Weezl's phase 1- recipe testing and frugalisation- come one, come all!

weezl74

homegrown_life wrote: »

OK - I'm up for this. I haven't been able to test anything yet . But we're planning curry tonight and have all the ingredients in for this so I'll give it a go

Hmm except I have mustard powder, not mustard. Shall I just make up some mustard and use that?

great! yes just make up a paste with the mustard powder

Sian_the_Green wrote: »

So to confirm, to feed 4 people for a meal
125g pork mince
75g Bacon
Breadcrumbs
Half an egg if required
Oil and seasoning
160g apple
160g onion

250g potato (per person?)
80g 2 other veggies

Will give it a go

Yep your summary is good I just hope I'm not giving you a duff recipe that's a frugalisation too far!:o

weezl74

Kaz2904 wrote: »

This was in response to my pm last night. I had considered adding some linseeds to the cookies. I had some in but didn't try it.

I've done the last of the batch I made now. I had rolled it up and put it in the fridge overnight.
Verdict, awful to chop. Tried rolling it out. Very crumbly and kept breaking up.
IMO this definately needs waaaaaay more body and less fruit! I can't see how to make a nice tidy biscuit with it otherwise.
I will update later with the verdict of my 4 small testers but lets just say, the biscuits were a hit!

Do you think if we kinda minced up the raisins in a food processor with the zest and juice of an orange we could contruct soemthing with a fruit filling a bit like a figgy roll?

Or do you think just make it with less fruit?

shanks77

250g mince 1.25
250g sp sausages skinned 0.24
1 egg 0.09
1 onion 0.06
salt and herbs 0.02
Handful of breadcrumbs or porridge oats 0.05
Total £1.89

Mix together and put in a greased lined loaf tin. Put in water bath and bake for approx 1hr. Will feed 4 easily with veg and pots.

Cost could be cut further by using cheaper mince mine was on offer 2x500g for £5 i would have bought cheaper but ex wont look at it

Boodle

Just caught up with this thread and wow! What a project and well done you guys getting stuck in Particularly Weezl, Avocet and Firefox - fascinating reading!

Weezl – I understand how you feel about the contribution to society-vs-being a mother. It feels like a “vs” situation sometimes, but here you are proving it doesn’t have to be. I would like to join in where I can and help you prove it!

These recipes and meal ideas have already inspired my meal plan for next week, despite being mainly a vegan household here. In fact, DH and I will test out that Baked Bean Curry tomorrow. I am looking forward to it. I will also be giving the cereal bar recipe a bash for breakfast/snacks next week. I plan to add some linseeds to them for a slight omega 3&6 boost (we already use flax and rapeseed oil in dressings, etc.) For the biscuits – I found this recipe http://www.kitchencaravan.com/recipe/olive-oil-bergamot-shortbread. The original sounds fab but I do realise we won’t stretch to bergamot extract and olive oil! I did think the quantities might be useful, however. I will try to find some time this evening to test them with rapeseed oil and add some flavouring and fruit from your “available” list if anyone thinks it sounds ok? Just noticed you have requested a fig-roll from Kaz

Slighty OT: In regards to the baby bag, I didn’t pack mine until I needed it. And I didn’t need half the stuff those magazines and leaflets print in list form. IMO they exist purely to give MILs something to nag us about! Not quite as OT: on the fish front, I craved sardines in tomato sauce in the early months of my second pregnancy, and salmon with my first. I agree with Ceridwen, that the body knows what it needs.

ariarnia

weezl74 wrote: »

Baked Bean Curry adapted from netmums recipe

• 1 can tomatoes 33
  
• 2 tins of baked beans 58
• half tsp chilli
• 2 tsp mustard
  
• 2 tsp garam masala
  
• 320g onion, sliced 13p
  
• 2 tsp garlic paste

Put onions, garlic, chillis, and spices in a pan with a drop of oil, and cook til soft.
Add tomatoes and cook for a few minutes, until reduced down to a thicker sauce.
Add baked beans and cook for a few more minutes til all cooked, hot throughout and well mixed.
Season to taste.
Serve with rice

NEEDS A TESTER OR TWO

We liked it well enough for lunch (a bit much for lunch but I had the ingredients and had to cook something.). It was a bit spicy for me (I'm a wimp) but OH and MIL thought it was ok. MIL wouldn't eat it for dinner (she doesn't think it's a proper meal) but would think it ok for with JPots as a smaller portion for lunch. Oh would suggest less toms (maybe a tin and a half) and a squirt of katsup instead.
there are 3 of us and a smallish portion (maybe equivalent to half a tin of toms) left, but my serving was a bit hit or miss and I don't know if I reduced the toms enough.

grandma247

http://www.recipezaar.com/Garibaldi-Biscuits-3405

I am going to try this later with the changes.

Ingredients
2 ounces currants or other dried fruit
1 pinch salt
1 ounce butter oil could be used instead
4 ounces self raising flour
1 ounce sugar
milk, to mix water could be used instead
Directions
Chop dried fruit (currants, raisins, sultanas or a mixture). Put flour and sugar into a bowl and
rub in the butter lightly with the finger tips until no lumps remain, then stir in the sugar.
Add 1-2 Tbs milk to give a stiff dough and turn this on to a floured board.
Pat lightly into shape and roll out very evenly to 1/8 in. thick, keeping the dough a regular shape, then cut in half.
Sprinkle one half evenly with chopped fruit and cover with the other piece of dough.
Lightly flour the board and roll the mixture again until 1/8 in. thick, keeping as square as possible.
Trim the edges and cut into squares or triangles and bake on a greased tray in mod. hot oven @ 400 F. for 15 mins.

Edit zest could be added to the fruit or the pastry.

I also found this. It is a bit different to a recipe I have used. I had just white flour but these would be better for you but no wholemeal in the list.
http://www.recipezaar.com/british-fig-rolls-almost-better-than-shop-bought-381104

Fire_Fox

weezl74 wrote: »

Baked Bean Curry adapted from netmums recipe

NEEDS A TESTER OR TWO

I make a mixed bean curry that uses a tin of kidney beans and a tin of chick peas. Might be cheaper to swap one tin of baked beans (29p) for one of kidney beans (19p)? Would like to think the kidney beans also count as a purple veg. Otherwise I will test this as is at some point as I have all the ingredients.

Boodle

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I make a mixed bean curry that uses a tin of kidney beans and a tin of chick peas. Might be cheaper to swap one tin of baked beans (29p) for one of kidney beans (19p)? Would like to think the kidney beans also count as a purple veg. Otherwise I will test this as is at some point as I have all the ingredients.

Sounds nice Would dried kidney beans be even cheaper? If it's the same dry/tin weight equivalent as the chick peas which were worked out earlier in the thread, then I think the Granose dried kidney beans from asda (67p for 500g) would be 16.75p for 125g.

ETA: Ok forget that - sorry. We won't be needing the rest of the 500g packet so it wouldn't be cheaper actually. I see where you were coming from now

Lesley_Gaye

well we had the chou farci last night for dinner. I really liked it but OH wasn't very keen, he said it was too salty and he didn't like the taste of the sausages.

It would make a good cheap meal for Shirley and Bob and it was easy and quick to make, although takes a while to cook.

I used 500g cabbage (you can use savoy or white), shredded and cooked for a couple of minutes to reduce the bulk and make it soft. Drain well.

Take the skins off 350g sausages and flatten out. Put 1/3 of the cabbage in the base of a greased ovenproof dish. Put half the sausages on top. Then layer cabbage, sausages and top with cabbage. Dot with butter. Cover tightly with greasproof/foil and a lid

Cook at 140C for 2 to 2.5 hours

We had it with a little mash. I thought it was very tasty, the sausages I used were fairly good ones, but I'm sure it would be alright with the SP ones. I used a savoy cabbage

The quantity given was half the recipe I was using which was supposed to feed 4, but the qty we had would have been fine for 3.

So a full portion for 4 would be 1kilo cabbage, green or white and about 450g sausage

Using a pk of sp sausages 48p and an Asda cabbage 50p, this would be 98p + mash for 4 people

phizzimum

weezl74 wrote: »

ooooooh avocet, with you around it's like having a whole new spare brain to tap into (although the spare is actually better with superior attention to detail! )

:rotfl::rotfl: makes me think of that Steve Martin movie "the man with two brains" - have visions of firefox's brain in a big jar on weezl's kitchen counter!

think I need a spare brain to keep up with this thread, it's moving so fast - look what happens when I go off and have a life for a day or two)

going to make the sausage and apple balls/burgers again tonight - this time adding oats.