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

taka

weezl74 wrote: »

vegetarian/vegan readers: How are you currently accomodating enough omega 3 in your diets without using fish?

vegan readers: what is your current chief source of dietary calcium?

I'm Veggie an my answer is... ummmm... I'm not sure I'm getting enough. This thread has really made it obvious I have a LOT to learn about nutrition! I bought a bag of flaxseeds at a healthfood shop (£2.60/kg - is that a good price?) so am going to start adding crushed seeds into things in an attempt to up my intake a bit. Other than that I guess I get some from things like german potato salad but I don't have that every day by any means.

My Mum has flipped between being Veggie and Vegan. She has used Soya milk, soya yoghurt and Pure spread (and other similar brands) instead of the dairy equivalents for her calcium. Other than that it was a very similar diet to being veggie - lots of wholegrain foods, pasta (most cheaper pastas don't have eggs in so are in theory vegan), cous cous, bulgar, quinoa, tofu, lots of nuts and the usual fruit and veg.

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is indeed ~40% Calcium. Calcuim (Ca) = 40, Carbon (C) = 12 and Oxygen (O) = 16.

40+12+16+16+16 (as there are 3 Oxygens) =100 (Well technically 100.0869 but thats just getting silly :rotfl:)

ariarnia

Can I ask how much oil I'm using instead of suet in the bacon and onion pudding?

I've decided to make that now to steam tomorrow and then that's another meal sorted.

Murrell

taka wrote: »

I bought a bag of flaxseeds at a healthfood shop (£2.60/kg - is that a good price?) so am going to start adding crushed seeds into things in an attempt to up my intake a bit.

Better than the supermarkets
Tesco is 35p per 100g
Ocado is 39p per 100g
asda is 67p per 100g

yours is 26p per 100g if my maths is right!

sandra
x

weezl74

Wow lesley thanks, the spreadsheet is superb :T:T:T:T:T

ok I just have to go and do a bit of real life now, so can I just leave people with a couple more questions:

Anyone out there good at writing javascript? (well you never know your luck!)

Anyone willing to have a go at writing any of the other mini articles listed in posts 1-3 rather as ceridwen has done with the kit list? You can start a thread to help you gather inspiration

Weezl x

weezl74

ariarnia wrote: »

Can I ask how much oil I'm using instead of suet in the bacon and onion pudding?

I've decided to make that now to steam tomorrow and then that's another meal sorted.

I subbed like for like ie 3oz, and thought it was nice, but I look forward to your verdict!

taka

weezl74 wrote: »

My second addition. The nut and seed butter and soups and apple curd really do need a food processor.

I tried to use a pestle and mortar/stick blender and I think the waste is too high in the apple curd, and the grinding of nuts and seeds without one is laughable, sorry

Would a mini processer like this sort of thing cope with the nuts/seeds? It wouldn't blend soup though!
Actually I could test it if need be - I don't have a food processer only a whisks/kneeds/blends/chops multi attachment thing.

weezl74 wrote: »

Hi there,

can I also just clarify: we are attempting to come up with 3 planners, each one aims to solve a non-negotiable for people, it will also be healthy within the definition we described.

planner 1: Bob and shirley: healthy, £100 a month, contains meat at 3 ish meals per week. only 1-2 cuppas a day though with skimmed milk. Meets the non negotiable of keeping meat in the diet. Also has a roast meal once a month

planner 2: healthy, £100 a month, no meat or eggs. Therefore meets 2 non-negotiables, 5 cuppas are available with fresh milk, and no battery eggs are used (because no eggs are used)

planner 3: healthy, £100 a month, vegan, but meets the non-negotiable of a piece of fresh fruit daily.

if anyone notices that I have wrongly summed up the non-negotiables and therefore am catering the whole thing wrongly:(, now would be a VERY good time to tell me!:)

Love Weezl x

I'm confused... Is planner 2 now no longer a veggie one? I'm not sure how this is working now at all - why have a vegan planner 3 if no 2 will contain fish (presumably?) - would a fully veggie one not be more accessable to more people (as there are far more veggies than Vegans)?

ariarnia

weezl74 wrote: »

I subbed like for like ie 3oz, and thought it was nice, but I look forward to your verdict!

it seemed to need 2 good shakes of flour, hold the back and tip some in style so prob about an extra half cup full, before it was a dough/pastry rather than batter or spread.

I'm very pleased that I just chopped a pound and a half of *pots* onion (for delia tart at the weekend and for the suet pudding tomorrow, plus some fried onions as I'm mad for them at the mo) without cutting my fingers off even though I had to wash my eyes out at least 4 times. Yay for lack of self mutilation :j.

ariarnia

taka wrote: »

Would a mini processer like this sort of thing cope with the nuts/seeds? It wouldn't blend soup though!
Actually I could test it if need be - I don't have a food processer only a whisks/kneeds/blends/chops multi attachment thing.

I'm confused... Is planner 2 now no longer a veggie one? I'm not sure how this is working now at all - why have a vegan planner 3 if no 2 will contain fish (presumably?) - would a fully veggie one not be more accessable to more people (as there are far more veggies than Vegans)?

I think the problem was making sure everything was vegetarian and still had the required calcium/vits and protean levels and enough calories. There was a discussion a few pages back about 'nearly vegetarian' and having 'proper' vegetarian cheese and butter - which is odd, as I thought cheese was vegetarian anyway...

Allegra

weezl74 wrote: »

the bean pate and seed spreads and even apple curd all cope really well with having their oil added cold. I hope those dishes also help to get enough oil into DD!

'Fraid she won't eat any of the above Still, I keep trying to get new stuff into her - occasionally I'm pleasantly surprised

Allegra

can I have some advice about the potato salad? Is it an oil to vinegar/lemon ratio of 4:1 ish and is it just potato and finely chopped raw onion? On our budget it could also have grated raw carrot if you think that would be a good addition...

Meals I think it could go with, but would value your input:

sweetcorn fritters, HM chutney and potato salad
delia tart with carrots and potato salad
Chicken and onion pie, spinach and potato salad
with the veggie burgers/cutlets/rissoles?

Obviously if eaten everyday, a bit much but this would be a side dish once every approx 4 days... How does that sound?

Weezl x

I tend to dress by eye - a glug of this, a splash of that - by I'd say we dress 2:1 oil/vinegar. The potatoes and onions are finely sliced - as you would with a mandolin - so the dressing soaks into the potatoes, and the vinegar loses its bite somewhat. No harm in reducing the vinegar to taste, though. I found (using myself as a guinea pig, of course) that cubing the spuds as you would for a mayo-dressed salad, you could get a greasy, acidic result.

My DD would not accept the addition of carrot, but I would I have often, once DD's purist portion has been prepared, added other stuff to ours - olives or gherkins work really well, for instance, as do peas.

Your menu suggestions sound fine - not sure if you are still basing the veggie cutlets on potato, though ? If you are, it could be a bit much for most people. If they are not, it should be fine

ETA: Sorry about the dodgy quoting !

taka

ariarnia wrote: »

I think the problem was making sure everything was vegetarian and still had the required calcium/vits and protean levels and enough calories. There was a discussion a few pages back about 'nearly vegetarian' and having 'proper' vegetarian cheese and butter - which is odd, as I thought cheese was vegetarian anyway...

Yes... I was just confused as to the outcome of that discussion! I suspect that it'd be even more of a challenge to make a planner truely Vegan than veggie though on a very tight budget.

Cheese may or may not be vegetarian - it depends on the source of an enzyme used during the cheese production. See here for some info from the Vegetarian Society. Most supermarket/brand name cheddars are veggie friendly but some of the more specialist cheeses (even common things like parmesan) are a bit hit or miss whether they are or not.

There may be several meat products "hidden" in otherwise vegetarian sounding foods! See here too!
- Yoghurt and other puddings may have gelatine (derived from animal ligaments, skins, tendons, bones) eg Mu11er light yogs.
- Worcester Sauce contains anchovies.
- Alcohol - may have been passed through isinglass.
- E numbers - not all of them are veggie eg E120 Conineal (a red food dye) from crushed insects.
- medicine/vitamin capsules often have gelatine.