Cooking advice

jwelambert

Hello all I have got a few general questions and would really appreciate any suggestions.

I am now the main cook at home for me and my brother, I do all the shopping and cooking and now would like some suggestions on what do to with food that is left over and I would like to use up, especially as my last few attempts at soup and bubble and squeak have failed.

So the main problems are:

I often have cooked and uncooked Veg left and either going soft or going off but would really like to use in soups or to make another meal. I mainly have mushrooms, courgettes, leeks, peppers and cabbage left over as fresh veg, and peas, corn, cauliflower and broccoli as cooked veg left over. What can be done with these?

In terms of soup when i try and boil up some chicken carcass my resulting stock just tastes like water, I dont have a slow cooker and do it in a deep wok, so is that the problem?

Next, as my brother doesnt really eat much fruit and veg, I often have fruit in the fridge for ages, it doesnt go mouldy just soft and sits there, I would really like to use these for something, even if its a pie, a desert, a crumble, a flan just anything that means they are not thrown away. Also as the fruit is in the fridge and seems not to be going mouldy could it be used for deserts?

At the moment I have some cherries in desperate need of use.

Right im sorry for how long that is, but im trying to cut down our grocery budget from £120 a month.

Cheers

James

Pink.

Hi James,

Welcome to the Old Style board.:)

If you have left over cooked or uncooked vegetables, freeze them until you have a chance to use them. These threads should help.

Freezing vegetables

Freeze fresh fruit/veg?


To make stock for soup the chicken carcass needs to be simmered for a long time........you can do this just as easily on the hob as in a slow cooker. Sometimes if I haven't cooked the stock for long enough I add a stock cube to the soup for extra flavour. For help with making stock have a look at these threads:

How to make own stock?

Have i done this right?


I can't help much with using up left over fruit because there is never any left over in our house but if you have a stick blender what about making smoothies? I'm sure if it's not gone off you could use it in pies or crumbles. For help with using the cherries have a look here.

Pink

twink

a nice idea for the fruit is to make a fruit salad just chop up the fruit and put in a bowl with some lemonade to cover its nice with icecream or yoghurt i usually make enough to last a few days

mandy_moo_1

i've managed to cut down my monthly food bills by stopping buying ready meals and making my own.
I buy 2 packets of mince from morrisons ( the 89p ones) brown it in a pan, drain off all the fat (NOTdown the sink tho or you'll block the pipes like i did:rolleyes: ), then i use a food processor to chop up about 5 carrots & couple of onions really really tiny, and add that to the mince. then put about 4 or 5 slices of bread in the FP and make breadcrumbs...bung them in as well ( some people use lentils to bulk the mince out but my kids can spot em a mile off!!) make about 3/4 pint of beef stock,stir it in then simmer for bout half an hour.
Then i split the mince....use half to make individual shepherds pies ( just add mash on top) and with the other half i add a couple tins of value tomatoes, half a tube of tomato puree, italian seasoning and garlic, and you've got a bolognese mix you can either have as spag bol or make into lasagnes. I did this the other week, and i think i made about 6 shepherds pies, 4 lasagnes and 4 spag bols for about £4.50....so that's what?....35p a meal? bung em all in the freezer until you need em
Saves me loadsa money :T

Heth_2

If you are throwing food away why don't you try buying less fruit and veg, or maybe going to the shops more often to stock up on it, so you don't keep it in your fridge for ages letting it go off.

We tend to pop in to sainsburies more than once a week, so we don't have to buy loads of veg/fruit on a saturday morning (or whatever day you tend to shop) and hope it is still ok the following Friday.

Have you got a decent recipe book? If easy things like bubble and squeak are going wrong then it sounds like you need to follow a good recipe, or have some basic cooking lessons.

luckylukey

If I have left over veggies, I simply add some boiling water from the kettle, add two veggie stock cubes and blitz it with my hand blender. The soup is delicious and thick!

savvy

Fruit smooties may be an idea for the fruit Just add some orange juice to make it a little bit thinner, and you never know your brother might like it too. If you don't have a blender, you can pick them up quite cheap.

savvy

jwelambert wrote:

and peas, corn, cauliflower and broccoli as cooked veg left over. What can be done with these?

Any of these could be mixed in with mash potato the next day.

You sound like you have a regular amount left over, are you making too much? If so, why not plan it a bit better and save some for meals to freeze. I do this with chilli/bolognaise/lentil dahl, and then take some to work to save on buying lunches.

Rachie_B

fruit cobbler is fab for left over / starting to go soft fruits

its black saturns recipe

Fruit Cobbler

In an oven proof dish add in 1 mug of self raising flour, 1 mug of granulated sugar and 1 mug of milk.
Mix it all up so it's thoroughly mixed together and then add 1 tin of fruit of your choice on top.
Bake in the oven on gas mark 4 until golden. The flour mix will rise up above the fruit.

try experimenting with different fruits,fresh or tinned (pineapple and coconut is yummy )

if using tinned fruit ,drain well before adding to the dish

Pooky

If you've got left over cooked veg then throw a cheese sauce over the top, add a bit of grated cheese and bung in the oven to heat through, serve with potato wedges for a nice easy meal.

GardenMillie

I like using veg like courgette (I grow my own in pots) and cauliflower etc to make a quick spicy soup.

Chop an onion add a tablespoon of curry paste (any strength you like) add about 1pint of stock from a cube and your veg - broccoli, cauli, courgetter etc. Simmer for a bit and if you like blitz up with a hand blender - really tasty.

P.S. You can pick up really cheap hand blenders for around £5 - £9.

Enjoy.