Old Style vs the USDA head-to-head challenge...

getting-sorted-sarah

Good morning, just wanted to check in and let you know that I'm reading and enjoying, even if not commenting! (Not like me to keep quiet......)

Aril

I've been popping in here regularly and have just realised that I haven't yet thanked you Weezel for your thread which I am thoroughly enjoying. I've written down frozen liver on my shopping list for next week as am hoping to give your pate recipe a whirl next weekend. Don't know if this is of interest but when I was at school we used to make sardine pate using a tin of sardines in tom sauce mixed with a bit of cottage cheese, lemon juice and black pepper. It was dead easy to make and tasted lovely. Don't know the exact costings but the value sardines are 17p in Mr T.
Aril
Our local library has loads of Rose Elliot books so that may be worth a look in yours.

purpleivy

Aril wrote: »

I've been popping in here regularly and have just realised that I haven't yet thanked you Weezel for your thread which I am thoroughly enjoying. I've written down frozen liver on my shopping list for next week as am hoping to give your pate recipe a whirl next weekend. Don't know if this is of interest but when I was at school we used to make sardine pate using a tin of sardines in tom sauce mixed with a bit of cottage cheese, lemon juice and black pepper. It was dead easy to make and tasted lovely. Don't know the exact costings but the value sardines are 17p in Mr T.
Aril
Our local library has loads of Rose Elliot books so that may be worth a look in yours.

Good idea, I have half a pot of cottage cheese in the fridge and I know there are some sardines in the cupboard.

weezl74

Hello and many thanks for letting me know you're reading! I shall press on, assured.

How lovely to be able to share this challenge and all that I'm learning.

Aril, your recipe looks fab, and sounds really tasty. With oily fish and low fat dairy involved that makes it rank highly for calcium, omega 3, iron, good fats...:T

I just costed it up, and I reckon this makes another brilliantly cheap sandwich option, just under 5p a sarnie. :money:(I assumed I'd spread it as thinly as, say houmous or pate?)

I'm just in the process of learning all about magnesium, so I'll be back to share my findings.:D

Love, Weezl x

ceridwen

Keep up the good work...still following with interest.

ceridwen

Just developed writers cramp writing down what I wanted.:D

queries now please:

- you mentioned pesto and H.M. cinnamon syrup. Could we have recipes please?

- ditto banana bread?

Re sarahsaver's paneer - does anyone have a link for that recipe please?

Blog please....blog please....blog please.

I've just managed to follow Hester's step-by-step instructions and got myself a blog - so its got to be easy if I can manage it:D

weezl74

Hiya ceridwen, I'll seriously consider a blog.... I s'pose I think of this as one really, a true weblog of my attempts, but maybe photos would be good too!

Hey, no lurkin now peeps, chip in with your twopennorth, I'm really up for a robust debate about my little challenge... I see you, sneakily pressing thanks and scuttlin away!;)

Gutted that nearly all of today, my friend the USDA food database has been down. I gues it's the middle of the night there, so no-one needs it! But I do, I wanted to research magnesium. There's nowt else on t'internet I can find which lists such comprehensive nutritional values for so many foods.

So I've been thinking about another interesting dilemma to present you with.

My aims as you know have been 'cheaply and healthily' to live for 3 months.

Sometimes these two targets clash, as we all know from the price of fresh blueberries, or other 'superfood'.:eek:

And sometimes it's just not clear how to construct the idea of what is healthy.

It's been our good old daily bread that's prompted these thoughts. Yesterday, I'd got no more wholemeal flour (55p per 1.5 kg) but didn't want to fall into the 'popped in for flour..... spent 23 quid syndrome...' So I made a 4 loaf batch from a bag of smartprice plain flour (36p per 1.5 kg). Usually my bread is a penny a slice, or 15p a loaf, but this one is 10p a loaf, or .666666p a slice.

Good times.:TDH thinks it tastes like ciabatta. Praise indeed. He is grumpy today due to my insistance that a trip to the ikea sale today would result in our death if we did not arrive well armed with lists and water bottles ay 6 am:eek:

But nutritionally speaking, bad times.

But then I started reading about the mandatory fortification of all UK flours which aren't wholemeal. And then I hunted for ages to find out how much is in it.:mad:

Alarmingly this flour beats the wholemeal for calcium per slice by a third! This seems to be achieved by adding calcium carbonate (chalk) to the white flour. Or shall I just go and lick the white cliffs of Dover....:D

So here's the thing. Do you think:

a) have the cheaper bread with the extra calcium, however obtained,

or

b) be a purist on how the nutrients in your food came to be there. (and eat a third again as much bread!)

go on, vote, I'm interested. What would you all do?

Love Weezl x

purpleivy

weezl74 wrote: »

Hiya ceridwen, I'll seriously consider a blog.... I s'pose I think of this as one really, a true weblog of my attempts, but maybe photos would be good too!

Hey, no lurkin now peeps, chip in with your twopennorth, I'm really up for a robust debate about my little challenge... I see you, sneakily pressing thanks and scuttlin away!;)

Gutted that nearly all of today, my friend the USDA food database has been down. I gues it's the middle of the night there, so no-one needs it! But I do, I wanted to research magnesium. There's nowt else on t'internet I can find which lists such comprehensive nutritional values for so many foods.

So I've been thinking about another interesting dilemma to present you with.

My aims as you know have been 'cheaply and healthily' to live for 3 months.

Sometimes these two targets clash, as we all know from the price of fresh blueberries, or other 'superfood'.:eek:

And sometimes it's just not clear how to construct the idea of what is healthy.

It's been our good old daily bread that's prompted these thoughts. Yesterday, I'd got no more wholemeal flour (55p per 1.5 kg) but didn't want to fall into the 'popped in for flour..... spent 23 quid syndrome...' So I made a 4 loaf batch from a bag of smartprice plain flour (36p per 1.5 kg). Usually my bread is a penny a slice, or 15p a loaf, but this one is 10p a loaf, or .666666p a slice.

Good times.:TDH thinks it tastes like ciabatta. Praise indeed. He is grumpy today due to my insistance that a trip to the ikea sale today would result in our death if we did not arrive well armed with lists and water bottles ay 6 am:eek:

But nutritionally speaking, bad times.

But then I started reading about the mandatory fortification of all UK flours which aren't wholemeal. And then I hunted for ages to find out how much is in it.:mad:

Alarmingly this flour beats the wholemeal for calcium per slice by a third! This seems to be achieved by adding calcium carbonate (chalk) to the white flour. Or shall I just go and lick the white cliffs of Dover....:D

So here's the thing. Do you think:

a) have the cheaper bread with the extra calcium, however obtained,

or

b) be a purist on how the nutrients in your food came to be there. (and eat a third again as much bread!)

go on, vote, I'm interested. What would you all do?

Love Weezl x

I'm afraid I'm not much of a purist when it comes to nutrients. If I feel I need something then I tend to supplement. If I didn't I feel sure I would pile on weight with all the little extras I tried to ease into my diet... whoever heard of 4 dried apricots?

Some of the time I need magnesium supplements, yes they're expensive here.... why can I get them so much cheaper in Germany? but at least it's done with, one less thing to think of in a busy day/week/life.

The other thing is the quantities of stuff you would need in order to supplement. E.g. recommendation in some depts is to take 3 x 1g per day of vitamin c if you feel the signs of a cold coming on. HTF would you get that from natural sources? WHen you feel iffy any way? Linus Pauling makes a good read.

As long as I'm not poisoning myself I'm not toooo worried. soooooo grind up that chalk, babe!

weezl74

Thanks purpleivy, I'll be down at the primary schools now seeing what I can snaffle under the blackboards, nomnomnom!

cinnamon syrup

twas v. easy, just did 120g sugar and 600ml boiling water, added a desertspoon of ground cinnamon, let it bubble for 5 mins, and then poured into a jam jar

DH used to have golden syrup on porridge each morning, but this costs 1/4 the price, and he really loves cinnamon!:D



you could use a cinnamon stick, boil for longer and then you wouldn't have the little brown speckles of cinnamon in the end product, but we don't mind.:o


Hmmmn banana bread recipe, that's tricky, I think I adapted my grant loaf with white flour, and then added banana puree cinnamon and brown sugar, They were lovely, but didn't rise as much as I hoped! So I think a proper cook's recipe might be better for you there ceridwen, I don't want to sabotage your cooking. (or waste those lovely organic fruits;))

the pesto I adapted from delia's version, but (untypically) swapped for cheaper things. A very mature and slightly smoky cheese would be cheaper to use than pecorino or parmesan, but when blitzed, I didn't notice a difference.

Still experimenting with whether anything can substitute for pine nuts. Almonds would be the right colour, but too sweet. Macadamias might work, but they're even pricier! Chick peas are quite nutty, so maybe an oilier version of a houmous stirred into the basil mix. Now that could be seriously BTS!:rotfl:

Toodle pip,

Weezl x

purpleivy

weezl74 wrote: »

Thanks purpleivy, I'll be down at the primary schools now seeing what I can snaffle under the blackboards, nomnomnom!

cinnamon syrup

twas v. easy, just did 120g sugar and 600ml boiling water, added a desertspoon of ground cinnamon, let it bubble for 5 mins, and then poured into a jam jar

DH used to have golden syrup on porridge each morning, but this costs 1/4 the price, and he really loves cinnamon!:D



you could use a cinnamon stick, boil for longer and then you wouldn't have the little brown speckles of cinnamon in the end product, but we don't mind.:o


Hmmmn banana bread recipe, that's tricky, I think I adapted my grant loaf with white flour, and then added banana puree cinnamon and brown sugar, They were lovely, but didn't rise as much as I hoped! So I think a proper cook's recipe might be better for you there ceridwen, I don't want to sabotage your cooking. (or waste those lovely organic fruits;))

the pesto I adapted from delia's version, but (untypically) swapped for cheaper things. A very mature and slightly smoky cheese would be cheaper to use than pecorino or parmesan, but when blitzed, I didn't notice a difference.

Still experimenting with whether anything can substitute for pine nuts. Almonds would be the right colour, but too sweet. Macadamias might work, but they're even pricier! Chick peas are quite nutty, so maybe an oilier version of a houmous stirred into the basil mix. Now that could be seriously BTS!:rotfl:

Toodle pip,

Weezl x

Hmmm, was thinking that pinenuts had quite a distinct flavour, but now not so sure...my last lot was radically OOD:eek: however, kept putting them in stuff (loaves and burgers) and noone commented that anything tasted bad, might just have been a little rancid PMSL!

'what shall I do with this bit of bread?' a child asked when clearing away at lunch time. DH suggested that as it was a bit dry it wasn't worth putting away.:mad: I told child to put it in a bag in the drawer with the rest of the bread and I would sort out later. There was reported not to be a bag (well, the loaf had come out of a bag... hellooooooo.....) but it was sitting at least 30cm from where they were standing, so totally out of their range of view! Oh, throw it away says dh we won't use it! My calm response was that they would eat it, as it would go in the freezer and wait to be used for crumbs!

I know we aren't absolutely poverty stricken, but for heavens sake, they know I don't throw stuff out! They know I'm attempting to stick to a food budget. dh was positively gleeful when asked what I was going to do about his over spend (beer etc, reported elsewhere here somewhere) yesterday at Mr M and the takeaway tonight. Told him my food budget didn't include alcohol because big purchases like that were difficult to accommodate on a budget such as mine. ALso takeaway didn't count on my grocery budget for the same reason. He said that it was easy to stick to a budget if you took all the expensive things out of it. I'd like to see him provide home cooked healthy food on less than £200 including SOME booze and some household as well!

I can laugh at all this as we're not in dire straits, hope he'd take it a bit more seriously if we were! All the muttering........I want the Cards paying off before we move on...even if they are interest free.

All over a poxy almost the crust end piece of bread. He hee heeeeeeee!