Economy Gastronomy- HELP!

carolinosourus

Hi! :hello:

Just wanted to come and give my two pennies worth, I think you're doing brilliantly well already, and I've learnt some good recipes too. Just bear in mind with cheap chickens, I was watching something the other day that was looking at the preservatives and water content in cheap chickens, they use this mixture to plump them up so they look nice and juicy and so they weigh more. When you cook them all the water comes out so they shrink and weigh less. The point was that by weight, it's actually sometimes cheaper to buy a more expensive happy chicken that hasn't been pumped full of water and preservatives etc because you're not paying for the water and you pay for all the chicken, not a chicken and a lot of water!

I can't remember how they worked it out as I only saw it briefly as I was flicking through.

Good luck

Caroline

Nessa56

Eltee12 wrote: »

This is a good ‘can’t be asked’ recipe. I usually dish out the quantities by eye and depending on how much pasta I have around. Can be adapted for meat-free diet using Quorn or other meat-free saussies .
Can be frozen - keeps well in fridge for 2-3 days

Ingredients

For the sauce:
A small glug of olive oil
A small glug of red wine (or water) I used water
1 medium onion, roughly chopped, but not too big-ly
A big fat garlic clove or 2 chopped finely, or crushed
A large tin of chopped tomatoes
A large squish of tomato puree
Half teaspoon sugar
Salt & pepper
Dash of hot chilli powder (or other spice you like) I used 2 teaspoons of ginger
Beef (or vegetable) stock cube I used chicken stock cube
Handful of whatever dried herbs you fancy I used Thyme and Organo

For the sausages & pasta: I had no sausages so used Gammon
8 sausages, cooked to your preference and chopped into nice chunky pieces
Enough cooked pasta (I use penne) for 4 people I used Linguinie
Method:
Gently heat the olive oil in a largish frying pan/wok
Add the onion and garlic, cook until softened
Stir in the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, sugar
Add the glug of wine (or water), bring to the boil, stirring frequently
Reduce to a simmer, add crumbled stock cube, herbs salt & pepper and chilli to taste
Allow to simmer slowly for about 20 mins (or until you can’t wait any longer)
Add cooked sausage and pasta, heat through
More seasoning if you like
Sprinkle with grated cheese and stick in a hot oven till all nice and melty
Serve with a nice crispy salad and garlic bread (and the rest of the wine)

Mmmmmmm - might have to make this tonight myself!

I didn't have all that was needed for this recipe so adapted it slightly my adaptations are in red.

I have to say that it was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS, took 1/2 hr prep and cook and I have got 5 meals from it. thank you Eltee12

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Nessa56

hellywelly5 wrote: »

How about buying a fresh chicken - Tesco's £2.99? First day you can roast it in the oven, eating it hot with a whole bag of Tesco's £1 steam veggies. Second day for lunch, cut some up for sarni's/rolls and in the evening heat some up in a cheap can of curry sauce and serve with rice or pasta. Third day take some more in a couple of cheap wraps for lunch and in the evening, enjoy cold with a big jacket potatoe. Very healthy, varied and cheap.

You can to save money even more cook the chicken in a slow cooker takes about 4 1/2 hours and comes out falling off the bone, (obviously check it is cooked properly first)

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rainbowtiger

probably not a good idea to do this too often as it's not the healthiest choice - but will give you several meals for a small amount of money just before you get paid! Buy -
1 pack of 6 sausages
1 pack of 8 bacon rashers
6 eggs

you could make
a couple of full English breakfasts (add a leftover wrinkly tomato if you have it)
Spaghetti carbonara - spaghetti + 2 rashers + 1 egg (add cream if you have it to make special)
bangers & mash with onion gravy
sausage meatballs (remove sausagemeat from skins, roll into balls & fry
- then make a tomato sauce & serve with rice or pasta)
2 egg omelette (add cheese or frozen veg & serve with salad)

hard-boiled egg + 2 grilled rashers on top of fresh green leaf salad

you probably wouldn't want to see a sausage egg or bacon for a while after that but once in while shouldn't hurt - & your purse should like it!

mummy2mygirls

thanks for doing this thread i have got a good few ideas from it
I love the sound of the sausage pasta bake - we often have it with a jar as i had no idea how to do it so next time ill try this as it sounds so much yummier and will cost us less :D

thanks

MrsBartolozzi

Someone mentioned the Kitchen Revolution book. They have a website here with lots of ideas for "economy gastronomy" type week's meals and shopping lists too. No need to buy the book .
From the site:
Each week features a Big Meal from Scratch (a delicious, filling meal for the whole family); Something for Nothing (two easy meals that use leftovers in a tasty and inspiring way); a Seasonal Supper (a quick, simple supper made from seasonal ingredients); Larder Feast (for when the fridge is bare, a whole meal just from storecupboard ingredients) and a 2 for 1 meal (a comforting meal that freezes well so that you can eat half immediately, and store half in the freezer).

MrsB.

Turkeysalad

Hi,
New to this but having a quick read through, not sure if anyone's mentioned my tip with left over chicken?
Remove every last bit of meat after eating your roast and then make a paella or rissotto the next day. Very easy - just follow the recipe on the packet of paella/rissotto rice. I add tumeric which does the same job (but MUCH cheaper) than saffron. If you time it right (at the end of the day) you can pick up a reduced packet of seafood mix to add too! Yum & cheap as you can add any veg you have kleft over or use frozen peas/peppers.

Eltee12

Nessa56 wrote: »

I didn't have all that was needed for this recipe so adapted it slightly my adaptations are in red.

I have to say that it was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS, took 1/2 hr prep and cook and I have got 5 meals from it. thank you Eltee12

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Hi Nessa56

glad you liked it - I've used chicken n bacon before as well mmmmmmmmm

had the sausage one last week - took some to work the next day to nuke in the micro for lunch - luverly