Love food hate Waste Part two for 2018 :)

Hopeless_Case

YorksLass wrote: »

Slow cookers definitely get the thumbs up from me - I use it a lot, especially for batch cooking. On the wateriness, the trick is to just cover the contents so, if you're following a recipe, you probably won't need as much liquid as the recipe calls for. I suppose, like anything else, it takes practice!

I'm definitely going to persevere, I obviously need to really cut down on the liquid!

YorksLass

Dinner tonight is spaghetti carbonara - well, my version of it anyway as I tend to use whatever I have on hand. This will use up lo gammon from last week, 1/4 green pepper, mushroom stalks and some chorizo that was lurking in the freezer. I'll be using a packet mix from the cupboard for the sauce and grate up some cheese to sprinkle on top. Somehow, I suspect there'll be enough for 4 portions - if so, that means I'll be freezing half. No wonder the freezer seems to be bursting at the seams. In fact, I think the first job tomorrow will be to do a tidy-up of the drawers (again). :rotfl:

Have also made some houmous using stuff from stocks. Cost is around 40p maximum - much cheaper (and nicer) than shop bought.

Hopeless_Case

YorksLass wrote: »

Dinner tonight is spaghetti carbonara - well, my version of it anyway as I tend to use whatever I have on hand. This will use up lo gammon from last week, 1/4 green pepper, mushroom stalks and some chorizo that was lurking in the freezer. I'll be using a packet mix from the cupboard for the sauce and grate up some cheese to sprinkle on top. Somehow, I suspect there'll be enough for 4 portions - if so, that means I'll be freezing half. No wonder the freezer seems to be bursting at the seams. In fact, I think the first job tomorrow will be to do a tidy-up of the drawers (again). :rotfl:

Have also made some houmous using stuff from stocks. Cost is around 40p maximum - much cheaper (and nicer) than shop bought.

I'm doing a carbonara this week - also my version!:D

I'm thinking of doing a white sauce with a bit of smoked paprika and then adding veg and a bit of chopped pastrami for OH. It's a big stretch calling it carbonara :eek:, but it'll use some of my spaghetti stash, and be cheap and hopefully tasty

Ginmonster

Today I seem to be mostly eating my 5 year old's leftovers. For lunch I had beans on toast as there was half a tin left over from his tea a few days ago and I was going to have some veggie chili from the freezer for tea but boyo only ate a quarter of the cheese toastie I gave him for his tea so I ate the rest. I wasn't going to waste it! I'll have the chili tomorrow instead as I'm not hungry any more.

Hopeless_Case

I bought some YL bananas and now I've opened them, a few have soft brown split ends, but the rest of the banana is fine. I'm annoyed with myself for not looking properly, as I now feel pressure to use them quickly and i was hoping they'd do the week!

Oh well, any soggy bits I'm going to cut off and freeze and I'll add them to a crumble or something

I also got a huge bag of YL carrots, so I'll have to keep an eye on them and freeze some if I don't get through them

Cappella

Just found the post I meant to pop on here yesterday in the Brexit thread :rotfl: so am moving it over.
I made lettuce, pea and mint soup yesterday using three bolted lettuce ( too old to eat as lettuce, but hadn't set seed) from the garden, the very last few of last years peas, a stock cube and a handful of mint from the garden Last year I planted some mint root left from a pot of cooking mint I bought at the supermarket to try to extend its life a bit; and am thrilled to bits to find it's taken, has come up again and is romping away this year. Our garden is dark, and usually quite damp, so I didn't really expect it to survive, never mind thrive. It's a different way of not wasting food I suppose, though I'm not sure it fits here.
I'm making a big Spanish omelette toda with the leftover new potatoes I've been adding to a tupperware in the freezer in ones and twos after meals. Plenty there now for an omelette for three of us and almost a free meal !!!:):

Hopeless_Case

Cappella wrote: »

Just found the post I meant to pop on here yesterday in the Brexit thread :rotfl: so am moving it over.
I made lettuce, pea and mint soup yesterday using three bolted lettuce ( too old to eat as lettuce, but hadn't set seed) from the garden, the very last few of last years peas, a stock cube and a handful of mint from the garden Last year I planted some mint root left from a pot of cooking mint I bought at the supermarket to try to extend its life a bit; and am thrilled to bits to find it's taken, has come up again and is romping away this year. Our garden is dark, and usually quite damp, so I didn't really expect it to survive, never mind thrive. It's a different way of not wasting food I suppose, though I'm not sure it fits here.
I'm making a big Spanish omelette toda with the leftover new potatoes I've been adding to a tupperware in the freezer in ones and twos after meals. Plenty there now for an omelette for three of us and almost a free meal !!!:):

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I love Spanish omelette, sounds perfect

Hopeless_Case wrote: »

I bought some YL bananas and now I've opened them, a few have soft brown split ends, but the rest of the banana is fine. I'm annoyed with myself for not looking properly, as I now feel pressure to use them quickly and i was hoping they'd do the week!

Oh well, any soggy bits I'm going to cut off and freeze and I'll add them to a crumble or something

I also got a huge bag of YL carrots, so I'll have to keep an eye on them and freeze some if I don't get through them

I'm still cross with myself - when I looked properly, every single banana had a brown or squishy bit, but I've cut all of them up, I had banana for breakfast, and I've frozen all of the squishy bits together to add to puddings, and the rest of it is currently in the freezer spread out on a big tray so it doesn't all stick together, then I'll put it in a pot in the freezer and just get a bit out each day to add to my chopped fruit, and hopefully it'll taste ok - I use blackberries and blackcurrants this way and quite enjoy the crunch of a frozen bit, but bananas are obviously a lot bigger, maybe I should have chopped them up instead of just slicing them - I'm determined to get my 80 pence worth :rotfl:

Ginmonster

I had defrosted veggie chili for my lunch today which was ok but the parsnip in it had gone very parsnipy in the freezer so I didn't love it as parsnip is not one of my favourite veg (although miles ahead of Jerusalem artichokes!). I don't have much in the way of veg left in the house but I do have spuds and some huge tomatoes so I think I'll make a kind-of patatas bravas for tea but without any chili so I can share it with the 5 year old. That and some fried halloumi slices will be lovely.

YorksLass

Hopeless_Case wrote: »

I'm doing a carbonara this week - also my version!:D It's a big stretch calling it carbonara :eek:, but it'll use some of my spaghetti stash, and be cheap and hopefully tasty

What's in a name? :rotfl: As long as it tastes good and everyone enjoys it, it's a success!

If you don't get around to using the carrots fast enough and you haven't room in the freezer, they make wonderful soup (eg carrot & lentil, carrot & coriander etc).

YorksLass wrote: »

A neighbour gave me a full, unopened bottle of Guinness last week; they'd had a barbecue, with guests bringing their own drinks and this was left over. We don't drink it either but I'll be using it this weekend - half to make a beef & ale hotpot and the other half in an Irish stout cake..

Two successes - the beef & ale hotpot was scrummy (shin beef, lots of root vegetables, pulses and potatoes), with enough to freeze for another meal some time. I made the Irish stout cake this morning and tbh I think the only way it can be improved is to add a topping of chocolate ganache or a goodly dollop of thick cream. But that might be a bit too piggy! The recipe said it would make 12 portions - too much for us - so I only did half the quantity and still got 9 good portions out of it. Three for my neighbour and 6 for us.

Ginmonster: Have to agree about the parsnips - yuk. They're the only vegetable I don't like.

Cappella: Did you plant the mint in the soil or in a pot? Just asking, ' cos it's a bit of a thug in the soil and will take over!

[Deleted User]

Carrot and coriander is one of my favourite soups and I add a dash of sweet chilli sauce to mine to liven it up a bit .But I adore parsnip and apple soup as well Not so keen on parsnips in the raw state unless perhas roasted but in soup with apples they have a lovely nutty sweetish flavour I don't bother using bramleys with them,(too expensive for soups ,plus I prefer them in a pie ) any old, wrinkly, past -its -best apples will do from the fruit bowl.I usually get some 'fallers from a neighbour which are perfectly good enough for soups.

Today I have a little bit of ham to finish off and I will have that with a poached egg for breakfast for a change.

Lunch will be soup and crackers and cottage cheese and tonight dinner will be probably something dug out of the freezer Its slowly going down in there but its amazing how much food has been stashed over the previous months so its a work in progress :)
Have a good day chums ,longest day today then the nights start to get shorter.

JackieO xxx