Cheapest recipies.

MrsBartolozzi

pickledonionspaceraider wrote: »

Lauren, I really dont know if the risotto can be frozen but at a guess I would say no, cos I am sure my mum told me years ago that rice is one of those foods (like chicken) that shouldnt be cooked and re-heated, although im not too sure.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with reheating chicken.

Like all meats chicken is free from bacteria (listeria, salmonella etc) when properly cooked. It only gains bacteria if left to cool uncovered in a warm kitchen or left out of the fridge. While chicken can contain potentially serious bacteria when raw it is perfectly safe to reheat a chicken dish, or to freeze the chicken for use in a curry etc later.

Rice is a slightly different story, and I'll leave it to The Food Standards Agency to tell you why:


I've heard that reheating rice can cause food poisoning. Is this true?

It's true that you could get food poisoning from eating reheated rice. But it's not actually the reheating that's the problem – it's the way the rice has been stored before reheating.

Uncooked rice can contain spores of Bacillus cereus, bacteria that can cause food poisoning. When the rice is cooked, the spores can survive. Then, if the rice is left standing at room temperature, the spores will germinate into bacteria. These bacteria will multiply and may produce toxins (poisons) that cause vomiting or diarrhoea. Reheating the rice won't get rid of these toxins.

So, the longer cooked rice is left at room temperature, the more likely it is that bacteria, or the toxins they produce, could stop the rice being safe to eat.

It's best to serve rice when it has just been cooked. If that isn't possible, cool the rice as quickly as possible (ideally within one hour) and keep it in the fridge for no more than one day until reheating.

Remember that when you reheat any food, you should always check that it's steaming hot all the way through, and avoid reheating more than once.


I'm not meaning to single you out PickledOnion, but I do see a lot of posters here getting all hot and bothered over cooking/reheating chicken and I'm sure plenty of good quality food gets chucked out because of a misunderstanding that somehow cooked chicken (that you are happy to eat, remember) gets dangerous by being in the fridge for a little while. As long as it is covered while allowed to cool and refrigerated (or put in the freezer) then it will be absolutely safe to eat for a few days whether in a sandwich or in a curry/casserole. Rice too can be reheated safely, if cooled quickly after cooking.

twinkle_star_2

Rice and peas

Fry an onion in some oil til slightly softened.
Add a bit of garlic (powder or fresh), smoked paprika and rice.
Stir to coat the rice.
Pour in vegetable stock.
Simmer until rice is cooked.
Add frozen peas, a drop of vinegar (balsamic is best), salt, pepper and mustard powder.

Yum.

Or, beans on toast!

tessie_bear

our cheap meals....sausage and mash...quiche....veg curry with 4p curry sauce....jacket pots and cheese or tuna or beans...on toast cheese beans spaghetti...pasta with simple tom sauce or grated cheese
hth

365days

Beans on toast but with marmite on the toast before the beans go on. Yum.

EstherH

Last week I had one portion of beef casserole left (stewing steak, onions & carrots ). I made some pastry, chopped a medium potato and cooked in microwave, added some frozen mixed veg and made it all into a pie. Added homemade wedges and some extra veg, and voila, one portion of meat turned in 4portions of pie for tea.

Ofcourse this does rely on you having a spare portion of casserole, but I very often do this with left over meat or chicken from Sunday roast.

It only takes 3 or 4 oz of meat to turn into pie for four.

Downsizing__for_sanity

Yellow split pea soup has to be one of the cheapest I can think of. About half a cup of split peas, soak overnight or add to boiling water, simmer until soft (ages!). Add some stock to taste - from your rubber chicken if you have it in the fridge - or I usually add a couple of tsps of Marigold Swiss veg bouillion. Could add some chopped ham, cooked bacon, chicken, any veg really. It is SO filling and really cheap, if not very quick. It's also great to serve as a warming starter, especially if you want to s-t-r-e-t-c-h a small main course! (I often do this if I want to make sure the Sunday roast will make it to Monday stirfry and Tuesday sandwiches)

DFS

EstherH

Sausage Casserole: Grill and chop into small pieces a few sausage. Depending on how many you want to use.
In a pan, fry onion, garlic, add stock and any veg you have in fridge or freezer, peppers, mushrooms, peas, carrots, whatever you can find.
Add whatever flavourings you have in stockcupboard, I usually put in worcester sauce, mustard, mixed herbs, s&p, tin of chopped tomatos.
Boil and simmer for around twenty mins, add sausage and gravy granules or cornflour to thicken if wanted. Serve with mashed potato.
Or you could add potatoes with the other veg to cook.

sarahsarah

We like Potato Scallops (Thinly sliced potatoes dipped in a flour/water batter mixture and fried) with smartprice tinned mushy peas and cheap bread and butter. In fact gonna have this tomorrow now I have thought of it... 2 big potatoes go a long way and it's really filling..

flipperOSN

pickledonionspaceraider wrote: »

Wow these are all fantastic! Every single one of them is going to get tried out in my house over the next few weeks. I would have never thought of baked beans and boiled rice mashed together (told you i needed inspiration haha) but that sounds lovely.

I love jacket potatoes and eat them at least once a week. I always tell my son to whack them on when he gets in and buy the time i get home a couple of hours later, dinners almost ready, how i love jacket potatoe night! haha

Lauren, I really dont know if the risotto can be frozen but at a guess I would say no, cos I am sure my mum told me years ago that rice is one of those foods (like chicken) that shouldnt be cooked and re-heated, although im not too sure. I will try and find out, because I would like to know too.

gizmomum, the idea of adding tuna into the rice is a fab idea..im hungry now just thinking about it hehe.

My student son has come up with a couple of good ideas lately, which I have been very impressed about (and glad that he is taking his turn in the kitchen)
The first one of his ideas is 'eggy pasta', which is just cooked pasta drained, then placed back on the hob and quickly stirred with 2 fresh eggs and a drop of cream if theres any. That is really nice, very suprised with that one.

Also his other one is he will fold a peice of bread in half and make a hole in the middle (he takes a bite) then he frys this on one side, when he flips it over, he breaks an egg into the hole. He eats it like this or he throws cheese, herbs on.

FlipperOSN - would you mind sharing your reciepes for carrot soup and macaroni cheese at all? I would love to know how to make macaroni cheese, ive never mastered it..

Ive been realling enjoying reading everyones ideas x

I'm not sure I exactly have anything as organised or sophisticated as recipes! But here goes:

Soup: chopped onion, chopped stick of celery, lots of carrot. Fry in a little oil or butter until softened then add water + half veggie stock cube. Add good handful of lentils. Then I boil for about 30 mins, blitz and eat/store.

I vary it depending on whats around. If there's spare parsnip or a potato I'll stick that in and have less carrot/lentils. Ground cumin and coriander works well in this variation. Sometimes I add a slice of bacon or ham at the frying stage. I should make my own stock really, although I wonder if it would work well enough without.

My macaroni cheese has white sauce made the usual way - butter melted with some flour added to make a thick paste. Then I very slowly add milk until I get a nice consistency (if I do it too quick it always goes lumpy), and it's cooked through. Then I'll add a teaspoon of mustard, pepper and a small amount of grated cheese. I pop it over the cooked pasta, grate more cheese on top and stick under the grill.


I like the idea of egg/herbs fried in the bread.

pickledonionspaceraider

Thanks so much flipperOSN really appreciate you sharing your recipes, am going to have mac cheese next week..oh i cant wait. every time i look at this thread i get hungry! hehe

Thanks for the info about chicken, Mrs Bartolozzi it is good to know the actual facts rather than just guessing and ive learned something new today. Thinking about it though, i never gave a thought to cooking a frozen (cooked) chicken pie sometimes I wonder what is going on in my head! Hehe

I love these ideas . I always find it really satisfying if I manage to conjure up a meal out of a few odd scraps of veg or bits that would otherwise throw away and quite often go back to these ideas intentionally and they become a family favorite.x