Store cupboard challenge

Mander

Nitha wrote: »

I need to make a birthday cake (can't afford to buy lol) I have s/r flour, eggs, some sugar (not sure how much prob 1/2 bag), sweetener, honey, icing sugar and nutella in the cupboard.

Any recipes?

Why not a basic cake (top up sugar with sweetener if you need to) and use the nutella for frosting, with icing sugar dusted over the top? I'm thinking something like a bundt cake. My mom always used to just drizzle something over the top of those (peanut butter, chocolate, cream cheese frosting, etc. depending on the flavor) rather than trying to frost the whole thing.

JoolzS

mumoffour77 wrote: »

Can any kind person point me in the direction of the lentil and stuffing burgers??Pretty please:)

Post #5 in this thread http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1129333

Julie

mumoffour77

JoolzsS thank youxx.

Olliebeak

purpleivy wrote: »

Olliebeak, I had a lightbulb moment a few weeks ago. I was using 3 sticks of celery in a cassoulet and just about to put the rest in the bottom of the fridge to go limp and then end up in debris soup, when I had an idea. I chopped it all up fairly small and put it in a ziplok bag. It's now in the upstairs little freezer and I lob it into allsorts (from frozen) to pad it out....and nothing (well not quite anything!) turning into compost in the fridge. I'm sure I won't waste celery from now on. Have a bag of peppers,as I was always throwing those out. I now chop them up when I get home from the shops/.

purpleivy - many thanks for that one. I wasn't quite sure how well celery would freeze - for some reason I thought it would go to mush . My 'shank stew' was delicious - used the last of my suet to make dumplings and there's still two BIG (1kg size) tubs in the fridge to be finished off today. The remaining stock (with a small amount of the meat) is back in the SC again with yellow split peas, lentils and a sweated onion for pea soup. I really can't believe how far a £1.29 shank can go :j - ok, it also uses a lot of vegetables and pulses but those can be bought quite cheaply if you shop around or buy the SmartPrice ones, as I do. Even cheaper if you manage to grow your own .

I buy the bags of frozen mixed peppers in Mr A's and use those for when I'm doing chillis, bologneses - they work out much cheaper than buying fresh ones and slicing them up. I just got fed up buying a couple of peppers and then having them sit there looking at me while growing a fur coat! Obviously no use at all if you want to do stuffed peppers though :rolleyes:.

Olliebeak

I've got half a tin of sweetcorn sitting in the fridge. Ideas anybody?

I was thinking sweetcorn fritters but can't find a recipe for them - have any of you recipe goddesses got any quick and easy ones please?

Many thanks .

Primrose

Olliebeak - you could throw it into a stir-fry with any other vegs you've got, or mix into a rice salad. I wouldn't recommend keeping it in a tin for any longer though as I've found food left in opened tins can quickly become tin-flavoured. Best to transfer it to a big beaker or some other container where the flavour won't be tainted.

lil_me

Lesley Moore's sweetcorn fritters are nice http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/sweetcornfritterswit_70306.shtml I used normal onion.

I'm still in, doing quite well actually, bought very little compared to what I usually get, main spend was coffee and DPs pop (2 of the biggest costs here) then some ham, but most meals have been made with what is in. In fact I am still wondering how long we can last on it. I have put bread/rolls in some of the space in the freezer.

I have found LOADS of flour so should do some baking, it's just time/effort involved where I go amiss. I tend to add some extra raising agent if I use old flour

Olliebeak

Primrose wrote: »

Olliebeak - you could throw it into a stir-fry with any other vegs you've got, or mix into a rice salad. I wouldn't recommend keeping it in a tin for any longer though as I've found food left in opened tins can quickly become tin-flavoured. Best to transfer it to a big beaker or some other container where the flavour won't be tainted.

How stupid of me :doh:, I should have put half a tin in a pyrex dish - I wouldn't dream of leaving things in tins.

I had a feeling it would be good for a couple of days - many thanks Primrose and l'il me :T .

grimerking

purpleivy wrote: »

Olliebeak, I had a lightbulb moment a few weeks ago. I was using 3 sticks of celery in a cassoulet and just about to put the rest in the bottom of the fridge to go limp and then end up in debris soup, when I had an idea. I chopped it all up fairly small and put it in a ziplok bag. It's now in the upstairs little freezer and I lob it into allsorts (from frozen) to pad it out....and nothing (well not quite anything!) turning into compost in the fridge. I'm sure I won't waste celery from now on. Have a bag of peppers,as I was always throwing those out. I now chop them up when I get home from the shops/.

Me too! I was buying it and half would always go off. It suddenly occurred to me that I never eat it fresh, so it wouldn't matter if it went a bit 'funny' when defrosted. I've frozen quite a lot and am now going to use it at my leisure. Great minds think alike....

I buy the bags of frozen mixed peppers in Mr A's and use those for when I'm doing chillis, bologneses - they work out much cheaper than buying fresh ones and slicing them up. I just got fed up buying a couple of peppers and then having them sit there looking at me while growing a fur coat! Obviously no use at all if you want to do stuffed peppers though .

I recently discovered that a lot of the cornershops near me sell fruit/veg by the bowl. They charge £1 for a bowl full of onions, oranges, red peppers, etc. Some of the bowls aren't very good value - e.g. carrots are cheaper at Tescos. However, I bought a bowl of red peppers (five small/medium peppers) and a bowl of green peppers (five small/medium peppers). I then sliced them up for stir frys, fajittas, etc, and placed them on a baking tray. I froze them and then transferred them to a couple of freezer bags (one red, one green). I was amazed how much I got for £2 (about 900g in total) and it is definitely cheaper than buying them fresh from the supermarket - 68p a pepper at Tesco. I have bought the frozen peppers before, but I am not too keen on yellow peppers, so they tend to go to waste. Although at £1 a kg, perhaps I should just buy them instead?

Olliebeak - you could throw it into a stir-fry with any other vegs you've got, or mix into a rice salad. I wouldn't recommend keeping it in a tin for any longer though as I've found food left in opened tins can quickly become tin-flavoured. Best to transfer it to a big beaker or some other container where the flavour won't be tainted.

If you open a tin and don't use it all at once, you could just freeze the rest?

I've now switched to Asda SP frozen sweetcorn. Perfectly good quality, no added sugar or salt and it only costs 62p for 907g

Olliebeak

Olliebeak wrote: »

How stupid of me :doh:, I should have put half a tin in a pyrex dish - I wouldn't dream of leaving things in tins.

I had a feeling it would be good for a couple of days - many thanks Primrose and l'il me :T .

Stupid woman that I am! I can't believe that I left my last post like that - says the absolute opposite of what I was trying to say.

I was trying to say - "How stupid of me :drool:, I should have typed 'half a tin in a pyrex dish' ........" - what a difference quotation marks make!

That'll teach me to re-read BEFORE clicking 'Submit Reply'!

Thanks for your comments girls - I definitely need to remember to freeze the sweetcorn immediately as we don't eat it all that often. I tried making the cornfritters, but we didn't like them .

I buy the SmartPrice tins (also have a bag of the frozen in the freezer somewhere but find the tinned are good for tuna/sweetcorn jackets) - they're perfectly OK for our needs (usually getting thrown into casseroles/chillis or mixed with tuna).

Yesterday we used up a large container of HM Beef Chilli and a large container of HM Pea and Ham Soup. Also cooked a large freezer bag of Carrot and Turnip (in the PC) and mashed them. Now been frozen into used plastic chinese restaurant containers ready for defrosting on Christmas Day. Takes up less room than they did in the bag .