Live on a tenner a week ???

luckofthe_irish

WeeMidgie wrote: »

For those of us who are gluten free, and are aghast at the cost of GF bread, have you tried making socca? - crepe-style pancakes made using chickpea/gram/besan flour. I bought a huge bag of it in the ethnic foods aisle of a large Morrisons for £1.85. It's lasted for ages and there's plenty still!

Socca can be stuffed with anything you like for packed lunches. I make them into pizza using tomato paste and grated cheddar, cooking it in the frying pan till the cheese topping melts and then roll them up while still hot, then cut to fit my lunch box. Strong flavours go quite well with them as some people find them slightly beany. I have successfully added tomato puree and herbs to the socca batter.

It's also good for people who can't eat eggs, being an egg-free recipe. So is suitable for vegans.

Socca

200g chickpea flour
400ml water
1 tablespoon olive oil
good pinch of salt

Gradually mix the water into the flour. I get any lumps out by using a balloon whisk. Add the salt and oil, and mix in. Let stand at least ten minutes although several hours or overnight is recommended.

Heat a non stick flat bottomed frying pan or crepe pan, with a small amount of olive oil. Take off the heat and then ladle in enough mix to thinly cover the base of the pan. Cook for several minutes then carefully turn using a spatula or fish slice. The underside should be golden brown. Then cook the flipped pancake for a couple more minutes till brown marks appear (this side of the pancake will only be partially browned). The first pancake is the cook's perk as adjustments for thickness, size, cooking time etc may be necessary.

Stack between greaseproof paper and freeze flat. Reheats well from frozen using the same pan over a low heat.

Enjoy!

ETA the recipe amounts give me about 6 or 7 thin crepe style pancakes, if you wanted to make a thick pizza base or two or three, simply use less water and cook for longer.

Hi all,

Sorry to jump on the thread this late, but I just wanted to say thank you SO much for this recipe! I am GF and also have a massive bag of gram flour which I had no idea how to use - I will be making batches of these this weekend for lunches next week and pizza... I am so excited to use this to make pizza this weekend!

Also I use quinoa in place of rice and noodles usually - in curries, salads, stir-fries etc. If just having it with some meat or fish, I usually cook it in stock to amp up the flavour. It is also fab sweet as 'quinoa porridge' with milk, honey and fruit and yummy as pancakes as well. It is very versatile and packed with protein, so keeps you nice and full.

[Deleted User]

Hi chums made the chickpea curry and it was delicious, added a few odds and ends lurking at the bottom of the fridge as well so I ended up with around 5 portions from a tin of chick peas and chopped tomatoes both Y/S plus I had a tin of potato's in the cupboard and diced them up and chucked in as well a few bendy biyt of veg and its quite chunky and I had some last night and was very pleased with the taste Another el cheapo recipe for stuff made out of almost nothing DD had given me the dented tins she had paid pennies for from Asda's So I have around five meals for under a quid Four are in the freezer for later all boxed up in takeaway boxes :):) No shopping done so far this month I am definitely eating as much as possible from the stuff I already have indoors

FunBrum

Hi lyn I live on the edge of Birmingham. It is low but I spend a lot of time away from home which is a ground floor two bedroomed masonette. It's like a bungalow but with a flat above me. I have a front and back garden as well.
I house sit/cat sit for friends, for days on end, hence the reason the bills are so low. I also am very careful and frugal with my usage not only to keep the cost down but I'm worried of the effects fossil fuel has on the environment!
I send in my meter readings every month to make sire they have the correct figures, and as I've over-paid this last year, I'm waiting for a £171 refund. Sadly they are not too quick at sending out what THEY owe. :mad:

zaxdog

Got a 50p kilo tub of fresh salsa today so I chucked it in a pot with 1/2 a bag of shredded super 6 carrots = HUGE pot of yummy, healthy soup for 65p. Even the jelly stock pot for seasoning was a freebie :j

Lynplatinum

Hiya

Thanks for quinoa suggestions :A will let you know how I get on!

funbrum - I agree with you its one of the reasons that I am keen to reduce useage is to try to save the planet!

Have been eating on stocks this week good heavens - it is so strange how far this is going!!

Am feelin a bit rough today (slight cold) so I am going to take it a bit easy but the paperwork pile is going down!!

Nite all

[Deleted User]

Lynplatinum I hope you aren't going down with this horrible winter flu bug that's doing the rounds.
I made loads of soup yesterday from exhausted veg from the bottom of the fridge

Its surprising how much food you actually have in stock when you start to use it instead of buying more.I think I have enough to feed half the blooming street and have cut right back on shopping to try and get it down to a reasonable level.My fridge freezer has a tiny space at the top of one of the drawers so I shall keep on plugging away.

I was hoping to defrost by Easter ,but I can't see that happening I only have at the most five dinners to cook for myself per week and often even less if Dd donates some LO stuff from Sunday dinner.So far this month I haven't touched my food purse at all ,but I'm not complaining as any LO cash goes into my holiday fund for our family holiday in August.


Nothing on my shopping list at all so fingers crossed I can get through for a few more days before I need to go near a shop.Its mostly fresh fruit and veg I buy anyway.At the moment I have half a dozen apples and a big net box of pears a couple of oranges and some grapes and four brownish bananas.So enough fruit.Veg wise I have a reduced pack of green beans that I shall top'n'tail and freeze this morning .three red onions,a head of broccoli and a sweetheart cabbage a couple of sweet potatoes and a decent sized bag of spuds so plenty to keep me going for awhile. Possibly run short of bleach next week unless I have a good root through the dreaded cupboard under the sink.

Its my stash out of the way cupboard and often I find things in there I have forgotten I bought I have a feeling there may be some in the back I shall have a shufti later today.


Right I'm off to have some porridge to warm up the cockles as its blooming nippy this morning
Cheers chums have a good weekend

JackieO xx

VfM4meplse

JackieO wrote: »

Hi chums made the chickpea curry and it was delicious, very pleased with the taste

Hope you whipped up some vegan meringues whilst you were at it

zaxdog

Long round trip to Glasgow today for Mr Zaxdog's hospital appointment. Good news is he made enough at his delivery job to pay for the petrol :j

Lunch made and in the car:

Flask of hot water for me with freebie tea bags
Flask of freebie coffee for Mr Z with dried milk
Ham sandwiches (YS bread, YS ham & mustard)
Crips and oat snacks (freebies from our tradeshow)
Oat & fruit bars (freebies from our tradeshow)

Total cost probably about 30p :rotfl:

pm2326

I've been trying to run my food stocks down since November and it's only now that I seem to be making an impact :rotfl: think it's difficult when you're only cooking for one. I cook lots of stews etc so always have extras to freeze.

Saying that I still have loads left. I've just created my meal plan for the week, breakfast, lunch & dinners and I only need to buy yogurt, eggs and broccoli!

HOWMUCH

pm I know what you mean I take 1 box of frozen meat out of the freezer and 2 boxes of ready meals go back in. Well today I've taken 5 out and nothing will be put back in their place, not today that is. I've taken 2 boxes of cooked rice, 2 boxes of chilli and a box of sweet chilli kabab things I got YS from Sainbobs in the summer for 39p for 8. I boxed them up in 4's these ones today have been cut into 4 making 16 meatballs. I've dry fried them whilst my lunch of poached egg on toast was doing, they will be added to a chunky veg tomato sauce tonight and served with spaghetti. The chilli will now be Monday's evening meal as we have an invite to DD for dinner tomorrow.