bread and butter/summer pudding hyrbrid.....

 

 

Some-times using up odds and ends produces some strange but tasty combo's, lol.

The bread here was a fresh bloomer I bought reduced, it was starting to go stale so I sliced it and buttered both sides for a bread and butter pudding. I had a box of raspberries and a handful of blueberries to use up. They were defrosted out of the freezer so too soft to eat on their own.

So I stuck them in this, lol. Layer of bread, sprinkle sugar, layer of blueberries, layer of bread, sprinkle of sugar layer of raspberries.

I made up a pint of milk using powdered and added the egg I used to glaze the pie and another 2, poured the mix over.

 

It went in the oven the same time as the pie to make the most of the heat.



Take 1 large chicken ........

 

On Monday I made a large roast dinner for 6. I used a large chicken, 2.2kilos in weight.

Were on a mission to work down the freezer and downsize to a smaller chest freezer, so I'm taking joints out of the freezer (they take up the most room). I'm not wanting to freeze any leftover if I can help it, but I can't afford to waste anything. 

 

 

The pot on the right is the leftover cooked chicken. Half a handful went into the pie.

 

Today was leftover pie. Basically any leftovers from the roast dinner stuffed into pastry. It depends on the leftovers, but today was leftover roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, mixed veg, chicken and gravy. I added 1/4 onion and a mushroom, a bit of home-made chicken stock.

 

 

There was enough leftover mash and veg from Monday for the kids to have with the pie.

 

I really didn't fancy pie so instead decided to make a chicken soup.

I used 1/4 onion, 1 clove of garlic and 1 mushroom. Fried in a bit of chicken fat from the top of the stock.

After the stock went in I added half a carrot, a handful of frozen green beans and half a red pepper.

 

That tub on the left is home-made chicken stock. I already drained off the chicken juice from roasting, that's not this stock. This is the result of the chicken carcass/bones being stuck in the slow cooker for 8 hours. Its been reduced down so turn into jelly. 

 

 

 

Because its concentrated I only needed about 3-4 tablespoons. Topped up with water, added seasoning.

 

Just before serving I added a handful of cooked chicken and a handful of spinach.

The pot on the right is how much cooked chicken I have left after a roast dinner, pie, soup and 2 pasties.

Its going to go into a risotto with the rest of the stock for another dinner tomorrow.

 

 

 

the two patsies on the right are lunch for the kids tomorrow with some pastry leftover from the pie.

 

Stretching your most expensive ingredient (usually meat) is a fantastic way to reduce grocery shopping bill. 1 large chicken will have stretched over 4 large main meals and a lunch without wasting a scrap.

 

 

 



Lasagne

 

Lasagne is a fab way to stretch a Bolognese sauce and is made a lot easier with the microwave white sauce.

I made my Bolognese with a pack of reduced steak minced, 80p. It did the kids tea with spaghetti yesterday and I'm making a family size lasagne for tonight tea.

 

 

I still had a small tub of Bolognese leftover after making up the lasagne which I stashed in the freezer.

Minced based meals are the easiest way to stretch a tight food budget as its so versatile and can be bulked out.

 

 

Start with a layer of Bolognese.

 

Layer of lasagne sheets.

 

Layer of white sauce.

 

Layer of lasagne sheets and repeat until you finish with a layer of white sauce.

 

Then just top with cheese.

 

 

Ive made mine up in the morning ready to stick in the oven for tea. I will be filling the oven with baking while its in to make the most of the oven being on. Serving this with side salad and garlic dough balls.

 

 

 

 



easy microwave white sauce

 

This is so much easier to make in the microwave and no lumps or sticking to pans!

 

So you will need:

2 tbsp margarine or butter

4 tbsp plain flour

Salt & pepper

2 cups milk (I made up powdered

 

So, 2tbsp margarine in a jug, pop into microwave for 30 seconds until melted and add any seasoning.

 

Add your 4tbsp plain flour and whisk.

 

It will form a thick paste.

 

Add 1/4 cup of milk and stir whisk thoroughly to make a thinner paste.

 

Add the rest of your milk and stir.

 

Microwave for 2 mins, take our a stir. It should be starting to thicken.

 

Microwave for another 2 mins.

 

 

Tadah! Thick white sauce ready for use :) If you want a cheese sauce add cheese while its hot and stir through to melt.

 



Pretzel rolls

 

I made these to go with some pulled pork. They are chewy and springy and a bit different to standard rolls.

 



1 tbsp dried yeast

2 tbsp vegetable oil

500ml warm milk

300ml warm water

2 tap salt

1 kilo strong white flour

 

Measure out your milk and water and add the yeast.

Mix the dry ingredients into a bowl and add the oil.

Add the milk mix bit by bit to form a rough dough.

Tip out onto a floured work surface and knead.

Set aside for an hour to rise.

Form into rolls and slash the tops.

Bring a pan of water to the boil and add 1 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp bicarbonate soda.

Boil each of the rolls for about a minute, this is what gives it the chewy crust.

Sprinkle with salt and bake at 220 for 20mins.

tandori chicken with biryani........

 

Last week was so hectic I didn't get chance to cook at all. This week is a little calmer and I'm planning meals using what we have in.

 

Biryani can be made using leftover cold rice from the day before, or you can make it from scratch and cook some rice.

Mine had onion, garlic, mushroom, peppers and some curry paste all fried together.

The chicken leg quarters were from a couple of chickens that I jointed myself, but they're usually around £2 kilo to buy, pretty cheap cut of meat. I rubbed them with tandoori spice mix and left them in the fridge to marinate, then just baked them for half an hour in the halogen.

Simple and easy and very cheap.

 

Soft Flapjacks....

 

Ive made 5 batches of these now and they come out perfect every time!

 

500g oats

125g margarine

125g butter

250g sugar

6 tbsp Golden syrup

 

 

Melt the margarine, butter, sugar and golden syrup in a pan.

 

Weigh out your oats.

 

When melted, stir through the oats.

 

You can line a pan with greaseproof paper, I used a re-usable baking sheet.

 

Press down with a fork.

 

Bake at around 190 for 20 mins or so.

 

 

Leave to cool for about 30mins. Then gently lift it out of the tray, peel away the paper and slice up.

 



stuffed peppers....

 

Sorry for the photos I was rushing to snapped what I could! lol!

Got some peppers reduced and they were a good size so stuffed peppers it was!

 

This mix was:

Onion
Garlic

Pork mince
Celery
Carrot
Courgette
Rice
Salt and Pepper

Cook your rice and fry off the rest of the ingredients and mix together.

 

You can stuff them with pretty much anything though.

 

 

Cut the top off the pepper and stuff.

I had some mozerella to use up so put a slice of that on top.

The smaller pointed peppers behind were stuffed with feta.

 

Now the plan was to stick them in the slow cooker for a few hours

 

Buuuuuut I had too many and they wouldn't fit in so I just stuck them in the oven for dinner, lol. Served ours with salad.



Use - it - up - carbonara.

 

 

Had some eggs and cooking bacon to use up, so decided on carbonara for tonight.

Some chopped onion, pepper, bacon, mushroom and garlic was fried in a pan with a bit of butter.

Pan of boiling water to cook the spaghetti.

Beat the eggs in a jug with some fresh black pepper and parmesan. I used Grana padano its very similar and was down to 50p per pack at lidl last weekend.

Immediately after draining, while the pasta is still very hot, return to the pan and pour over egg mix and the fried 'bits'. Toss and stir to make sure its all coated.

The residual heat from the pasta will cook the egg and create a sauce.

Top with more black pepper and parmesan and your done :) Italian fast food at its best. Served ours with a bag of reduced salad and some HM rosemary bread.



Home-made fish and chips, 45p each.

 

Remember the kilo of Haddock fillets I got reduced to £3.50? There were 4 massive fillets in it.

I made fish and chips for lunch.

Used 2 of the fillets and cut them in half to feed the 4 of us. So there's still 2 in the freezer.

I didn't use any special batter just some of the batter mix from approved food and deep fried. Chips just peeled and chopped potatoes deep fried.

Home-made coleslaw to serve, which is just some reduced cabbage, onion and carrot mixed with some mayo and black pepper.

 

Total cost £1.80 for 4. Or 45p each.

This was my first go at it and was really pleased! Definitely be doing this again with any reduced fish I find :)

Tomorrow I have some chopped cooking bacon and eggs to use so I'm doing carbonara with some garlic flatbread (dough in the fridge needs using).

50p lunch tomorrow....

Using up what's in the fridge.

 

 

Pack 6 sandwich thins - 20p

Grapes - 40p pack

Brie - 16p pack

 

I ran out of Brie for the last two so used a tbsp of Garlic roule that was 75p pack and a handful of salad leaves.

 

About 50p for 6 sandwiches for lunches tomorrow. Ive also boiled some eggs for snacks throughout week, they were 40p for pack of 10 after Christmas. Reductions like this are getting fewer though now the Christmas/New year is over :(

 



Sunday prepping.

 

Back from a lovely break and feeling very refreshed for once :)

Sundays are traditionally a day of rest. We like to spend it as a family. I also use this quiet day to start getting ready for the next week so Monday can start off relatively peacefully.

Laundry has been done and put away, beds have been changed, schoolwork has been printed and prepped, menus plans have been finalised, budgets have been set, shopping has been done etc.

Finances are extremely tight for the next few months, everything seems to have exploded at once and needs paying for. This year is going to be very busy but joyful, lots going on.

 

Started off baking some munchies for the up-coming week. Oats were 49p per kilo at Lidl. For good, wholegrain Scottish Oats. I bought 12 kilos (yes 12! My daughter is a porridge fiend). So decided to make some flapjacks!

I have found the perfect flapjacks recipe! Tried a few and they either fall apart or are too crunchy, these are gorgeous. Next time I bake them I will take pics and post the recipe.

 

I also found a marinated chicken in Lid's reduced freezer 30% off which made it £2.69 for a 1.6kilo bird. Stuck it straight in the slow cooker when I got back for dinner. Wasn't sure what to put with it but you can't go wrong with a slow cooked, seasoned chicken. The men-folk of the house are all full of cold and were craving chicken.

 



Making more of an effort to run out and grab the reductions. The most variable bill we can reduce is the food bill, to try and save up for up-coming payments. The oats are from Lidl's half price weekend offer. Will do us several months of porridge and flapjacks.

Sainsburys had 1.1kilos of haddock fillet down to £3.50, there were 4 whole large sides of haddock inside and I have a sack and a half of potatoes left from the Morrison £2 12.5kilo offer a few weeks ago. So home-made fish and chips for tomorrows tea with mushy peas.

Tesco didn't have much in the chiller or veg sections but there were tonnes of bread products being marked down. I got a loaf of toastie bread, a pack of giant English muffins, 2 x 6 packs Warburtons sliced cobs, and a pack of Warburtons square wraps, for a total of 98p.

Its actually worked out cheaper than making my own from scratch.

 

 

When it came to dinner time we didn't fancy any stuffing or roast-type dinner. So I made some home-made seasoned potato wedges and some roasted red onion and pepper.

This is my new toy, I've had it for a few months now. A lady down the road was selling her twice used halogen oven for £10. Its taken some getting used to but I've just about cracked it. And it uses about 60% less energy than a conventional oven! I don't need to heat up an entire oven just for 1 tray of potato wedges anymore.

 

For awesome potato wedges:

Pierce and microwave your scrubbed potatoes first! For about 10-15mins. Not enough to make it into a soft jacket potatoes, but enough to make it slightly soft throughout. Cut into wedges, then season and oil. The microwaving dehydrates it slightly and creates a slightly glue-y surface as the potatoes start to release starch. It means it stays fluffy inside and crisps up quicker on the outside, and the seasoning sticks better.

 

Busy but satisfying day. My sink is all shiny ready to wake up to in the morning and I've got ahead on the housework and laundry. Ive got leftover chicken in the fridge and stock in the slow cooker overnight for a risotto later in the week. Got off to a good start for the upcoming busy week.