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Love food hate Waste Part two for 2018 :)

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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 17,413 Forumite
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    Hi chums ,back from my spring break on the Isle of Wight and life is getting slowly back to normality again.

    I had to get some shopping on Saturday afternoon which was essential as `i needed fresh fruit and veg.
    Came home with quite a bit of nice stuff from my holiday trip though, some bottles of chilli sauce from the chilli farm and also some really nice home made jam that I spotted at a small country farm outlet :)
    plus some super large free range eggs which are gorgeous with deep almost orange yolks
    Using up as much as I can from the freezer again though, Monday nights dinner was a couple of sausages defrosted with some peas that I found at the back of the freezer and some mashed potatoes that I had peeled,boiled and mashed and frozen before I went away rather than bin and they were very nice .Tonight I am having a chilli chicken breast that I left marinating in the fridge this morning and I will have that with some salad bits and pieces.plus some delicious looking rhubarb courtesy of my next door neighbour in exchange for a Victoria sponge cake:)

    I hope everyone has a good easter, and left over chocolate (if there is such a thing) will be used up either in a cake or some brownies I have some dark chocolate that I am going to turn into a box of brownies for my grandsons (keeps temptation out of my reach :))

    Cheers everyone, thanks to my LFHW my food bill is pretty low at the moment. I snaffled a Y/S large pack of carrots on Saturday and turned them into 2 litres of carrot and coriander soup for lunches :) cost me around 50p all told including some lentils,a couple of small spuds and herbs and spices

    JackieO xx
  • Loolooly
    Loolooly Posts: 24 Forumite
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    Love this thread - how do I subscribe please? Sorry I’m a novice at this!
  • joedenise
    joedenise Posts: 16,560 Forumite
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    Loolooly wrote: »
    Love this thread - how do I subscribe please? Sorry I’m a novice at this!

    At the top of the thread on the green bar, click on Thread Tools and select Subscribe to Thread.

    It will bring up a box which says you've subscribed and will redirect you back to the thread.

    When you want to find it again click on Quick Links and it will be in a list there.

    HTH

    Denise
  • takingcontrolatlast
    takingcontrolatlast Posts: 714 Forumite
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    Well I managed to use my frozen breadcrumbs:D

    I basically sprinkled on top of the cauliflower mash (left over cauliflower added to mash - picked that tip up off this site) on a cottage pie :j

    Since I started trying to have "zero waste" food - my cooking has improved - I'm actually receiving compliments from the family as my meals are becoming more diverse. I would never make cauliflower mash previously :rotfl:

    I am finding I can spend a lot of time meal planning on a Saturday morning before shopping.... I do think I need to try and speed up the process.... any tips?

    I can actually spend over an hour looking for ideas for the week on a Saturday morning and my weekends fly by as it is!

    i've not yet batch cooked dinner meals - just left over bolognaise. I did look on the link bbc good food suggested by joe denise and I am going to try and batch cook a chilli to start off - I'll need to buy some containers or those disposable foil ones i think?
  • joedenise
    joedenise Posts: 16,560 Forumite
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    If you do a lot of batch cooking you might find the foil ones are bit on the expensive side as they don't wash easily to be reused. If you don't already have them the Chinese takeaway type plastic boxes are cheaper and can be used several times.

    Alternatively, as long as it's something in a sauce like bolognaise, stews, curries etc, you can use freezer bags. Press all the air out of them when you seal and then you can flatten them out and they stack really well in your freezer.

    Denise
  • -taff
    -taff Posts: 14,504 Forumite
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    takingcontrolatlast wrote: »
    I can actually spend over an hour looking for ideas for the week on a Saturday morning and my weekends fly by as it is!


    Get your family involved, put up a board or a piece of paper and ask them to contribute ideas of what they'd like to eat, and add in one or two week.
    Keep a few staple meals every week so you're not having to think of something new for every day. Try and plan a meal that will have leftovers for you to experiment with the next day.
    Shampoo? No thanks, I'll have real poo...
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 17,413 Forumite
    First Post I've been Money Tipped!
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    joedenise wrote: »
    If you do a lot of batch cooking you might find the foil ones are bit on the expensive side as they don't wash easily to be reused. If you don't already have them the Chinese takeaway type plastic boxes are cheaper and can be used several times.

    Alternatively, as long as it's something in a sauce like bolognaise, stews, curries etc, you can use freezer bags. Press all the air out of them when you seal and then you can flatten them out and they stack really well in your freezer.

    Denise

    I agree 100% chinese takeaway boxes are brilliant, I have a stash from my eldest `~dd as they eat takeaways (I don't as I don't like chinese food, plus I prefer to make my own food and rarely if ever eat a takeaway)

    I keep a couple that have had tomato based or baked bean based things in that have got slightly stained just for using with tomato based stuff :)In fact I have half a tin of baked beans in the fridge in one at the moment . Soup bags you can buy and reuse time and again as they wash out very well and with soup in can be wriggled about into those odd corners of the freezer. The foil containers I can never seem to get as clean as I would like and worry about food debris being stuck in the corners I have also a stash of small brown earthenware type dishes that I have bought over the years from boot sales etc and use them for making individual cottage pies for the freezer which can go straight from the freezer-oven/microwave -table I like to make meat pies in these and top with flaky pastry which go straight to the oven for cooking. Batch cooking is definitely the way to go if you are time limited ,or even if you just fancy a night or two off from the kitchen
  • Working_Mum
    Working_Mum Posts: 559 Forumite
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    takingcontrolatlast wrote: »
    I am finding I can spend a lot of time meal planning on a Saturday morning before shopping.... I do think I need to try and speed up the process.... any tips?

    I can actually spend over an hour looking for ideas for the week on a Saturday morning and my weekends fly by as it is!

    I asked my friends what they cook each week and garnered some inspiration there!

    I have a notebook stuck to my fridge and keep a running shopping list which helps as I run out of things or am inspired I write it down on the list and use that for shopping.

    I tend to have a batch cooking session every couple of weeks and stuff my freezer and then run it down from there - it works for us as I have two children who work random shifts and are always hungry!!

    I make bolognaise, taco meat, chicken fajitas, shepherds pie, cook sausages, mash potato, onion gravy, soups, fritata, chilli, lasagne - I use takeaway boxes and plastic bags to store in the freezer and then just take out the night before and defrost in the fridge ready for use the next evening.

    I cook a soup every week and this sits in my fridge very happily and lasts me the week for lunches etc. I hate food waste and I will eat up random leftovers regularly. As long as the meal is nutritionally balances I can cope :)

    Good luck as you navigate this! It's great you're planning in this way and it will save you money and reduce waste.
  • takingcontrolatlast
    takingcontrolatlast Posts: 714 Forumite
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    joedenise wrote: »
    If you do a lot of batch cooking you might find the foil ones are bit on the expensive side as they don't wash easily to be reused. If you don't already have them the Chinese takeaway type plastic boxes are cheaper and can be used several times.

    Alternatively, as long as it's something in a sauce like bolognaise, stews, curries etc, you can use freezer bags. Press all the air out of them when you seal and then you can flatten them out and they stack really well in your freezer.

    Denise

    Thanks Denise - I'll have a look in the shops to see what's on offer :)
  • takingcontrolatlast
    takingcontrolatlast Posts: 714 Forumite
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    -taff wrote: »
    Get your family involved, put up a board or a piece of paper and ask them to contribute ideas of what they'd like to eat, and add in one or two week.
    Keep a few staple meals every week so you're not having to think of something new for every day. Try and plan a meal that will have leftovers for you to experiment with the next day.

    Hi Taff,

    Thanks for the tips :) I tend to rely on pasta as a staple meal - usually with leftovers for lunch - will have to get my thinking cap on. Well chilli will be the other one - going to attempt it this weekend.

    Just so I understand - I cook the ingredients for a chilli fresh - let it go cold and then freeze. When needed, defrost the night before and heat up - or do you cook it from frozen - this is the bit I'm confused with :o
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