From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Greying_Pilgrim

Good morning MFW'rs

Urgh, it was cold overnight.  The slush is crunchy and the puddles have become skating rinks ☹️

DH is going into work for a while as some chores have to be completed and there is not enough time in the working day ☹️  

Tea last night was veggie burger baps and wedges.  I used the.......  I'm going to say 'Amanda' variety 🤔 from the MrS 15p veg.  I have to say, I have been utterly underwhelmed with them.  I think they were proposed as the 'roastie' variety - whereas the........ did I say they were 'Vanilla'? were posited more as an 'all-rounder' for your mash etc.  They are a very firm fleshed potato - they remind me much more of a salad tattie - and so last night I did actually par-boil the wedges, so that they would actually cook.  They did cook in the oven, and did have a fluffy-ish interior and crispy carapace, but actually tasted of very little ☹️   Not a variety I would rush to buy again.

I will be whipping up some sort of soup for lunch today.  For sure.  I've not had any thoughts about tea.  We're lucky to have choices, of course.

I can't think of anything spiffily MSE to add at the mo. 

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

thriftmonster - I agree that the IP can take the place of multiple gadgets.  That was a fantastic price you got yours for! 😁  Can I just ask - and I think I'm asking this more in relation to SC's, so it may not apply to IP's - but you mentioned the saute function.  One of the US-based vloggers uses a (reasonably sophisticated) SC that has a saute function - and raves about it.  When I looked up if we could get them in the UK, the comments mentioned that the non-stick failed pretty quickly.  Am I right in thinking the IP inner pot is only stainless steel, and therefore the saute function works in the same manner as a stainless saucepan would - but without the flaking non-stick getting in your recipe?

tmv - sometimes it's difficult to pick up inferences in the written word, so I hope italics kinda of make what I'm saying more 'conversational' rather than in anyway, confrontational.  You - like other posters - teach me so much about a wide range of subjects, and I'm always grateful that you take the time to post on my 'lil auld thread.  I never thought I would take to a PrC - as much as anything, I didn't have the 'home background' of use to 'normalise' them for me, although I'm pretty sure my aunty had one - but of the aluminium, weights, and whistles and "is this thing going to explode?" scary type PC variety 😬 Not alot of incentive to buy into 🤣But the KR is positively quiet in comparison.  Plus of course, IP's weren't a thing when I invested in my PrC.  If I was making an initial purchase now, I think IP's would have been in the research mix, for sure.

Thank you so much for joining in the conversation, everyone - you know I appreciate it all, immensely.

Greying X

Jellytotts

We invested in an IP when my 12 year old SC finally died.  There was an offer on one for around the £50 mark so thought it was worth a go for combining machines (I’ve never wanted a PC as my nans scared me rigid but DH had grown up in a PC family so was keen to try this).  

The stainless steel pot is fab, I can bung it on the cooker if I want a faster or more controlled sautee/browning process or the internal sautee in the machine it self heats up very quickly.  We are not a lentil/pulses household (we were but since I had my gallbladder removed I can’t process them and end up in agony) but we use it regularly for stews/chill/joints of meat and stock.  The SC aspect gets used a lot too but I’m definitely a convert.  Definitely one of the items I’d replace if it died.  Saves so much energy so I think it’s paid for itself by now.

Greying_Pilgrim

Jellytotts - do you work for the IP Marketing Board, per chance 🤣 - sorry!  Just pulling your leg! 😉 That is actually a very insightful post.  I am pretty sure you are me 😱 - I grew up fearing PrC, because of 'steamy-hissy-erupting potential' PrC's that i had seen in operation, whereas DH had at least been brought up with them 'used' in his household.  I'm not saying that he'd an opinion one way or the other about us owning one of our own, but neither did he have any overt fear of them.  

I think your use/experience of the IP is really fascinating - and whilst we might use them for different things, your remark about 'replace if it died' and the energy use, are really valuable 'user insight'.  I would replace my PrC if it somehow stopped working (and yes, an IP would be considered this time around), but I probably wouldn't go to the bother of replacing the SC if it died.  But I am glad I've pushed myself to make more use of the SC - we've mostly been pleased with what it's produced - and certainly there is much more room to make more use of my SC - the buck stops with me, on that.  

Greying X

Blackcats

I'm another in the petrified of pressure cookers camp.  When my mum used hers, not only did it hiss, rattle, splutter and gurgle it was only used to cook rabbit for our cats.  The stench was horrific and the whole home became invaded by it.  In fact, I'm wrinkling my nose  up in disgust as if that smell was back again.  The other scar from the cats' menu was tinned pilchards that slithered out of the tin and smelt vile.

I do have a slow cooker but don't use it as much as I probably could.  I'm now motivated to choose a SC recipe for next week's meal plan to rectify that.

Greying_Pilgrim

Ay, ay, ay! Blackcats 🤢 all round.  Doubtless frugal and eco though the 🐰🐇 on the menu would be.....My similar (scarring) memory would be a pig's head and other things getting boiled up for HM brawn 🤢 The kitchen stunk for days 🤢 Thankfully it was a one time gig 🤢

You've inspired me - I too shall ensure the SC cooks us something in the next week.  Thank you!

Greying X

Staffordia

We've got SC honey mustard chicken tonight with plenty of veg. It's one of our favourites. 

Greying_Pilgrim

Soup munched for lunch.  I made pea soup today.  I boiled up shallot, celery, garlic powder, carrot, the last bit of swede, a couple of diced potatoes, a couple of bay leaves and a stock cube in the PrC.  I then added in half a bag of frozen peas (MrS stam. st), and cooked them through to de-frosted.  I then removed the bay leaves and blitzed to mostly puree (a few peas 'escaped' 😉).  I then added in pepper, mint, and greek seasoning.  I served it up with a blob of yoghurt for us all, and a tsp of chipotle paste for DH and I.  There was a bit of soup left over, which I was expecting to recycle in tomorrow's 'soup' - but no, my "I'm not sure I like pea soup, mum" child (on previous occasions, not today, to be fair), asked for seconds, and the remainder was split between them and their Pa 🥰👍  Clean plates all round and an empty PrC 👍 

Still no idea what to make for tea mind.  

Greying X

Cheery_Daff

This chat is all very interesting, thank you! We do have a slow cooker, but rarely use it, and it's packed away somewhere now. We're veggie, and not much takes that long to cook anyway I did have a pressure cooker that someone bought me to go to university with I think I only ever used it as a pan with no lid, I was terrified I don't think I've ever seen one in action, and I didn't even know there was a 'new' variety! 

What we do get a LOT of use out of though is my little hay box that I built Not selling this as anything practical for anyone else - I built it largely because I have a surfeit of hay (of which this uses VERY little). It's just a sturdy wooden box, packed with hay, and with a cushion on the top. Obviously you have to bring whatever you're cooking to the boil on the stove first, but then I just bung it in the hay box - soup, stew, curry etc - and it keeps cooking, very well insulated in its own heat. 

Obviously this is nowt new to anyone raised in the olden days, and I'm sure they were very popular during the war I love mine! But, as I say, you obviously can't just throw ingredients into it and expect them to heat up  

Greying_Pilgrim

Cheery_Daff said:

Obviously this is nowt new to anyone raised in the olden days, and I'm sure they were very popular during the war I love mine! But, as I say, you obviously can't just throw ingredients into it and expect them to heat up  

You mention this on my thread Cheery........ **Greying looks over her glasses at the screen, Minerva McG style.......** 🤣🤣🤣

But yes, in a similar vein, I make far more use of 'switching off the ring and putting a tea towel folded up on the lid' than I perhaps mention, in my cooking.  Not just for rice cooking with the absorption method (if I'm not doing a bulk cook in the PrC now - thanks tmv! 😁), but boiling tatties, or finishing off curry etc.  OK, so it's only a miniscule saving on energy each time, but it adds up - and something that I practice far more now that I've the infra-red type cooking rings - they stay hot/warm for so much longer.  Same with putting the SC on warm mode at the end of cooking, it's usually come down to about just the right temperature, rather than tongue burningly hot - by the time you're ready to eat.  

Greying 😘