super cooking tips, beginners guide for o/s

Mrs-hoppy_2

Never posted here before but i'll have a go...

If you have just small amounts of something like minced beef, chilli, curry, or cauliflower / broccoli cheese left over not enough for another full meal, get a sheet of puff pastry (I always have a few in the freezer) and use it to make pasties. I usually chop a puff pastry sheet into four the put a few teaspoons of filling in the middle, seal, egg wash and bake until golden.

Then makes another meal or a nice snack for the freezer!

spike7451

Keep the metal trays that you get those individual roasts or the ready prepared Asda meals in & reuse them,they make great trays for make ahead & freeze dishes like Lasagna or cauliflower cheese bakes.
If you have left over marmalades,jams & marmites,wash the jars out in a little hot water & decant into ice cube trays & freeze,then you can add them to drinks instead of plain ice,but in the case of Marmite,add it to gravy or stews.

miss_independent

This is quite a random one BUT....if you like chinese food, learn a few chinese dishes. They are easy, fast and an extremely good way of using up left overs. All you need are a few basics in the cupboard (i.e cornflour to thicken the sauce, soy sauce, chilli flakes, sesame/stirfry oil, garlic and ginger powder or buy the jars of chopped garlic/ginger and keep them in the fridge if you don't want to buy fresh) and you will always be able to rustle something up in less than half an hour.

I had lots of veg going to waste (carrots, brocolli, mushrooms etc) and decided to make a stir-fried mixed veg like the one you get from the takeaway with egg fried rice. It took 20 mins tops and most of that was only the time the rice took to boil. It was just a spur of the moment thing tonight but it was quick, cheap and healthy (I use marigold boullion powder in place of MSG, less than a teaspoon of oil and reduced salt wheat free soy sauce).

A special fried rice is an easy way of using up left over gammon, bacon, ham, chicken, turkey, prawns, eggs - you name it! Roast beef or lamb can be shredded and served with pancakes (like duck) or made into a dish like beef and green peppers. Leftover spaghetti can be used in place of noodles. For quickness, Aldi do straight to wok noodles and their stir fry beef is relatively cheap. You can buy things like soy sauce in massive bottles, rice in bulk, along with spices and all sorts of yummy stuff cheaply at a Chinese Supermarket. One visit could potentially stock you up for a year. Also stirfry packs are one of the things you can rely on to be yellow stickered. Recipes can be easily found online for free.

Its quicker, cheaper and tons healthier than nipping to McD's for a Happy Meal on one of those nights when you feel you don't have time to cook.

I also second the idea of cooking in bulk and freezing. Its just as easy to make a massive vat of chilli/bolognese/mince and gravy as it is to make a portion for just one meal and then you freeze the leftovers. You can make two cottage or shepherds pies at once and pop one in the freezer for another night.

Soups are a godsend as you can make a soup out of literally anything edible lol. When you have a roast chicken, boil up the carcass for stock and make chicken soup, adding onions carrots and a stock cube as the base and then you can add in whatever other veg you have - leeks, celery, swede. Add red lentils, pearl barley or chopped up potato to bulk it out and you have a "meal in a bowl". Minestrone is another great soup for using up leftovers and, with pasta and white beans added, can be a meal in itself as well.

Left over baked beans go into soups or stews, leftover potatoes can be grated and made into rostis or mixed with veg and made into bubble and squeak or oven baked to make wedges, leftover pasta can be used for macaroni cheese, rice for fried rice etc etc.

There is no need for anything to go to waste!

feefeelalabelle

supki wrote: »

i save the end bits of the bread and make it into breadcrumbs to add to mince etc to bulk it our. i also save the little bits of left over wine in ice cube trays for when you need a little wine in ur recipes. i save the cheese rind when i buy granapadano and add it to soups. makes it lovely and thick and gooey. i also always freeze left over fruit including seedless grapes and add them to icecream. i save all the leftover veg from sunday roast and blitz it and use it to make veg muffins......im drawing a blank now. but as and when i remember i will post more things i do. hope this helps someone else.

veg muffins:D would you like to share the recipie please x
i never would have thought you could have frozen grapes, do they come out ok ? the stuff im learning.........:T

feefeelalabelle

miss_independant, love your post, i have loads of questions to ask you....as soon as i can take my eyes off twilight on tv lol x

rufydoofyM

miss_independent wrote: »

Soups are a godsend as you can make a soup out of literally anything edible lol. When you have a roast chicken, boil up the carcass for stock and make chicken soup, adding onions carrots and a stock cube as the base and then you can add in whatever other veg you have - leeks, celery, swede. Add red lentils, pearl barley or chopped up potato to bulk it out and you have a "meal in a bowl". Minestrone is another great soup for using up leftovers and, with pasta and white beans added, can be a meal in itself as well.

I was going to suggest the boiling of the chicken carcus too. OH likes carrotts, onion and potato added but I often do two pots and also add a tin of chopped toms, mushrooms if I have any and also the outer sticks from celery. Sometimes I add a little rice or pasta but best is with homemade rolls. Also I always cook chicken in foil and drain juice/stock after final basting and crisping, this is set aside. Once cooled the liquid becomes jelly and the fat is easy to remove. Added to gravy or soup it beats a cube. I only buy organic or free range chickens and they have to be reduced to less than £4, I can then make it stretch to 7 meals each by making soup.
I only ever have peas in the freezer as I figure that by stocking up with yellow stickered meat and fish is more cost effective. Any room left is for batch cooking and homemade bread. Generally we only have yellow sticker veg. I buy potatos and onions by the sack and keep in the shed. Herbs and chillis can be chopped and frozen in icecubes (we had a glut of home grown chillis 2 yrs ago and still have half left in the freezer).
I find the old cookery and housekeeping books from the 40s and 50s brilliant and worth looking out for in charity shops.
I'm plucking up the courage to make brawn like my nan but not quite brave enough yet.
Finally those with breadmakers don't forget most will also make jam so next time you see yellow stickered fruit why not try it.

supki

veg muffin recipe: i use abt 200g sf flour, 175ml milk, 1tbsp oil, 1 egg, veggies that have been mashed up or blitzed (i usually eye ball it), grate cheese, and season generously with salt + pepper. i also sometimes add oats / breadcrumbs and mashed up veggies to a bit of mince and make it into a meatloaf. the possibilities are endless......

supki

grapes actually come out really fabulous. they taste like sweeties.....