I'm eating out of the freezer and cupboards challenge

Florenceem

I had a muffin and cup of tea mid afternoon. Getting fed up with Cherry/Coconut Muffins but no room in freezer for baking more.

Dinner tonight - roast potatoes, roast parsnip, savoy cabbage, carrots, chopped garlic, HM TITH + gravy.
2 days of TITH to go in the freezer - will take out a couple of items to make space. :eek:



Prawn curry for dinner tomorrow.

Prawns and sauce in freezer so taking those out will create some space. I will ask Mr F to get out Wednesday's dinner while he is in the cold freezer.

Jelly_Biactol

Veggie Week Challenge recipe:
Curried Quinoa & Vegetables



When prepared properly, quinoa makes very good eating; the tiny succulent grains are nutty and slightly chewy in texture, and it is the perfect foil for just about any vegetable. As well as containing plenty of protein, fibre, minerals and amino acids, quinoa is gluten-free. Quinoa is very filling so around 100g per person is plenty for even the hungriest mouths; those with smaller appetites may prefer around 60g.

Serves 1-2, adjust quantities proportionally

1 onion, sliced, plus garlic if available
Approximately 2 tablespoons mild oil
1 level dessert spoon of Madras curry paste, or to taste (or use curry powder to taste, if you prefer)
120g quinoa
Around 400ml cold water
Plus a selection of vegetables such as: sliced salad onions, sliced courgette, peas, mange tout, matchsticks of carrot, small florets of broccoli or cauliflower, shredded cabbage, strips of bell peppers, sliced chilli peppers to taste

1) Fry the onion in the oil until golden. Add the garlic, if using. Stir in the curry paste or powder and cook for a couple of minutes.
2) Add the quinoa and stir to coat in the oil. Cook for around 3-5 minutes, stirring often.
3) Add the water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for up to 20 minutes until the quinoa has absorbed virtually all the liquid and is soft, yet still with some bite.
4) Meanwhile, prepare and stir-fry your vegetable selection. Once the quinoa is cooked, serve immediately, topped by the vegetables.

You may like to serve the quinoa on a bed of baby spinach leaves and accompany it with sliced tomatoes.
If you are really hungry, you could add some quartered hardboiled eggs.
You can also serve this cold as a salad.
Try making a similar dish using a base of fried chillies, garlic and ginger, or chilli and cumin in addition to the onions.

Recipe courtesy Mrs Simkins (thank you:T).
For more recipes and tips from Mrs Simkins, and details of Mrs Simkins’ books, visit www.mrssimkins.co.uk.

katskorner

Hi All,

You are posting fast again!

NSD today. Went to see butcher yesterday but apparently not so easy to get bargains now although he did give me three dressed pheasants - the only catch was they had been frozen so needed roasting straightaway. So roasted they are and some was consumed by children with pasta, tomato & basil sauce and crudites for their dinner. Hubby doesn't like it apparently so we have had breaded haddock with couscous and salad. Was very nice!

I saw some space in the freezer today..... needed to share!

recovering_spendaholic

Jeezloueez this thread moves fast!! Just read through what I missed over the weekend. I had loads of work to finish so didn't allow myself to start going on the internet or I would have not got it done!

Florenceem - that beans on toast looked lovely and reminded me that I haven't had it for ages - think that will be my lunch tomorrow!

Have been managing to use up some of my frozen hm meals and soups from the freezer - today I had turkey soup (frozen after Christmas) and for dinner I had sausage casserole and mash (frozen about 2 weeks ago). DD had gnochhi and meatballs which I had frozen about a month ago - I just tarted it up with a bit of mozarella on the top and heated it through and she said it was lovely. Over the weekend I managed to use up a pack of sausages, a tub of chicken and veg soup and a loaf out of the freezer, and there is a little bit of space in there now. The fridge is looking very empty, except for the 30 Free range eggs I bought in Asda on offer for £4 - I have a big cake order on at the weekend so they will come in handy. I haven't been to Asda for a while and I have to say that I wasn't terribly impressed with their prices.

I am managing to use up my out of date yoghurts by making yoghurt muffins - really easy - just put a pot of the yoghurt into a bowl (I have been using two pots of yoghurt to use it up quicker) and then rinse out the pot (s) and put a pot of sugar (I used sweetner) a pot and a half of flour (self raising) a bit of baking powder, one egg and a pot of oil and mix it all up. If you use two pots of yoghurt like I did then you double up on everything else obviously.

Then I just add whatever I have at hand; yesterday I added some blueberries which were just past date, and lemon yoghurt and tonight I used orange yoghurt and threw in a bit of chopped chocolate I found in the cupboard. Each 1 pot mixture makes 6 muffins, and they freeze beautifully - they are lovely and moist.

Off to bed now to watch Diners Drive ins and Dives on the food network - it's great!

Lip_Stick

Morning all.

Well yesterday's tea was lush. I really enjoyed it and so did ds despite it having a touch of spice in the koftas. The falafal were lovely and so was the yoghurt dressing. Would definitely buy the kit again. Had enough LO for ds' packed lunch. Didn't do the ex any as there wasn't enough anyway.

Was talking about the meals he's going to do for ds when he stays over.... the idiot said 'Weightwatchers meals would be alright eh?'. Why on earth would a normal person think that giving a really skinny 5 year old a diet meal in winter would be ok?

Tea tonight will be shepherd's pie with carrots and savoy cabbage.

Jelly - thanks for all the recipes for veg week. Great ideas there!

Jane - will look out for that tv programme, sounds good.

Kirri - he mentioned doing dinner a while back but nothing ever came of it.

Lynsey

Morning all.

Spent £1.26 last night in Sainsbury's on the way home on bits:
2 packs TTD ciabatta rolls, packet of pastry mix (half-price 44p), pack of tea cakes and a tub of fruit for 10p (from £1.50).
Hubby had the fruit (pineapple, apple and grapes) and worth 10p - but way OTT at £1.50!!
Froze 1 pack of ciabatta's and might freeze the other pack this morning. The plan was bacon butties, but we'll use the tea cakes first and might have a brunch tomorrow (warm bread in oven).

Braised steak with veg for main meal with veg and the tinned carrots. lol

Jelly Biactol - some great recipes and again, Son would love the beetroot hash.

2013 food spends = £48.96 - just over £11 left to get to Thursday.
A NSD will help today.
Not as easy now to keep a low budget, but not "whoopsy" shoping as much.
Florenceem - I think £25 per week is what's needed now for 2 adults - so I think your budget is "spot on".
I'll need a few things, but I'll plod along until Friday (1st Feb) and get what's needed.

Lynsey

recovering_spendaholic

Morning all!

Lynsey - is the £25 JUST for food? If so, how much would you add for things like loo rolls, kitchen roll, cleaning stuff etc?

Jellybiactol - fab recipes:T

This morning I have just had some toast for breakfast. I don't know what to do for the other two meals - DD has taken cheese and apple sandwich for packed lunch, and I think I might have beans on toast, and then for tea I think I might make something simple like baked potatoes, chicken, sweetcorn and hm coleslaw, as I have a cabbage which has been in the fridge for about 10 days. I might do the chicken breasts as oven fried chicken (just coat them in egg and seasoned flour and then fry for a couple minutes until brown and then bake.

Need to go to the shop for milk, but don't think that we need anything else. I might bake some biscuits later, but am trying to resist as I have lots of the little yoghurt muffins left.

Have a good day everyone!

Lynsey

recovering_spendaholic wrote: »

Lynsey - is the £25 JUST for food? If so, how much would you add for things like loo rolls, kitchen roll, cleaning stuff etc?

Oh God, yes. Just for food and being ultra-frugal.
I don't budget for toiletries as all in hand mainly with coupons and/or glitches etc. I will need bits and pieces during the year just to top up.
I personally think it's the basics like butter, spread that takes quite a bit out of the budget. Maybe you can buy cheaper basics, but I don't like too ................. well not too much.

You do need the time to be frugal though and have the shops available, so not everyone can achieve it ................ sadly.

Lynsey

Kirri

Lip_Stick wrote: »

Was talking about the meals he's going to do for ds when he stays over.... the idiot said 'Weightwatchers meals would be alright eh?'. Why on earth would a normal person think that giving a really skinny 5 year old a diet meal in winter would be ok?

It's kind of a bizarre thing to even think about giving a kid!

There was also a Ch4 Dispatches programme on the WW brand last night, one of the things they highlighted was the huge amounts of additives in them too.


Today:
Breakfast - fruit bread toast
Lunch - more fruit bread toast? Couple of clementines to use up. Run out of bananas
Dinner - Maybe bolognaise/cottage pie as I want the gap in the freezer.

May attempt to make a portion of vegan burgers today so may switch one of the meals so I can try one and will stick the others in the freezer.

Kirri

Lynsey wrote: »

2013 food spends = £48.96 - just over £11 left to get to Thursday.

Good going!
I've now spent £73.86 and £50.82 was fruit and veg only!