A Cooking Idiot

wannabe_sybil

See if you can borrow through the library Jocasta Innes Paupers Cookbook. It says how to cook things like mussels also lots of quite 'foodie' (for me, I am very provincial ) recipes that are inexpensive. Even if you purchase it (£5.19 on Amazon, some on ebay at less than £10 inc p&p) I think you will find it can save you a great deal.

Also, meal plan - but if you are really keen on food you need to do this in detail. Get out the diary, put in when you will be tired, eating out, have time to cook etc and work out what recipes you could manage. Then write a specific list for shopping and stick to it.

Seriously, make a lovely casserole that would feed you four times. Eat it eg Monday, freeze two portions separately, eat it again Tuesday (casseroles are traditionally better the second day and in my experience this is true) but on Tuesday add eg tomato puree and curry powder. Or tinned tomatoes, olives and lots of lovely italian herbs. When you know you are having a casserole from the freezer, take it out that morning and when you reheat it (oddly I prefer to do it in a pan rather than the microwave) add fresh peas and freshly fried onions, or snippets of crisped bacon and some frozen sweetcorn.

Generic casserole - fry some onions, remove from pan and put in big stockpot/casserole. Fry some stewing steak (shin is fantastic) until the surface of the meat is browned and add to stockpot/casserole. Add two litres of stock made from stock cubes (watch this board - you will be able to do loads better than this in no time) and lots of vegetables at hand. The last vegetable value bag from Sainsbury for £1 had onions, potatoes, parsnip and carrot in. Include plenty of your favourite herbs and a generous dash of mushroom ketchup/balsamic vinegar/worcestershire sauce. Simmer very gently or put in oven around gas mark 3 for a minimum of two hours or get a slow cooker (remarkably inexpensive) and cook it during the day while you are out or overnight. If you cook it in the oven you can cook a baked potato at the same time.

Variations - add packet of savoury rice. Add a tin of tomatoes. Add dried mushrooms. Add a handful of lentils. Add bacon when frying meat. Use turkey. Vary the veggies. Add sun dried tomatoes snipped up. Add tinned or pre-soaked pulses and chilli powder.

I would expect to do decent casserole that would feed me, dear heart and my little son three times for £10 (including extras when reheating) and I am an amateur. That is lean stewing beef at the best current price, basics veggies and lots of them, bulked with country soup mix which has barley and lentils in and is usually relished by my dear heart and my son.

I would suggest that realistically you only eat casserole once a week.

Also there is a mulitplicity of recipes in places like the grocery challenge thread, indexes etc just on this board and they will, I am sure, inspire you.

Also, don't try and do it all at once and make sure that the freezer has things in that you can cook quickly and without effort for when you seriously cannot face the thought of a struggle with cooking.

Also, do check out the Basics/Value/Smartprice stuff that has not been processed eg rice, pasta, fish pieces, turkey pieces.

Sorry for long post - hope this helps.

wigglebeena

Oooh, olives. I would just sit and eat the jar full in front of the telly, but I guess that's just me... Maybe a few cornchips as well.

nopot2pin

wannabe_sybil wrote: »

Also, don't try and do it all at once and make sure that the freezer has things in that you can cook quickly and without effort for when you seriously cannot face the thought of a struggle with cooking.

Also, do check out the Basics/Value/Smartprice stuff that has not been processed eg rice, pasta, fish pieces, turkey pieces.

I agree....

Dont try to do too much at once.
Pick something you really like, for your first batch cook. And make at least 4 portions.
Then that way, the freezer will have 3 meals, after you have eaten one.
If you do this with another 4 or 5 different meals, your freezer will soon fill up.

But ... dont do it too much at once, you will only sicken yourself.

Batch cook when you have the time...
Alternate your freezer meals with other stuff...
Explore the option of freezing stuff, you never thought possbile....
Most stuff will freeze ok... although lettuce and cucumber dont, so well

And as a few have said... meal plan, and / or do the grocery challenge
It will save you a fortune, when you get into it :cool:

bertietheblue

Thank you all for your replies and useful advice. My plan:

clean out the freezer this weekend
buy some plastic containers for freezer storage
go to the library to get some cookbooks - I'll look out for that Paupers Cookbook (thanks Wannabe Sybil)
read up on food planning
sharpen my knives

... and start cooking.

We'll see. I'll start a new thread once I'm on the way. Thanks all!

Bye for now
Bertie

misskool

why not start by listing on here what you've got and people will come up with recipes to help you along your way (and avoid spending more money!)

Stephen_Leak

bertietheblue wrote: »

Switch on the feezer? I mean, isn't that expensive for one person? Any idea how much that costs a month?

Oh yes and thanks Skint Catt, it's a good idea to list what you've got and see if anyone can come up with a recipe - for example, I've had an almost full jar of pitted black olives in the fridge for a few weeks and I really need to use them up before it's too late - especially since they weren't cheap - but I've no ideas.

For us OS singletons, a freezer is an investment - as long as it's energy efficient. I'd be lost without mine. And the fuller it is, the better it is - you're not paying to freeze air, which you can't eat.

As far as the olives (not exactly the most OS of ingredients, but I must confess to currently having a jar of black lumpfish caviar in my cupboard. It's for a forthcoming birthday, when we are both going to pretend, just for an evening, that we aren't as poor as church mice!) go, try this recipe ...

GARLIC & OIL PASTA (AGLIO E OLIO)

Per Person

INGREDIENTS

1 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon of olive oil
125ml of water
¼ of a teaspoon of salt
100g of spaghetti
Ground pepper to taste

METHOD

Peel the garlic and chop it into tiny pieces.

Put the oil into a frying pan on a moderate heat. Add the garlic. Fry the garlic for about 5 minutes until it is brown, stirring to stop it sticking.

Put the water and salt into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Put the pasta into the water. Stir it to stop it sticking to the bottom of the pan. Bring back to the boil and continue to cook, stirring to stop it sticking.

Begin testing the pasta about 2 minutes before the packet instructions say it should be done. The best way to judge if pasta is cooked is to bite it. This is tricky, because if you fish out a bit and stick in your mouth you may burn your mouth on the boiling water. Wait a bit and blow on it, then bite it. If it is hard it needs longer. If it is chewy (or ‘al dente’, Italian for ‘to the teeth’) it is ready. If it is soft it is overcooked.

Drain the pasta in a sieve or colander. Season with the pepper.

Always ‘take the pasta to the sauce’. Put the pasta in the pan with the sauce and stir until thoroughly coated.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

Use any other long thin plain pasta, like linguine (thin and flat), tagliolini (very thin and flat) or spaghettini (very thin and round), instead of spaghetti.

For Garlic & Parsley Pasta, add 25g per person of fresh parsley. Wash, shake dry and finely chop the parsley. Add the parsley just before serving.

For Garlic & Anchovy Pasta, add 13g (¼ of a 50g tin) per person of anchovy fillets in olive oil. If you are using the whole tin, use the oil from this to fry the garlic. Add the anchovies to the garlic after the 5 minutes and mash up until smooth.

For Garlic, Anchovy & Olive Pasta, add 2 or 3 pitted black olives and 2 or 3 pitted green olives per person to the Garlic & Anchovy Pasta just before serving.

TIPS

If you use enough water, add the pasta when the water is boiling, stir the pasta and don’t wander off (‘Gli spaghetti amano la compagnia’ or ‘spaghetti loves company’) and don’t overcook it, adding olive oil to the water to stop it sticking is totally unnecessary.
　
PS. I have seen this dish on a restaurant menu for £8.50!

Hatster

One quick tip - you don't need to buy special containers to freeze your leftovers in. If you've got some tubs from having bought soup (I know that Waitrose and Tesco both do soup in tubs), they make wonderful freezer containers. We keep all of those, and we also save any takeaway containers to use for freezing (they also get used for DIY jobs, plant pots, etc).

Apart from that, I'd really second the casserole idea. When I'm on my own, I often do a 'olla podrida' - a Spanish peasant stew - where basically I make a basic stew on the first day (maybe onions, garlic tomatoes, and chickpeas stewed slowly with lots of herbs for taste), and then I throw in a new ingredient every day depending on what there is in the cupboard that needs eating - maybe a few bits of chorizo sausage one day, and some carrot, or some chopped chicken and celeriac the next day, or some sardines... Sounds odd, actually tastes delicious.

wannabe_sybil

Also, if you get into cookery as a hobby you can make things like pickled peaches that you cannot get in a store. I must dig out my recipe for pickled mushrooms and get some more made - they are not much on a plate but really perk up a casserole. Also very easy to make.

Also home made lemon curd is so much better than bought, you can make it in small amounts and is often less expensive. Or lime curd.

Also, set yourself a careful budget but have a look here https://www.lakeland.co.uk for kitchen gadgets. I have found them extremely addictive. However you really do not need lots of equipment to cook well.

Also Matalan had some really reasonable perfectly adequate boxes for freezers, also try Wilkinsons. Stackable, labels, portion size - but I am sure you know how to work things out

Also, have a look at the recipes in the books before you bring it home, as budget in title does not mean that you would enjoy their recipes. From what you describe I would look at books with 'simple' and 'gourmet' in their title. You can use mysupermarket.com to price recipes.

I hope you have a wonderful time.

Stephen_Leak

wannabe_sybil wrote: »

However you really do not need lots of equipment to cook well.

Wise words. Speaking as a fellow bloke, you only need a few good quality and well chosen tools, just like DIY and car maintenance.

I have only 1 true gadget - my hand blender, a good quality Braun one with a little food processor attachment. This has really paid for itself, since I started making soups over the last Winter.

My Salter electronic "add & weigh" scales are a "gadgety" version of a basic tool, but do allow for precise portion control, which helps both wallet & waistline.

Knives - a Victorinox 19cm cooks one and an 8cm paring knife - from http://www.kitchenknivesdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Fibrox_Handles_.html and the paring knife comes free (Very MSE). Chopping boards - 1 big red one for meat plus big and little white ones for everything else from Ikea for less than £3 the lot.

Frying pan - 28cm diameter, non-stick, with a lid if possible. Mine gets used so much, that I still get a cheap aluminium one and replace it when everything starts sticking.

Saucepans with lids - just 2 required - 1 litre and 2 litres - capacity is more important than diameter. Stainless steel with thick bottoms will distribute heat better and save you having to stir things so much, and are the best long-term VFM.

What else? - checks cupboard - 500ml Pyrex measuring jug, 1 litre Pyrex mixing bowl, metal grater, small metal colander, wooden spoon, plastic spatula, plastic measuring spoons - and that's it.

No whisk? - a fork works just as well.

And the feeling of satisfaction, when you use them to cook something special for your special lady - priceless.

wannabe_sybil

If you are going to batch cook I would suggest one large stock pot and one large pyrex (or pyrex type) casserole will help, but don't spend a lot at first. Some of the pyrex/pyrex clones are extremely inexpensive, and you can also get a stock pot from Argos. And you do not need to buy them straight away, just when you feel ready. And you can buy one or the other and not necessarily both.

I think Stephen Leak is right, you really need less than you think. I am getting rid of a lot of things in my kitchen which are only dust traps.