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

In_Search_Of_Me

oo goodness me! Lots of comments since I peeked in last night!
Firstly weezl how are my two gorgeous boys? Tell Kester that his blankie is coming on lovely and autie ISOM is so chuffed with it she may pee her pants! Tell Ferg that I will do him one in different shapes (hexagon) so its as delicious but different! Do wonder if I should gives kesters to ferg and then give fergs to kester...
sorry back ot...an someone please clarify that post 1 is the one where I look for what needs testing still?
I think consensus is stick to plan 1 for now and away from too much politics (have to say I tend to read less when it gets all stressy) ...will feel a relief for me at least. I do find it quite "anxius making" as my good friend would say when we steer to far away from the point of the plan. At the end of the day we are helping bob and shirl to get through a tough patch and we need to try do that before we save the world! Off to sew yummy squares tog!

ariarnia

weezl74 wrote: »

our spar shops here are pretty ropey aren't they sometimes if owned by a forward thinking asian family like our nice local one, they do have the advantage of having really good bargain big bags of spices, chick peas, lentils etc...

The thing I don't like about our local one is the milk lasts 3 days MAX, you have to check as sometimes it's gone still in the shop - well within date, I think they just don't store it properly.

poohbear59

Floxxie wrote: »

I'm still working my way through this thread (am up to 10/2 after a couple of hours reading :rotfl:) so apologies if this has been written already.

I see it's mentioned serveral times about teenagers being hungry; whilst mine aren't quite that age yet I do have one who is constantly hungry and have found that popcorn kernels (1kg for £2.50 from Asda) do the trick. It takes 100g to make a very large bowl of popcorn - I do not add any oil and I do not put anything on them. It's great as an added source of fibre and works out very cheap as it keeps three children going for a couple of days on each serving.

Meat - have finally reduced it to 2 servings a week, normally using the same type of meat but different dishes. DH doesn't have a problem with this at all.

Eggs - used to be FR for everything; have now gone for FR if eating them plain i.e. fried, boiled, scrambled, otherwise non-FR in cooking.

Really interesting comments and recipes :T

My hungry sons make themselves scones when they are hungry and tired of toast but popping corn is a great idea to fill them up. Thanks.

We have meat down to three times a week. And then one of those days it is just 50g between 4 or 5 of us.

weezl I hope things are still going well with your two gorgeous boys. You remind me of me when mine were that age. I had two within 13 months too, then another two 17 months apart. They are all the best of friends:) But still here :eek:

Tonight I am going to make DS1s favourite spicy lentil shepherds pie. I don't know if you need any more recipes to add to the equation? I can post it if you wish.

poohbear59

Murrell wrote: »

Info on this page regarding calcium might be useful for plan 3 or any other for that matter.

http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=45

2 tsps of dried basil is 63mg of calcium
2 tsps of dried thyme is 54mg of calcium
2 tsps of dried oregano is 47mg of calcium
all easy to use in main dishes, even if we used dried mixed herbs to save money

Sandra
x

Just a quick note and I am sorry if it has already been mentioned but Aldi sell bags of dried herbs that if sealed well keep a long time and work out much cheaper than the usual supermarket packets.

weezl74

poohbear59 wrote: »

Tonight I am going to make DS1s favourite spicy lentil shepherds pie. I don't know if you need any more recipes to add to the equation? I can post it if you wish.

well done you with your 4 strapping lads :T:T
the lentil shepherd's pie fits well with planner 2, please post it

don't worry everyone I will just keep it here til we are ready to look in more detail at planner 2. No rushing off in new directions.:D:o

OK so ISOM's question, which are the recipes most in need of testing? Right, off to check the survey feedback list...

back in a min

xxx

weezl74

right, the sweetcorn fritters are not rating that highly with the testers of which there are only a handful.

So I think testers of that would be good (although probably no-one wants to now!) can I suggest people quarter the recipe, that way you've lost 30ishp rather than £1.20 if you think they're vile! (Noone said vile, they just saw it as more of a side dish!)

It's very helpful to know this, cos I was going to axe the baked bean curry, but it may actually be better to axe the fritters...

potty, if you can particularly prioritise any survey, could it be the baked bean curry one, so I can check which is most popular out of it and the fritters before deciding which to lose?

I've been thinking today as I was out and about re the surveys, that I wonder if you might like to have a deputy? Is there one of us you could train up to do any of the survey work?

I'm conscious of your time

Stuffing- sorry I've only just got round to posting this! A million thanks to the stuffing testers stepping in last night (QOS how was yours in the end?)

Great news.:beer::T:T:T:T

PoohBear, what are your thoughts on a cabbageless bubble and squeak? To work with the existing list it would be a mashed spud base with any of the following: carrot, peas, onion, bramley apple (not for shanks ) mustard, garlic...marrowfats...

served with a quarter chicken (wow! you really know how to stretch a chicken, hats off to you!) roast onions, gravy, the stuffing.

How would that work, I think it's what you guys had but the BandS is a bit different?

so priority testing now is bean curry and giving feedback (it's like the balloon game now, we have to justify which out of fritters and bean curry gets to stay in the hot air balloon, whilst we chuck the other one overboard!)

would be particularly interested in a post from anyone who's tried both, about what should stay and what should go

OK DH and my dad have specifically taken both boys out so I get a nap, so I'd better do that as they've been so kind


Chat soon,

Love Weezl x

morag1202

weezl74 wrote: »

and susan, when on next can you say something about the research you've done on saturated fats? I'm at the moment keeping Bob and shirl's intake as a max of 10% of their daily intake expressed in calorie terms. How does that square up with what you've read?

I know you were asking Susan, but thought this might help?


How much is too much saturated fat?

Most people in the UK eat too much saturated fat – about 20% more than the recommended maximum amount.

• The average man should have no more than 30g saturated fat a day.
• The average woman should have no more than 20g saturated fat a day.

Children should have less saturated fat than adults. But remember that a low-fat diet isn’t suitable for children under five.

Of course most people don’t have time to tot up the amount of saturated fat they are eating every day. But it’s a good idea to take a look at how much saturated fat is in different foods. Then you’ll see that eating certain foods, especially in large quantities, can make it easy to eat more than the recommended maximum amount of saturated fat.

If you know which foods are high in saturated fat – and which are lower – then you can make choices each day to help reduce your intake of saturated fat.



taken from the FSA site

In_Search_Of_Me

Weezl...NAP!

Murrell

Just made the 'Mr Aless’s savoury bites ' and they are lovely. I ate about 6 though, naughty me! I didn't right your directions down, so mashed the chickpeas, added all other ingredients and then added some drained chickpea can juice to bind. So after now looking, realised you used all the juice. If I had done that, they would of been too soft. They took 20 mins to cook, followed by 10 mins left in the oven to finish firming up. I should of put them on two trays and made them flatter, then they wound not of took the extra time. After 10 mins I quished them down further, too help them firm up. I got 37 out of the mixture.

Definately worth trying for a savoury snack. I will make them again and use the method I did, but put them on 2 trays and flatten them further.

Sandra
x

weezl74

morag1202 wrote: »

How much is too much saturated fat?
taken from the FSA site

Thanks loads morag-added to my favourites, and great news on the 20-30g upper limit, we are way below that even in the Bob and shirl planner which is the highest in sat fat of the 3 semi existing ones

In_Search_Of_Me wrote: »

Weezl...NAP!

I did lovely girl, and it was very nice

Murrell wrote: »

Just made the 'Mr Aless’s savoury bites ' and they are lovely. I ate about 6 though, naughty me! I didn't right your directions down, so mashed the chickpeas, added all other ingredients and then added some drained chickpea can juice to bind. So after now looking, realised you used all the juice. If I had done that, they would of been too soft. They took 20 mins to cook, followed by 10 mins left in the oven to finish firming up. I should of put them on two trays and made them flatter, then they wound not of took the extra time. After 10 mins I quished them down further, too help them firm up. I got 37 out of the mixture.

Definately worth trying for a savoury snack. I will make them again and use the method I did, but put them on 2 trays and flatten them further.

Sandra
x

Thanks so much Sandra :A

thanks too for the calcium in dried herbs info, that's great, did you happen to know what weight of those herbs the 2 tspns mentioned works out as, my spreadsheet is asking for grams, he no likey teaspoons!


Great stuff! My dad and DH love them too. When I told them just 4 of those provides the total calcium required daily for a vegan who may be finding it hard to find cheap sources of dietary calcium, they were impressed and that would only cost 7p :money:

however I shall reduce the amount of liquid if you think that's best. Do you think our ovens are behaving very differently again.... I sense mine takes longer than yours, and you usually have to reduce my cooking times.

I say this because it seems important for me not to publish recipes based on a dodgy oven! Can I ask if anyone has noticed a problem with the time I've said things take to cook?

Love weezl x