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

weezl74

:rotfl:ok, here's the rule then: when posting recipe feedback, please make the title of the recipe stand out for the sake of the summariser.

You can do it like this

or like this

or like this

or like this


or like *******this********


or like this


or like this


or like :Dthis:D



or like

this

Love :j**Weezl** :jx

princess_loki

ceridwen - so we can now expect multi coloured, bolded posts with smileys too :starmod::staradmin!

i just found some stars as well :starmod::starmod::starmod::starmod::starmod:

phizzimum

DD1 9/10 (because she doesn't like sultanas)

DD2 10/10! "loved it"

DH and myself 10/10

weezl74

grandma247 wrote: »

The 5% recommendation is from USDA not me. I belong to a couple of food preservation yahho groups and that is what everyone on them recommends. 5% and no less for pickles and chutnies.

thanks grandma 247, that's really useful. Sorry I missed the point there. :)I'm guessing then that's a guideline based on making sure the food is properly preserved? Do we think if the mythical family made and used it in time to just eat it it'd be ok? I was more trying to rev up the sweetcorn fritters rather than preserve the food for a while, IYSWIM?!

grandma247

If it is kept in the fridge and used up fairly quickly say in a month or so I think the cheapest vinegar would be ok.

homegrown_life

Fruit & Vegetables


32 x Basics Loose Apples (11p is 2 portions) 3.52
3 x Basics Bananas (8) 3.57
1 x Basics Pears (650g) 1.04
4 x Mr S cooked Beetroot (250g) 2.40
4 x Basics Carrots (1Kg) 3.20
7 x Basics Onions (1.5 Kg) 4.13
4 x Basics Potatoes (2.5Kg) 3.36
1 x Basics Salted Peanuts (200g) 0.27
5 x Basics Sultanas (No cheap raisins) (500g) 3.25
2 x Batchelors Bigga Dried Peas (250g) 0.48

Dairy


4 x So Organic whole milk(2.27L) 6.00 2 for £3 valid until 27/7/2010
2 x Family Free Range eggs (15) 3.16
2 x Pure Spread (500g) 2.00 (cheapest buttery spread same price so just used this)
2 x Mr S British Mature Cheddar (400g) 4.00 2 for £4 valid until 16/2/2010

Meat, Fish & Poultry


1 x Freedom Food Pork Belly Joint (900g) 4.94
1 x Turkey Mince (500g) 1.79
2 x Basics Turkey Drumsticks (700g) 2.94
1 x Basics Unsmoked Gammon Rounds (2 x 150g) 1.39


Frozen

3 x Frozen Sausage Meat Pork (400g) 3.87
2 x Whole Green Beans (1Kg) 2.00
2 x Frozen Baby Carrots (1Kg) 2.44
4 x Cauliflower Florets (1kg) 4.48
2 x Basics Peas (1.81kg) 3.48
4 x Sweetcorn (1kg) 4.68

Tins, Jars & Cooking


1 x Pure Sunflower Oil (1L) 1.04
1 x Colman's Mustard Powder (57g) 0.95
1 x Gia Garlic Puree in Vegetable Oil (90g) 0.60
1 x Garam Masala (42g) 0.77
15 x Basics Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce (420g) 4.35
14 x Basics Peeled Plum Tomatoes in Tomato Juice (400g) 4.34
1 x Green Olives pitted with Anchovy (300g) 1.25
1 x Red Cabbage in Vinegar (335g) 0.85
2 x Italian Green Pesto Sauce (190g) 2.38
1 x Basics Veg stock cubes (10) 0.19

Packets & Cereals


1 x WholeWheat Biscuits (48x18g) 2.15
2 x Porridge Oats (1.5Kg) 2.92
1 x Basics Self Raising Flour (1.5Kg) 0.43
10 x Strong White Bread Flour (1.5Kg) 7.90
1 x Jif Lemon Juice (250ml) 0.47
1 x Silver Spoon Granulated Sugar (1Kg) 0.98
7 x ASDA Smartprice Pasta Shapes (500g) 3.01
5 x ASDA Smartprice Long Grain Rice (1Kg) 3.65
4 x Dried Chick Peas (500g) 3.16

Drinks


1 x Basics Tea Bags (80 per pack - 250g) 0.28

TOTAL £114.66



Ok here we have the S@insburys list from Weezl's original. I'll change it when it gets updated. I did my best with the substitues, it does include organic whole milk (cheaper than whole normal), free range eggs and freedom foods pork (not sure if belly joint ok rather than slices) so not bad I think! I also changed the kiwi fruits to bananas and pears.

I remembered something else I meant to ask. What are the beans to be used for? If something like chilli, you could maybe substitute some for some tinned kidney beans which are slightly cheaper - 19p a can in Mr S.

System

homegrown_life wrote: »

Do you know how many portions you get from the dried packets and pulses then? I know it's about a tablespoon per portion (for the dried), but how heavy is that?

I hate those tablespoon measures! They're OK for serving food but absolutely useless when cooking it. Who on earth is going to measure out the required number of tablespoons of lentils when batch-cooking for the freezer?

When I started looking at this sort of thing a couple of years ago, I compiled a list from various official sources (UK and France), and here it is. Note that all weights are for edible portion only, after removing peel, stones, skin etc. Unfortunately, this means that you can't work out the number of portions in a bag of (say) carrots just by dividing its weight by 80, or a bag of stone-in prunes by dividing its weight by 20.

Portion size for vegetables = 80g
Portion size for tomato pur!e = 20g
Portion size for cooked pulses = 80g
Portion size for dried pulses = 40g
Portion size for fresh fruit = 80g
Portion size for dried fruit = 20g
Portion size for “ready to eat” dried fruit = 30g
Portion size for fruit juice = 150 ml
Portion size for vegetable juice = 150 ml

homegrown_life

That's great Avocet - on mysupermarket it was saying 6 portions for a bag of dried sultanas which doesn't sound right and I wondered how many you should get from it. So I assume from 1 500g bag we'd get 25 portions? And from a 500g bag of dried pulses we'd get 12.5 portions. I was trying to compile a list of prices per portion fruit and veg so I could see what was best value iyswim. I haven;t got very far or I'd post my findings

gallygirl

ceridwen wrote: »

Personally - I cant be doing with checking out exactly how many "colours" I have a day - I just think "if its colourful - it'll do - it must be okay" and just focus on cramming in as many portions of fruit/veg/etc per day as I can stomach basically. So - I would lay emphasis myself on having 9 portions of fruit/veg per day (well...okays...7 for our mythical family perhaps...). My breakfast fruit for instance (ie what I put on my porridge) is probably 1 serving worth and today's is 3 different fruits in just 2 colours - to me I'm still counting it as 3 different things - so take the view "so what?" about it. I'm inclined to think that "doubling up" of colours doesnt matter at all - that its just (as you say) summat that got put in because its difficult enough to get the average Brit in the Street to have 5 portions a day even.

.....goes off wincing at the thought of all the meals I note people having of just a main course at dinner and no separate veg. with it. I dont always manage it myself - but, for instance, when I make the veggie equivalent of spaghetti bolognaise - I have a salad with it as well (so - I've certainly doubled up - eg peas in the "bolognaise" sauce and several different types of green veg in the salad with it AND red tomatoes in the bolognaise sauce and maybe red peppers in the salad).

To me - that colours rule is a "waste of space" frankly. Its just the quantities that matter and having plenty of different types of fruit/veg.

I'm with you, tbh I think the people who go overboard on this are so busy making sure they eat all the right stuff there is probably no time left to enjoy it . 5 'greens' one day and 5 'reds' the next really doesn't matter in the big scheme of things. SO far today I have had and:o and colours but only 2 portions.

weezl74

homegrown_life wrote: »

That's great Avocet - on mysupermarket it was saying 6 portions for a bag of dried sultanas which doesn't sound right and I wondered how many you should get from it. So I assume from 1 500g bag we'd get 25 portions? And from a 500g bag of dried pulses we'd get 12.5 portions. I was trying to compile a list of prices per portion fruit and veg so I could see what was best value iyswim. I haven;t got very far or I'd post my findings

Hiya, if it helps at all the asda list does contain the 7 a day and all the colours (with the exception of the kiwis which need swapping for a proper fruit portion) I thought that might save you having to redo loads of the head scratching sums I'd already done :rotfl:.