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

Lesley_Gaye

Sian - sorry to hear about your fall, and what a shame about your laptop. Hope it's mendable

Weezl - ready to talk spreadsheets? How do we do the talking part, by posting on here, or pm, or what?

Lesley_Gaye

weezl74 wrote: »

Lesley, I'm sorry I don't think I'm going to have any free space with spreadsheet brain until 7ish, as fergie is unwell and therefore pretty unhappy

xxx

aah, cross posted. Bit late for me I'm afraid as I have to go to the village hall for a meeting which starts at 8. Another day then.

Have you had a chance to look at it at all. I could put your latest meal plan in if you like the basic layout, and maybe add some more nutritional stuff

hugs to your little red cheeked fergie who wants his mummy

vandanfc

I can do this later when DD is at Guides. Do you want to pm me the details. Do you just want Asda ?

weezl74 wrote: »

can anyone spare time this afternoon for an admin job involving making a mysupermarket shopping list?

Estimated time taken 25 mins

RAS

I offer you an even cheaper version, care of Jocasta Innes Pauper's cookbook, or at least my version of that given it was a standard for me in 1978.

Adaptations

Make the pastry without the cheese - I would probably have to anyway.

Cook as per the instructions below.

Cook the onions until golden brown if possible (cooking heat costs money).

Make a white sauce with the remaining oil in the pan, adding a little if you need to (you want about 25gs worth) and 25gs of plain flour.

Add milk/ skimmed milk/ made up dried milk/ oat/rice milk to make a thick sauce.

This is the important bit. Add a GOOD grating of fresh nutmeg (they can still be bought singly, last for ages and taste much better than the ready ground ones) and some black pepper.

Add the onions to the tart, pour over the sauce and cook as below. Lovely with green veggies or salad.

The same sauce is brilliant over spaghetti with a little well cooked diced bacon or ham and some crushed black pepper. Best of all, heat the crushed pepper briefly in the fat from the bacon and divi that up over the top of the sauce.

weezl74 wrote: »

Recipe # 2 Frugalised Delia thick onion tart (nearly entitled post 'Delia-thick tart' but then thankfully re-read it and saved Martin a Libel case:rotfl:)

Ingredients
For the pastry:
2 oz (50 g) self-raising flour
2 oz (50 g) plain flour
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons smartprice mustard
2 oz (50 g) buttery spread (can't believe it's not/utterly butterly/butter believe it)
1½ oz (40 g) mature Cheddar cheese, grated

For the filling:

1½ lb (700 g) onions, chopped fairly small
2 oz (50 g) buttery spread (can't believe it's not/utterly butterly/butter believe it)
2 eggs, beaten
4 fl oz (110 ml) full fat milk
60g grated mature Cheddar cheese
salt and freshly milled black pepper

Pre-heat the oven, and a baking sheet, to gas mark 4, 350°F (180°C).


Method

First make the pastry by sifting the flours, salt and mustard powder into a mixing bowl, then rubbing in the fat until the mixture becomes crumbly. Then stir in the mature cheese and add enough cold water to make a dough that leaves the bowl clean. Leave to rest in the fridge for half an hour.

Meanwhile, prep the filling. Melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan, then add the onions, stir to get them well coated in the butter, and cook them (uncovered) over a medium heat for about half an hour until they have reduced and turned a deep brown.

Then roll out the pastry to line the tart tin, pr1ck the base with a fork (can't believe I have to get round the rude word checker on a Delia recipe!) , place it on the pre-heated baking sheet, and bake in the centre of oven for 15 minutes. After that remove from the oven and brush the inside of the pastry case with a little beaten egg (from the filling), and return to the oven for another 5 minutes. Then spread the onions all over the base of the tart, whisk the beaten eggs together with the cream and some seasoning, and pour this mixture over the onions.


Finally sprinkle cheese over the top, return the tart to the oven and bake for 30 minutes till the filling is puffy and golden brown.

recipe and photos originally taken from weezl's blog, my mse homepage if you click on my name!:)

ceridwen

...well we're currently heading off into realms distinctly "bawdy" on the equipment sub-thread.:rotfl:

Betcha never knew that a "cup" in a 34B bra = 4 oz of flour:rotfl:

poohbear59

I have made two plate pies tonight.
Short crust pastry chicken and leek pie
Filling
1/2 of the left over chicken from the legs etc.
200g leeks (needed to be used up)
1tsp oil
1oz plain flour
1/2 pt stock from boiling carcase earlier
salt and pepper
Pastry
6oz plain flour
1.5 oz hard marg
1.5oz Trex
4tsp water

Suet crust pastry pie
Exactly the same as the Short crust except I used 3oz vegetable suet.

DS1 made all the pastry, I made the sauce. DS2 washed up and cleared up our mess!

served with potato wedges and baked beans (from Aldi)

Photos to follow if anyone can explain in simple terms how to post them on here:)Please.

We used the chicken carcase to make stock which we used to make broth for lunch today for four men. There is enough leftover for a couple of bowls for tomorrow too.

ceridwen

weezl74 wrote: »

oooh Allegra you've reminded me I never responded to this.

Why am I concerned that people don't manage their finances well?

• my main one: it points to the fact that people have not been taught how to live within means, and the importance of that from an early age. This is an indictment at a government level, and one I'd like to see addressed in my lifetime.
• If Bob and Shirley are currently like the families shown on economy gastronomy, then they are throwing away 15-10% of their food produce because they haven't been shown how to manage food without waste. This to me has 2 sad parts, environmentally, how sad that the ground has been worked to produce this, without need since it is now refuse and also globally, since we do live in a world where people still starve for lack of these things.
• It isn't true that one familys debt doesn't impact others. (please be aware that I do not think this is Bob and Shirley's fault) It does cost us all a lot. If this health psychologist statistic that this much debt is an equivalent health risk as smoking 75 to 100 cigarettes daily is correct, then Bob and Shirley create more costs for the NHS.
• If they have to become bankrupt, then our economy soaks up the costs that incurs to their debtors.
• If they have to have a sub-prime mortgage or accept a payday loan or loan shark agreement, they further a corrupt system which needs to end.
• If they make a lifestyle of living above one's means look very glamourous, and Jenny and Jason tease other children at school for not having snazzy, branded goods in their lunchboxes then other families will find it harder to live within their means too.

so socially, environmentally, economically, and at a level of demand on our welfare system and infrastructure (like the NHS) it matters to me how one family manages their cash.

And I'll just say this again, because I really believe it: It's not Bob and Shirley's fault.

The UK made it look glamorous, desirable and created a ridiculous banking system to support it

At many levels it does matter what one family does.

My belief here is that the personal is political.

And that is partly what fuels me

Step off soap box, interested to see if sparks will fly

I certainly understand the point re bankruptcy - hence why I mention the point about "provided their debt doesnt impact on other people" - I know people personally who are still owed money years later by others having gone bankrupt:mad: - and I am well aware that the people who actually owe them the money DO have the money to pay (but have put it in someone else's name to avoid their responsibilities:mad:). I have personally "shopped" someone who admitted doing this to me...as it made me very angry that they had held onto their standard of living at other peoples expense.

Also - I was only reading an article earlier today about bank employees getting bonuses based on how much they had managed to persuade gullible people to borrow. I do wonder why some others arent more cynical about this - but then remind myself that it has taken me many years to become as cynical (trans: aware) as I have become.

"Extra costs to the NHS" - quite agree...though I would also add in the numerous layers of "management" that occur in the Public Sector - where many people are seeking promotion regardless of whether a higher-level job actually exists for them to be promoted to or no.

I certainly believe "the personal is political". Its a phrase I commonly use - every time I wonder how the heck someone can be so darn selfish about something - because they seem to have no idea/or no concern that their "personal" decision about their life is impacting on other peoples lives (and the Planet itself and other species on it). I was vastly amused recently (as someone who isnt personally a child-oriented person) to find a couple of children having conversations with me recently about the state of the Planet (one of them was saying to me "We need the other animals on this Planet and they need us" - to which I had to respond "Well - we need them - but actually they would be a sight better off without us". I was mentally "leaping up and down" earlier today about something a poster said on another Board - because they were taking the view that something done by a person in Britain doesnt impact on the World as a whole - and I was dying to go "weighing in" pointing out that Britain isnt an island (except in the geographical sense) - but decided that they werent ready to hear that yet..so wouldnt listen to me anyway...

Re the "snazzy branded goods in lunchbox" - actually "frugal is fashionable" these days - well, certainly well on the way to becoming so - and I think that is a good thing personally. Many people (and I've done it myself before now:o) fall into the trap of copying other people - so whatever is the cultural norm becomes the way they themselves act - without thinking things through for themselves. Many people fall into another trap of "I consume - therefore I am" and derive some sort of "sense of purpose" from "retail therapy" - ditto - I've done that too myself in the past:o (hence my policy decision at the outset not to accept advertising on my "homepage" which shall not be mentioned.....).

<cough> - I'll get off my soapbox now....<cough>

weezl74

Thank you Vanda! I really appreciate it



Item number of packages or units
1 kg cheese mature x 1
500g chick peas x 1
2 kg onion x 8
500g pasta x 4
gia garlic x 1
200g salted peanuts x 1
1kg dried marrowfat peas 2
6 oranges
pig liver x 500g
kg carrots x 3.4
kg potatoes x 6
bramley apples x 2.3 kgs
4kg raisins x 8
cooking bacon x 1
30 eggs
butter x 2
4 pts skimmed milk x 8
Frozen cauli x 2
400g mince x 3
frozen sweetcorn x 2
long grain rice x 5
tins baked beans 10
tins peeled tomatoes 17
3kg sr flour 2
4.5kg plain flour 3
9kg bread flour 9
2kg sugar 1
5kg oats 5
80 tea bags x2
blue cheese x 1
grana padano x 1
500g green lentils x 1
150g walnuts x 1
pumpkin seeds x 4
frozen spinach x 9
whole chicken x 1

all asda smart price unless there isn't a smartprice option, in which case the cheapest they have, I hope you can make sense of the list

HowlinWolf

It's taken me ages to get on here and catch up as ds is poorly.

so my adventures in Weezldom for today are:

reading deer hunting with jesus on the train which made me think Weezl and Ceridwen several times

eating greek yogurt with apple curd for my breakfast which was delicious

forgoing the breadmaker in favour of paul merritt's bread recipe (still used the dough hooks on the handmixer as kneeding bread by hand makes my excema worse) so that I could think about texture etc for shirley's tips

Asking for the Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall or Darina Allen book for mother's day.

ceridwen

Reet....caught up now.....

WEEZL
- See your light is on....Is Fergus feeling a bit better then?