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

sistercas

weezl74 wrote: »

Hi sistercas, thanks

So would it have been ok for them with veg instead d'you think? xxxx

would have been absolutely fine x

FrankieM

Hi,
I just wanted to add that you should do the 'challenge' as you first planned and make it as workable for you as possible.
People can add or take away as they want or as fits into there own budget or ethical needs.
My friend has a saying...eat the meat and spit out the bones. All information requires that we use what works for us and skip what doesn't. (to a certain degree)

weezl74

Looking at Defra statistics, interesting points about what actually happens in a recession to the nations use of fresh fruit and veg, which seems to suggest as we were thinking that this is indeed a sacrificeable principle for people:

wrote:

Household purchases of fruit and vegetables fell by 4.3% in 2008 and are now
5.4% lower than 2005-06. Since 2007, purchases of fresh fruit fell by 7.7%, fresh
green vegetables fell by 9.6% and fruit juices fell by 4.4%. Only processed
vegetables have risen slightly by 2.3% since 2007. Faced with the 2008 price rises
of 7% and 8% in fruit and vegetables respectively consumers spent almost the
same amount as before, and to achieve this they tended to buy less fruit and
cheaper vegetables.
• About 6% of fruit and vegetables entering the household in 2008 came from free
sources, mainly gardens and allotments.

Sian_the_Green

weezl74 wrote: »

Good morning all recipe testers!

Remind me which version of the pastry you did sian, how did it differ from the delia original, was it just a swap of WM to plain white flour?

I did the version with 50g plain flour and 50g s.r. flour, fatm mustard and it said cheese but I put more on the topping instead


Would a side order of fine green beans (or any other of the veg on the list, carrot, peas, sweetcorn...) have been an acceptable alternative for the salad, or would there have been mutiny?:rotfl:

I got salad because I was not sure what to do given that some of my housemates would be arriving home at different times so the onion tart became a cold meal really... Beans etc would have gone down fine if we were all eating together, likewise the red cabbage 'chutney' added colour to the plate and a good dollop of that had cabbage, raisin, onion and apple so added to the fruit and veg so wouldn't have needed as much veg if that was a side. I also found that for the amount of pastry I had, the tin I used was only 9inch (did I do that wrong?) and so I had way too many onions so chucked some of them into my relish!

HTH

Sian_the_Green

Surely this must have some bearing...

homegrown_life

weezl74 wrote: »

Beetroot question: Borscht. Not seeming very popular (in mass appeal terms) , so wondering about losing it.

However the beetroot and red cabbage were there to ensure that not all the purple fruit anti-oxidants came from dried fruit sources (ie the raisins!). I wonder if anyone can think of another way to include them? 2 packs shrink wrapped beetroot and half a jar of red cabbage is what we're looking to frugally reapportion.

Look forward to any thoughts!

xxx

I've never had beetroot soup, but hubby is happy to test it after I explained to him what you're doing here. I was going to buy some beetroot tonight as we're off to Asda. I'll get everything in and see what else people come up with.

I make a tomato soup with tinned toms, onion, pepper and carrot and stock. A friend of mine makes it too and has tried it with beetroot added too. I might try it next time, but I imagine it won't be a full portion of beetroot being served. I was also thinking of making beetroot hummus, only for me and my DD as we're the only ones who like hummus! When I was searching for the beetroot hummus I found a recipe for pink mash which was just beetroot and potatoes mashed together as far as I could see.

Have to say I'm happy to help with this challenge how you see fit, I'm glad you're being honest about how you're feeling with it. I'm hoping to get started on the recipe testing soon, and can help in any other way. I love the whole ethos of this challenge and well done for getting it whirring around in our heads.

Please take it easy though, I had 2 children close together (14 mnths) and tbh I had so many people tellng me how hard it was going to be to have so close together that it wasn't any where near as bad as I was expecting! I hope little Kester will be a breeze and that Fergus copes just fine too.

weezl74

Sian_the_Green wrote: »

Surely this must have some bearing...

I agree:), what particularly were you thinking sian? x

weezl74

ok! success

After much searching on the office of national statistics and the Defra stats reports, it seems that the average spend for our family of 4 (on food + drink eaten in the home) in the uk would be £407.43. (Based on 08 figures because Defra haven't published the 09 data yet).

Well, this is fab

If Bob and Shirley spent the average... then we would save them, wait for it, I'm very excited about this :D:D:D:D:D


Drum roll:



£3619.73 in a year :j:j:j:j:j

And wait, it gets better!

If they are average then Bob and Shirley have also been spending

£425.48

on eating out, but the meal planner takes care of all their meals, so they can also make that saving with no extra spends, if they choose to.


Well, I'm thrilled about that

Lesley_Gaye

Weezl, have costed the crumble using your list of ingredients

Chick Pea Crumble Costings
Serves 4 - ample portions

1tbslp oil 15ml 14p
100g onion, 20p

225g potatoes 30p
400g tin tomatoes 31p


425g tin chickpeas had to work backwards for this. I put leftover cooked chick peas in an empty tin and weighed them 190g. Cooked chick peas are 2 ¼ x dried ones. So 190g/2 ¼ = 84g dried chick peas so 10.5p
black pepper
1tsp garam masala didn’t work this out, just allowed 1p
half a tsp Colmans mustard didn’t work this out, just allowed 1p

Crumble
75g plain white flour 2p
25g rolled oats 3p
50g spread/butter 7.5p


added – 25g grated cheese 800g pk? 15p
added - 25g salted peanuts 3p

Total of £1.07 for 4 portions, or 26.75p per portion, plus whatever you have with it

I was surprised by how much the cheese worked out, even using such cheap cheese (and assuming my peering at the mySupermarket picture of the pk got the right weight). You could probably cut the cheese by half and it would still give sufficient flavour and save 7.5p

weezl74

Lesley_Gaye wrote: »

Total of £1.07 for 4 portions, or 26.75p per portion, plus whatever you have with it

wow that's great, very frugal!:T:T:T:T

What were you thinking as an accompaniment Lesley? Just veg or would it also benefit from some chutney or a HM ketchup or something?

xxx