In parts of Africa it's normal to eat cooked maize meal. We have friends from Zimbabwe who cooked it for us and it's really nice - tastes like chunky rice. They cook it in a slow cooker.

Ugali? (that's the Kenyan name anyway) yes it is nice, my Ex makes it now & again, I'll see if he can work out a portion costing, I'm not sure if the bags of meal come with recommended portion sizes




if you like the texture of barley, I love it & always put far too much in my soup , you can make a milk pudding with it in the same way you use rice

purpleivy

ooooh, just fancy a nice rice pudding. I was wondering if I could cook the rice on the hob, as it's quicker and then get a 'skin' (IMHO the best bit!) by using a short blast on the fan grill in the oven. Any ideas?