Who regularly eats well for 1 on £10 per week, please share your best ideas?

Gothicfairy

I will give it a go once we are set up proper..The bailiffs are coming on the 18th so we will be all sorted by then and it might help take my mind off it all..

Ta for the link, I will try them and see how I go.

LisaB85

Do you have a farm shop near by? they sell huge bags of potatoes for £3-£5 that last ages, and sometimes they will deliver.

Beenie

Whoever mentioned nettles, what do you do with them please? We have loads of nettles in our garden and the field next door!

beautifylife

Nettles have amazing health benefits full of iron, good for hair and nails too numerous to mention here!

Here are just a few things you can do with them:
Juice them, blend them into smoothies raw (remove stalks), make nettle soup, put into stews to bulk out veg and more just google you will find lots of uses. You can also dry them and grind up for nettle tea especially good if you have a lot and can't use all at once. This time of year they are coming to the end of their season, best eaten in spring ideally but ok now.

Gothicfairy

You only really want the nettle tops as the rest are bitter and not really tender enough to both with.

I collect them first thing in the morning as well as that seems to keep them fresher.

Take your nettle tops ( I get whole carrier bags full as they are like spinach and cook down to nothing.

The first thing I would make I were you is Nettle soup :
Fry 1 chopped onion in so bacon fat or plain olive oil until soft
Add 2 bay leaves
salt and pepper and a touch of nutmeg
Pour in your washed roughly chopped nettle leaves and turn in the oil

Cook for about 3 minutes over medium heat and then cover with stock ( I use chicken because that is always what I seem to have in but veg is fine)

Simmer for about 30 minutes and then blend, add a touch of cream or Greek yoghurt to the finished soup and serve, you might find you want to add more pepper or nutmeg but that is a personal choice.

I will have to make my nettle lava bread thing to give you the recipe as I make it up as I go along.

You can also treat Nettles just like spinach in quiche/ pies or just as a collared green type thing ie fried with smoky bacon bits and onions

ceridwen

GOTHICFAIRY

I would appreciate the recipe for nettle laver bread. I'd never heard of anything like this and googled around for a recipe - but couldnt come up with anything very much as to how to....

Gothicfairy

Now I haven't made this for quite a while so I am trying to remember what I did and think what I would do if I were making it today.

I try to get as many nettles as possible because after making my lava/ laver bread I add the leftovers to wholemeal bread dough.

First wash and boil the leaves ( I have tried steaming but it doesn't seem to work as well), they will go grey and will also turn to mush but that is what you are after.
Let them cool and then chop them up adding some salt, pepper and nutmeg
You might need to smush out some of the water as you want it dryish

Form into patties and roll in oats, fry until cooked through and the oats are toasted. If you have some dripping add it half and half to veg oil for frying so that you get that lovely flavour.

You can also eat it without frying in oats just as a wet mush but I like the oats and prefer the texture and taste.

Another tip is not throwing away the boiling water as that makes perfect bread water.

I make hot laver bread ( real bread)
3 cups of flour ( you can make more or less but this size works for me) I use wholemeal if I have it or half and half strong / wholemeal
1 tsp yeast (or one packet)
1 tsp of honey / maple syrup
pinch of salt
1/4 cup of shortening ( I use anything I have around but bacon fat / dripping works well as does just plan veg oil)
water to make into a dough

I froth the yeast with honey in the nettle water ( warm) and wait until it blooms then pour into the flour and salt mix..add the shortening and enough warm water to make a dough ( that is hard to say how much is needed as it will depend on the flour etc)
At this stage you can add leftover lava / laver bread and some chilli flakes or fried onions etc
Knead for about 10 minutes and leave to double. Knock back and shape into whatever loaf you want, leave to rise again and then cook for about 20 minutes in a high oven.

This works toasted with butter and the lava / laver fried oak cakes. Maybe some kippers for breakfast ?

titannia101

We made nettle beer about 5 weeks ago using this recipe:
http://huntergathercook.typepad.com/huntergathering_wild_fres/2009/05/battersea-nettle-beer-a-wild-brew-from-the-urban-jungle.html
It's absolutely gorgeous but quite sweet - more like a sweet wine - and I think quite low alcohol. Next time we'll reduce the amount of sugar.
The Elderflower Champagne is also rather nice :-)

ProdigalScouser

linz wrote: »

Don't have a lot to add, but I love this recipe I found for lentil curry. So cheap to make and you don't need a lot, just lentils, onion, chopped tomatoes and spices.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons curry paste

On this point - curry paste is rediculously easy to make yourself if you have a decent recipe. The one I make is just tomatoes, onions and a couple of tablespoons of spices (bought at a local asian supermarket to keep costs down) and will last a couple of weeks. I have a couple of recipes that are just froen veg + curry paste that taste great - my wife descibes them as tasting like "a proper, dirty take-away curry" - but they have the advantage of not being packed with cream, salt, sugar etc.

rlf1993

I've recently stopped buying pizzas and make my own using sainsburys pizza base mix (just add water - it's really quick and easy), basics chopped tomatoes and grated basics cheese. I use up leftover veggies and meat as toppings.