Delia's Frugal Food - Novice Needs Help!

sarah*a

Hello

I am slowly trying to reduce our food bills/wastage (slowly so that OH doesn't really notice - he doesn't cope well with change bless him ) and am trying to teach myself to cook properly at the same time (I figured the two would probably go hand in hand )

I am using the SC for a lot more than I thought I ever could (even dogfood - thanks Sunnyday ) and am now feeling brave enough to try more dishes.

To this end I picked up a copy of 'Delia's Frugal Food' in Sainsburys today (£3 - Bargain ) but am now a little bit :eek: and over-awed.

So for anyone who does have this book - which receipes have you tried and tested that even a total kitchenaphobe could handle?

I don't eat cooked fish (uurgh the texture _pale_ - but oddly love my sushi though :drool:) so those are out but am willing to put my pinny on and have a bash at any of the others (and yes! I did go out to the Boots sale and get myself a pinny and oven gloves to help with motivation - well! I wouldn't scuba dive without a tank would I :rotfl:)

TIA for any help and guidance - I know it's stupid but I just need convincing I can do it (and someone to clean my kitchen up afterwards )

:cool:

Pitlanepiglet

I've got this out of the library at the moment, I read it through once and then put it aside, I didn't think it was very good.

I used to be really intimidated by cooking, mainly because I read recipes that involved huge numbers of ingredients that I didn't like and fancy techniques that I didn't understand.

Then I taught myself via Delia's Complete Cookery etc. and recipes in magazines (these days it would be from forums like this) to cook the basics, so no jars or packets - cottage pie, spag bol, chilli, pasta bake, potato bake, chicken and veg in cheesy sauce and other basic "home" foods. If you can find a second hand book shop or use your library Marguerite Pattens old books are good.

If you can master making a white sauce (I cheat - heat milk, sprinkle on flour - works for me) and other normal food you take away some of the fear and then you can move on to other things if you like.

Good luck!

BitterAndTwisted

I don't have that book myself but anything that Saint Delia says you can cook, you can cook. Are they graded by difficulty?

I'm a bit fearless when it comes to recipes so if I find one I like the sound of I just read the method a couple of times imagining the techniques and utensils I'll be using in my mind's eye. If I know there's something which I'm too heavy-handed for or it's far too fiddly I just move on to another one. Half the time I'll give it a go regardless and see how it comes out. I love living life on the edge!

meritaten

I swore by my 'Good Housekeeping' cookbook, which I got as a wedding pressie back in 1977! believe it or not, its still in use today! its my go-to book to look up methods or recipes I am not sure about! eg. I can never remember the proportions of eggs to flour for batters - so will look that up quickly in GH!
it was also fantastic at explaining things like the different cookery terms, had conversion charts for EVERYTHING, explained cuts of meat and how to cook them - it is a reference book and recipe book all in one!
mine is in an extremely sorry state - if it was an animal it would have been put down! but although I have come across later versions of it in charity and second hand shops I havent yet found THIS version.
so if you can find one of the later ones - get it hun - you will be so glad you did!

sarah*a

Pitlanepiglet wrote: »

I've got this out of the library at the moment, I read it through once and then put it aside, I didn't think it was very good. Oh Dear - I haven't made a good start then?

If you can master making a white sauce (I cheat - heat milk, sprinkle on flour - works for me) and other normal food you take away some of the fear and then you can move on to other things if you like.

Good luck!

Thanks!

It's sort of pathetic that I've reached my mid-30's without really being able to cook :mad: I never learnt at school beyond scones and cakes. I can bake - baking doesn't scare me - it's just 'real' food that I'm at a loss with

Before I met OH I mostly 'lived in' where I worked and had all my meals cooked for me by the chefs Then when I started living with OH we did the whole 'loved up meals out thing' for a bit and then I got sick and he had to take over the kitchen duties.

So for a while we were existing on frozen meals and the like - but I really don't like that sort of food so we would end up cooking two meals - his frozen ready meal or sausages and my chicken and vegetables.

I'm fed up of it and want to do something we can both eat. OH isn't fussy but I can see why he doesn't want to cook something after being at work all day and still having to care for me to a certain extent. I'm fussier than he is but at least I'll know whats in it if I cook it

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I don't have that book myself but anything that Saint Delia says you can cook, you can cook. Are they graded by difficulty?

I'm a bit fearless when it comes to recipes so if I find one I like the sound of I just read the method a couple of times imagining the techniques and utensils I'll be using in my mind's eye. If I know there's something which I'm too heavy-handed for or it's far too fiddly I just move on to another one. Half the time I'll give it a go regardless and see how it comes out. I love living life on the edge!

It's not graded by difficulty but I like the idea Would give me somewhere to start and somewhere to aim for.

I think it's more the words that take me back a bit - Fidget Pie, Sausage Stuffed Onion and Soup au Chou - they just sound hard

*sigh* I guess I'm just gonna have to stop being a baby and suck it up and just try It's just food and it's not going to hurt me.

repeat 100 times It's just food and it's not going to hurt me It's just food and it's not going to hurt me It's just food and it's not going to hurt me :rotfl:

sarah*a

meritaten wrote: »

I swore by my 'Good Housekeeping' cookbook, which I got as a wedding pressie back in 1977! ......so if you can find one of the later ones - get it hun - you will be so glad you did!

Thanks - I'm going charity shop scouring at the weekend for a coffee table so will keep my eyes open.

I got some really good pans as a wedding present - they're awesome to wash - just sort of show them the detergent bottle and they clean themselves :rotfl: Just a shame they've never been used for anything edible

BitterAndTwisted

Eh, the names of the recipes might make it sound hard but have read the methods back for them? Are there any technique that you don't understand or don't know how to do?

Get stuck in girl and give some a whirl. What's the worst that could happen?

Vaila

Delias Complete Cookery Course is a better book in my opinion, it gives you all the basics and obviosly you can adapt them to be more mse

mummyjane

I'm working my way through Delia's complete cookery course too, with the odd detour to Nigella's Kitchen. I am also mid 30s and only just starting to really learn to cook. I think the biggest leap I have made is just not worrying about messing up, if I am trying a new recipe for dinner, I try and have something quick in the freezer just in case . I have had a few disasters but they are getting less often now thank goodness!

Penelope_Penguin

sarah*a wrote: »

I think it's more the words that take me back a bit - Fidget Pie, Sausage Stuffed Onion and Soup au Chou - they just sound hard

What do you want to cook? Give us a few pointers and we'll find you a recipe and hold your hand while you cook it

I'm with Delia - everyone can cook :T

Allegra

Try the Boston Baked Beans (p.198) - dead easy once you've cooked the beans - you just chuck stuff in (she says in the oven, but works just as well in the SC, that's how I do it), and forget about it. And they are just sooo lush

Flicking through the book now very quickly, the dishes I'd recommend to a novice are also the dhal curry (next page to the beans), leek, carrot and potato pie (p.188), irish soda bread (p.214), any of the spaghettu dishes (p.170 onwards), poor man's cassoulet (p.143), ground beef curry (p.97).

I am sure there's tons more though, just not got the time to go through them all at the mo Why don't you have a look and see which recipes you like the sound of, and I'm sure we can help with their execution of necessary ?