OS Summer Cooking

sonnythecat

Hmmmm. I've got toms, basil, beans, peas, carrots, lettuce, beetroot, courgettes in the pipeline but not time to harvest yet. I find all the above more expensive than root veg and cabbage.

I'm trying to think what's different. In the summer I get more tempted by lovely soft fruit. We consume more soft drinks/squash.

I LOVE cooking and will spend whole afternoons in the winter making soups, bread, wringing dinners out of leftovers. In the summer I want to be outside, so probably take my eye off the ball a bit.

I'm rambling but think I'm probably answering my own question!!!!!!

Pink.

Hi sonnythecat,

Like others have mentioned we grow a lot of our own salads and fruit which makes summer food cheaper. We also have a lot of stir fries and tonight we even had a delicious light watercress soup with hm crusty bread and pate.

These threads have lots of ideas that might help:

OS Summer Cooking

summer's here....any salad recipes?

Gingham's vegetarian meal planner - SUMMER

pasta salad

Where's the Simple Potato Salad Recipe?

Keeping salad fresh....

I'll add your thread to the first link later, once you've had more replies.

Pink

foxgloves

Think it probably works out about the same here as root veg & cheap cuts of stewing meat are great for winter & can go in the slow cooker, but on the other hand, we grow a lot of veg & we are already not having to buy lettuces, cucumbers, coriander & spring onions plus lots of other veg will come ready throughout the summer knocking a few more items off our grocery bill. We have been stocking up the freezer on chicken when it's cheap, butterflying out the breasts, marinating in jerk seasoning, lemon juice, garlic & a tspn of olive oil & grilling, then serving with salad made from bulghur wheat & whatever veg plus chillies we fancy putting in it. Tasty & nice for summer as feels sort of a bit bbq'd, even tho' it isn't.

Aarons_mummy

Hmm I don't find it too much of a difference. The soft fruits are pretty cheap, Asda has packs of blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, pineapples for £1, salad can be expensive, I must start growing my own. Apples and bananas stay the same. We tend to have more snacky meals such as today we had a couple of crackerbread with chicken paste, couple of slices of ham, some cubes of cheese, some of the soft fruits and a blob of egg mayo. LO loves lunches like this azs he can pick and choose what he eats.

Dinners I use pasta quite a bit in the summer along with rice, I don't generally fancy heavy meals so it's normally just light foods we have.

kathie1101

I have been meal planning since about last September and it has really changed our lives. But I'm a bit of a fussy !!!!!! and when it's warm I really don't enjoy a roast dinner and things like stews and casseroles. So I really need to make some changes to my monthly menu. I would happily eat salad most days, but the rest of the family wouldn't be too happy with this and to be honest when you add up the cost of buying jars of pickles, beetroots, etc along with all the other salad stuff it becomes quite expensive and I often think I spend far more in summer than I do in winter. We have started growing strawberries this year, and have just had our first batch which were delish, so we should save quite a bit of money there, and we have a few herbs growing too.

I am sure that I have seen a summer menu on here, but I can't find it anywhere. I don't eat meat, but do eat fish, but the rest of the family do eat meat - I like us to normally have the same meal with just mine without the meat or substituted with quorn or something else.

So what changes do you all do to your menus in summer? Please help me before I go back to my old dreadful ways lol

Justamum

Is this the one you're looking for? https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/453694

Allegra

We eat more salads ! Sorry....

But here is what helps keep the price down :

1) growing your own salad leaves and herbs (rocket, for instance, grows like mushrooms after the rain, and as long as you can get to it before the cabbage whites do, you're laughing).

2) using barley, cous-cous, pasta, rice or pulses as your salad "base" - so rather than jars of pickles or bags of salad leaves, you will base your salad on one of the above with the addition of whatever veg you can get cheaply (grated carrot, sticks of celery, shredded cabbage are all good). Top off with herbs, chillies, chilli flakes or similar, and add a bit of meat/quorn/fish as garnish

zippychick

we have OS summer cooking and the summer salad thread

hope those help and we will merge this later

Zip

gizmo111

This week we're having
Today - Roast Chicken Breast, new potatoes and salad
Monday - Pasta bake and salad
Tuesday - Steak and jacket Potato
Wednesday - Sausage's and potato gratin
Thursday - Chicken Kiev and Flavoured Rice
Friday - Fish and Chips
Saturday - Pork Chop and New potatos

Not a stew in sight - all quick simple stuff, we also eat spag bol, lasagne etc all batch cooked and ready in the freezer.
We eat a lot of chicken I buy a big box of about 22 breasts in Makro or at the market and freeze some individually and make some chicken nugget type things and some kievs so plenty of simple things that are nice to eat on a warm day with something simple to accompany them. I also roast a couple of breast and dice and freeze and this is great for either adding to pasta or mixing with mayo and making a wrap for work/school or sometimes in pitta bread with salad as a meal.

You just have to think what it is you like to eat and plan around that.

MaggieBaking

The past few days I've had...

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1399/broccoli-lemon-chicken-with-cashews
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4418/cod-with-lemon-and-parsley-crust-and-summer-greens (Season the cod!! And don't eat the veg - bleugh!)
Today I'm having roast dinner for my Dad's birthday