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I'm in the UK, so substitute shops, and some will just plain be different. Still, we have poors too! 1) Always check the price per kilo/lb/moon-measurement. Then check the aisle AND the fresh counter. At Sainsburys I can either get the "mild white cheese" from the aisle or the "taste the difference somethingorother cheddar" for the same per kilo price. The mild white is the cheapest pre-packed cheese. The expensive premium range cheddar is the cheapest of their cheese aisle cheese. The prices of the two are generally around 5% from each other or less. Check for deals, and expensive cheese counter cheese often ends up CHEAPER than "mild white cheese". The same goes for hams, fish, meats, etc. Sometimes pre packed is cheaper, but it's not unusual to be able to pick up better, cheaper food from the fresh counters. There's literally no downside to it, and I honestly don't know why anyone would buy the crappy pre packed stuff. 2) Try all the cheap options once. Some will surprise you, while others won't be great. Iceland, our cheapest supermarket (at least the cheapest I can get to on one bus), sell better (frozen) chicken filled with cheese and bacon than the more up market supermarkets. They aren't healthy or particularly nice, but they are a fast option, and actually nicer than the similarly unhealthy, not very nice options that cost twice as much elsewhere. Then there's minced meat. The cheap minced beef here is really gristly and oily, and not very nice. The minced pork and chicken are far better, and the same price. So we use them in our chillis / pasta dishes instead. 3) nThing the "use shops meant for minorities" thing. I'm in London, so I can pop in to Chinatown and grab a pack of chinese pancakes. A frozen pack with enough pancakes for about 30 meals, for about £1, Crispy duck too expensive? Use a cheap cut of pork, marinade it in chinese spices then slow cook it, crisping it up towards the end. It's close enough and pretty drat cheap. There are other bargains there too. And of course, it's fun shopping somewhere where there are so many "strange" foods. 4) Also nThing the slow cooker advice. I don't see the point of a rice cooker though, it's not that difficult to simmer it for half an hour on one stove while preparing and cooking whatever's going with it. 5) Treat yourself. We're poorer now than we've been for a while, and yet happier with our food. Why? We've cut down enough that we can afford a £2 desert every few days. Find something cheap and nice for after dinner and it takes the sting off the fact you are eating so cheaply. 6) Grin and bear it. I've gone from drinking Pepsi Max to Iceland sugarfree cola. It tastes of fizzy caffeine. Giving up would be painful, but switching to ultra cheap (30p a day rather than £2 a day) crap is bearable. 7) If you hate onions, like me, you might think your cheap cooking world is pretty much devastated. But don't worry, leeks work in pretty much anything that usually requires onion, and are actually nice! And not particularly expensive either.
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# ? Nov 24, 2011 13:42 |
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# ? May 21, 2024 16:31 |
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Cabbage is really cheap around here (like 2 medium ones for 1 euro) and you can basically cook something delicious with little else except a bit of meat (like a sausage or bacon or whatever) and some spices. Or if you're feeling fancy you can make cabbage rolls with rice and ground meat but that was a bit trickier to make and i screwed it up a bit (still good to eat but my rolls were coming apart ). I'm poor too and i'll be using cabbage in my food all winter.
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# ? Nov 24, 2011 14:17 |
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My Little Puni posted:We just got a regular size fridge (we were seriously living off a loving college mini fridge) So now time to stock up, $30 is my goal! Potato-leek soup! Make sure you roast or saute the leeks before you add them, it makes them sweeter and makes the soup perfect. Also, make sure you add some mace to the soup, just a little bit, but make sure it's in there. It works the same way adding nutmeg to a bechamel or other cream-based sauce does. Make a whole ton and refrigerate and/or freeze the rest. Make sure you keep at least a dinner's worth in the fridge for the next day... it's ALWAYS better the next day.
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# ? Nov 24, 2011 22:36 |
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Bertrand Hustle posted:Do you know how many kinds of beans there are? "I don't like beans" is awfully general. What kinds of beans don't you like? Maybe try another kind, or try them prepared a different way. I know there are a lot of types of beans. I've yet to actually find a type of bean I like outside of green beans. It's mainly a texture thing.
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# ? Nov 25, 2011 05:45 |
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Lolitas Alright! posted:Potato-leek soup! Make sure you roast or saute the leeks before you add them, it makes them sweeter and makes the soup perfect. Also, make sure you add some mace to the soup, just a little bit, but make sure it's in there. It works the same way adding nutmeg to a bechamel or other cream-based sauce does. Use bacon grease for your sautee/roast oil, leeks and bacon are best friends for a reason. Not a ton though, just enough to get by with, and it will really light up the soup.
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# ? Nov 26, 2011 08:37 |
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To any DK goons living in the Aarhus area, if you haven't heard of http://www.bazarvest.dk/Default.aspx you really, really need to get out more. it's a huge produce market, they've got butchers for all sorts of religions, good bakeries and there's so many weird stores with weird poo poo that you can easily get lost in there. and everyone yells all the time.
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# ? Nov 26, 2011 18:28 |
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Pope Mobile posted:It's mainly a texture thing. My wife has that problem so I blender bean soup after it cools a bit.
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# ? Nov 27, 2011 07:55 |
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Here is my tip: If you are someone who simply cannot eat a meal without meat in it (like my family), wake up stupid early and go to the grocery store. I'm in the south and I don't know how prevalent Food Lion stores are in other areas but they ALWAYS have meat on sale first thing in the morning it seems like. Its marked down because its getting close to shelf date and if you are shopping for a week its a good bargain. Hell, you could just stock up on it if you have a good freezer and extra cash is available. I just went out to get meat stuffs today and this is a good example of what I got: Whole chicken, 6 pounds-$3.04 Beef roast, 2 pounds-$3.98 Pork roast for pulled pork, 5 pounds-$3.92 2 packs of Hebrew National Hot dogs(7 weenies a pack)-$2.70 each pack. A grand total of $16.34. I know a lot of people don't want to wake up early to go grocery shopping at 8:30 am but if you are a family of 3 and a half like me (Me, husband, brother in law and a 2 1/2 year old) and they all eat as if they are bottomless pits its a damned good bargain.
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# ? Dec 2, 2011 19:20 |
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I realised a few months ago that the amount of money I was spending on food was TOO much. Armed with this thread, I initially ate recipes based upon dried beans/rice/stock/herbs for a month. Doing this I managed to pay off a lingering £300 debt that I have had since I finished university in August. Having paid of this debt I decided 'but what if I could save a similar amount of money every month? That could pay for a holiday... or even a car!' so now I am budgeting myself to £20 a week. My tips for eating well on this budget? -'Yellow Sticker' food. I'm not sure if you guys have it in the USA, but in the UK, as a food approaches it's sell by date, the supermarkets sometimes stick 'Whoops' or 'reduced' stickers on it. If you are a carnivore like me, you can save a ton on meat by looking out for these things. For instance, this week I have the following in my freezer: A large whole chicken should be £5, i got it for £2.50; A roast beef joint (prepared by the in house butcher), worth £9, I got it for £4;2 hand prepared sirloin steaks, should be £9, reduced to £4 (£2! for an aberdeen angus sirloin!! what?!). Seriously, do not under-estimate these reductions. Literally amazing. Bung it in your freezer and then just stick it in the fridge the day before use for it to defrost. -Value Veg. Stuff the 'finest' and 'organic' and 'premium' veg. Veg is largely veg. They might look different, maybe a bit knobbly, but it doesn't matter, it'll still taste wicked. I always buy budget potatoes, budget carrots and budget anything else i can grab. -Stop buying lunch. Make it yourself. I'm sure everyone realises that buying food every day costs too much. £5 is a typical amount i used to spend on lunch alone, which in a working month adds up to £100 a month! i'd rather have that in my pocket by making lunch out of my £20 a week budget. The best way to avoid buying lunch is to.... -Cook big on Sunday... eat for the rest of the week. For example: I cooked up some lovely spaghetti bolognese, enough for 4 people. I ate one that night and fridged/froze the rest, eating it for lunch for the next 3 days. It's as quick to re-heat as a 'ready-meal' but tastes way better and is more satisfying. What i've found is over the weeks I actually have an excess of food, such that I'm struggling to plan meals simply because I have so much choice. I have my next £20 of my food budget to spend next monday too! I think it's especially prudent to try and save some money given that the economy is going to crash big style in the new year. Hope you found some of this useful (if it is a little obvious, i apologise). Try and live on £20 a week, you won't regret it. Edit: ^^^ whoops! didn't see a fellow reduced meat buddy posting above.
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# ? Dec 3, 2011 01:14 |
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Here's a link to an article about a woman who is living for a year on the amounts of food allowed in British WWII rations: http://www.theawl.com/2011/11/mock-goose-and-other-dishes-of-the-war-rations-diet . She's doing it to lose weight but I'd bet it would be cheap and the food would be readily available in even the most whitebread town. Interestingly, it turns out to be a very healthy way to live. I'd add shittons of herbs and spices though.
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# ? Dec 3, 2011 23:48 |
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Lentils and rice dishes are filling as gently caress. I can get three or four meals out of a pot of lentils and rice. What I do is use 1 cup of brown lentils and 3/4 cup of rice (French green lentils are good, too; I've never cooked it with red lentils, but I'm skeptical given the fact that red lentils aren't TOO resilient when cooked for extended periods of time...maybe I'll try it sometime and report back). Cook the lentils first, drain them, then add rice and spices to the pot with some extra water. Whatever spices you choose can change the entire dish. I'll make it with some garam masala, curry powder, cumin and chili powder, some kind of cajun seasonings, whatever you like. I always cook up some garlic in some oil and add it to the pot as well. You can cook some onions and throw them in, as well. It's up to your tastes. Now, what I'll usually do is cook up some vegetables or cook some potatoes and throw them on top of the lentils and rice. With some spices and creativity there's tons of stuff you can do with this, and this simple dish can have a lot of variety. I've done it with cauliflower, fried potatoes, roasted red onion slices (I love onions gently caress yeah), mushrooms, and fried green tomato slices. Once you get the basic idea it's such a versatile dish you may get excited about lentils and rice. It is also cheap and really, really easy. I can come home, prep almost everything in five minutes, then go watch TV while it cooks. EDIT: With some fried onions you can make some delicious, delicious mujaddara. Ghost of Reagan Past fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Dec 4, 2011 |
# ? Dec 4, 2011 03:29 |
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This thread has changed my life. We were in a similiar situation, and just eating a lot of easy to make things, with mainly canned veggies. This week I spent fourty dollars and have enough to eat better than we have since we moved in together. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone.Insanitylad posted:Buffalo style/ Non-buffalo style chicken I just made this but with a different buffalo sauce recipe. And drumsticks instead of wings, because wings are overrated. It was delicious, and absurdly cheap, and we have enough left over for two lunches and another dinner. Holy poo poo. Tomorrow night is more of this, monday is lemon pepper chicken with homemade lemon pepper seasoning, tuesday is red beans and rice, wednesday I'm doing *something* with the leftover wings, thighs, and drumsticks from the whole chicken I bought (for five dollars) and thursday I'm making stock from all the leftover chicken parts and we're eating delicious chicken soup. Next week I think I"m going to play with ground beef, make some shepherd's pie.
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# ? Dec 4, 2011 04:27 |
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I believe that most people in the GWS forum would be disgusted by what I cook and eat (nothing repulsive, but very minimal compared to how some of the threads that I follow). I have been following this thread since the beginning, and am going to start making more elaborate cheap meals (maybe even some pictures too), but have already expanded from the buttered noodles that I could pretty much eat everyday. Something new I tried this week. Eggs and Rice. Sounds strange. I made a bunch of white rice (actually cooked it in chicken stock instead of water since I had chicken stock) that I had left over (used first part of it in a stir fry type meal that wasn't the best). So for dinner/brinner one day after work, I tossed some butter into a skillet along with a good portion of rice. Added pepper and garlic salt and heated until rice was edible again. Then whisked two eggs and dumped them in. Cooked until done and dumped into a bowl. Wasn't have bad. Tried it a few other times and spiced it up with a dash of hot sauce while eating. Rice is cheap. Eggs are cheap. Food was good (atleast for me). If everyone doesn't hate this too much, I'll try and add more cheap things I make. I'm not too fond of veggies, so my meals are pretty bland by others standards, but I love breakfast foods, so that doesn't involve too much greens.
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# ? Dec 4, 2011 05:00 |
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Moey posted:
That could be a great meal if you added some herbs/spices and vegetables. You can find ways to incorporate more vegetables into your diet by thinking of the ones you find least offensive and including them in your food. Once you get used to those ones you can start branching out into new ones. It's relatively easy to change your eating pattern this way and you will feel so much better.
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# ? Dec 4, 2011 07:33 |
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Rice with an egg sunny side up with fish sauce is a pretty common breakfast food in Thailand. Tasty too.
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# ? Dec 4, 2011 09:41 |
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It is gratifying to read some of the changes this thread has inspired. Ghosts of Reagans Past, I use red lentils for soups, dals etc as they break down when cooked, unlike green/brown/puy which hold their shape. A more complex but delicious rice lentils dish is kosheri. I've made this version but I'm sure there are simpler ones. http://www.jpost.com/ArtsAndCulture/FoodAndWine/Article.aspx?id=169075 So delicious.
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# ? Dec 4, 2011 12:43 |
Ghost of Reagan Past posted:I've never cooked it with red lentils, but I'm skeptical given the fact that red lentils aren't TOO resilient when cooked for extended periods of time...maybe I'll try it sometime and report back I tried cooking rice with red lentils recently, I think about 3 parts rice and 1 part lentils. Just cook them together to get a more interesting rice that also looks much more interesting with little yellow spots all over. I wasn't too happy with the result of equal parts lentils and rice, however. It doesn't work as a meal in itself, but it's a fine way to spice up your rice.
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# ? Dec 4, 2011 14:08 |
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If we're talking about lentils and rice don't forget mujadarra. You can make it with rice, or you can make it with bulgur wheat (which I prefer). Super cheap, and super healthy! Also features onions, which are beautifully cheap as well. http://syriancooking.com/vegetarian/mujadara-lentil-pilaf The more onions, the better. It's weird because until you mix the onions and the olive oil into the lentil/wheat mixture you'll think you've failed at making this dish. I don't bother distinguishing between the crunchy onions on top and the sort of soft yellow ones in side, I like to just make them all soft and brown and mix it in (and then add some on top), but if you want it to be more traditional then you can do the super-crispy ones on top. Also delicious with plain yogurt, greek or non-greek. I like sweet American yogurt myself.
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# ? Dec 4, 2011 22:50 |
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I took the slow cooker suggestion. 8 hours later I have absolutely delicious pulled pork. 3.5lbs of pork, rubbed with brown sugar, salt, pepper, and mustard powder, put it in the slow cooker with vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and more brown sugar, and just forget about it for the rest of the day. Goddamn it's easy, and really cheap.
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# ? Dec 5, 2011 03:50 |
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I too have been following this thread and changed from eating frozen pizza and canned soup (how did I think canned soup was a good deal?) to making rice and veggies every day. Veggie soup is so cheap. The first time I made it I put a lot of veggies in, because hey it was like $3 worth, and it came out to be like 5 cans worth and tasted way better. I then went to good will and got a veggie steamer/rice cooker and a wok. Haven't used the wok much, but the steamer makes some drat good rice, though it does take about twice as long. One of these but an older model http://www.amazon.com/FLAVOR-SCENTER-STEAME-REPLACES-HS80/dp/B0002YSVEQ I've been doing this for the last two weeks, and eating veggies and rice is starting to get a bit old sadly. I don't want to go back to my old ways, so it's time to add some more to the rotation. I asked for a crock pot for xmas, so hopefully that will add a lot to the mix. Harminoff fucked around with this message at 05:36 on Dec 5, 2011 |
# ? Dec 5, 2011 05:22 |
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Neko Sou posted:Also delicious with plain yogurt, greek or non-greek. I like sweet American yogurt myself. A bit of crushed garlic added to yoghurt like that makes an awesome garnish/dressing/sauce
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# ? Dec 5, 2011 12:39 |
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Moey posted:I believe that most people in the GWS forum would be disgusted by what I cook and eat (nothing repulsive, but very minimal compared to how some of the threads that I follow). I have been following this thread since the beginning, and am going to start making more elaborate cheap meals (maybe even some pictures too), but have already expanded from the buttered noodles that I could pretty much eat everyday. Throw in some/all the following: Frozen peas and/or corn Onions (spring, white or red, your call) Frankfurters (I hate frankfurters in most situations except in fried rice, go figure) Bacon (I always have some cooking bacon in the fridge, it costs about 75p per 500g). Soy sauce. As slinkimalinki said, any vegetables you like go here too. (For egg fried rice, I really like cabbage, broccoli, carrots, sprouts (Brussels or bean) and/or peppers, in any combination). A dinner fit for a (skint) king. In fact, I might well have it tonight.
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# ? Dec 5, 2011 17:08 |
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Last night we made dinner which, on reflection, is a very cheap and hearty meal. it made enough for three dinners for two people - vegetarian shepherd's pie. We fried some onions in a pan until soft and sweet, then added a clove or two of garlic until that was soft and sweet too. In went the green lentils which cooked for a few minutes. These was followed by a glug of decent sherry vinegar (balsamic will do too - this is about the only premium product in the whole dish). Stock was then added, along with diced carrots. While the lentils were simmering we peeled potatoes, cut them into chunks, and boiled them to make mash. Once the lentil mixture was cooked, it was placed along with a bit of the cooking liquid into an oven-proof dish, and topped with the mash, which was then topped with grated cheese. This was cooked in the oven until the top was golden. We ate it with some cooked frozen petit pois. Nothing in that meal is expensive at all (apart from good vinegar), it's pretty easy, and make an extremely hearty and tasty meal. This reminds me of something: if you can afford it, splash out on one or two expensive condiments: some really good balsamic or sherry vinegar, a good mustard, excellent olive oil, etc. They add so much to cheap ingredients and really lift a dish. A simple tomato salad with really good oil and vinegar becomes so much more than it might have been with a more basic dressing. I suppose it's the equivalent of having a really lovely scarf but otherwise a pretty plain outfit: the whole look is improved and brightened.
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# ? Dec 5, 2011 18:12 |
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My boyfriend and I are gonna have a couple's kind of Christmas for the first time this year since my family's going out of the country. I'm not the best or most experienced cook, but I'm interested in having a nice (possibly even good) holiday dinner on a budget. Can anyone help me out in picking out recipes or recommend me cheap dishes? Traditional food is good, though I'm absolutely interested in branching out as long as the meal feels kind of homey
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# ? Dec 6, 2011 18:19 |
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I used to eat the hell outta eggs scrambled with cilantro and soy sauce served over rice. In fact, I'm gonna make that tomorrow.
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# ? Dec 7, 2011 00:45 |
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Swillkitsch posted:My boyfriend and I are gonna have a couple's kind of Christmas for the first time this year since my family's going out of the country. I'm not the best or most experienced cook, but I'm interested in having a nice (possibly even good) holiday dinner on a budget. Can anyone help me out in picking out recipes or recommend me cheap dishes? Traditional food is good, though I'm absolutely interested in branching out as long as the meal feels kind of homey I'd roast a chicken, because it's close enough to turkey. Bed it down on a bunch of chopped up veg (spuds, parsnips, turnips, yams, leeks etc) with a little olive oil, sprinkle it with sea salt, and brush it with 1/4 cup melted butter mixed with 1/4 cup wine. Give a 3 pound chicken about an hour and fifty minutes on 375F. Brush it with its juices regularly and turn it so it gets evenly browned (start it upside down, then turn it over half-way through so it gets crispy boob skin). Yank it out of the oven, put it on a plate under a tent of foil. Scrape the veg out of the oven dish and into another oven tray and pop them back in the oven. Pour about 1/4 cup of boiling water into the now-empty oven dish and scrape all the brown bits up with a fork. Pour the now brown water into a pot. Bring to the boil (skim off the oil on top) then add (2 tsp cornstarch + 1 tsp chicken stock) which you have previously mixed with 1/4 cup cold water. Stir till thick. Take the foil off your chicken, carve it up and serve with the crunchy veg and the gravy. Actually I eat this every Tuesday night (payday) but I'd gladly eat it for Christmas too. You can put rosemary and other herbs in with the butter, but I've found I prefer to let the ingredients shine. A trifle is a good Christmassy dessert. The day before, make a custard, make a jelly (red). Cut up some store bought cake. Put it in the bottom of a bowl and sprinkle it with a mixture of booze (brandy or sherry) and juice (blackcurrant is good). You want it soaked but not bleeding everywhere, but it's not that important. Chop up the set jelly and layer it over the cake. Sprinkle a layer of berries(frozen or tinned) over the top. Pour the cold custard over that. Leave in the fridge overnight. Top with whipped cream mixed with a little booze and icing sugar and serve. It's not the cheapest thing ever but it's stress free and can be adjusted to your budget and skill level (homemade custard vs packet custard, homemade jelly vs. packet jelly etc). Looks festive and tastes good. slinkimalinki fucked around with this message at 08:04 on Dec 7, 2011 |
# ? Dec 7, 2011 07:49 |
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How do you guys freeze your soups? Plastic containers? A couple of freezer bags?
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# ? Dec 8, 2011 17:59 |
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10 Beers posted:How do you guys freeze your soups? Plastic containers? A couple of freezer bags? I stick gravy and soups in zip-lok bags and freeze laid down so its thin, takes up less room that way,
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# ? Dec 8, 2011 18:08 |
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I freeze them in bag in containers to give them shape, then once frozen remove the container and I have nice, rectangular bricks.
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# ? Dec 8, 2011 18:14 |
10 Beers posted:How do you guys freeze your soups? Plastic containers? A couple of freezer bags? We use a lot of those ziploc containers with 1.5-2 cups of stock/soup as they stack pretty well in our deepfreeze.
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# ? Dec 8, 2011 18:54 |
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therattle posted:I freeze them in bag in containers to give them shape, then once frozen remove the container and I have nice, rectangular bricks. Bricks are cool but splitting them down is a bitch. With the flat bag method you can snap a corner off if if only for one or whatever.
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# ? Dec 8, 2011 19:20 |
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thegasman2000 posted:Bricks are cool but splitting them down is a bitch. With the flat bag method you can snap a corner off if if only for one or whatever.
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# ? Dec 8, 2011 21:48 |
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thegasman2000 posted:Bricks are cool but splitting them down is a bitch. With the flat bag method you can snap a corner off if if only for one or whatever. I use a few ziploc containers and a 1-cup measuring cup to freeze my broth or soup in 1 cup bricks - after they're frozen, run the bottom of the container under a little warm water, pop out the bricks, place in giant bag, place bag of bricks in freezer, and repeat until no more soup. Makes measuring easy, since everything's already in 1 cup increments.
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# ? Dec 8, 2011 22:18 |
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What's the opinion on freezing various cheeses? I've only frozen basic cheddar bar cheese and it crumbles when it is thawed, so, don't care about that since I usually grate or crumble my cheese for most things anyway. One of my grocery stores is having a one day only sale tomorrow and a ton of cheese will be on sale. Basic bar cheese - cheddar, mozzarella, havarti - ball mozzarella, asiago, gorgonzola, brie and I plan to go early and stock the hell up on 'em. Is there kinds that should never be frozen? Will some just end up crumbling like frozen cheddar?
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# ? Dec 30, 2011 18:15 |
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Here is something that I've been making a lot recently. 1 can cream of chicken made with 1 can of milk 1 cup rice about 2 cups mixed veggies (corn, peas, carrots) Cook rice and veggies. Then cook cream of chicken, mix together and eat. It makes a lot of food for little money and adds a lot of flavor to the regular rice and veggies.
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# ? Dec 30, 2011 19:26 |
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I recently discovered that the new organic hippie store down the block sells bulk spices, for very cheap. I needed some paprika for a recipe but did not want to buy a whole container because I knew it would go stale before I used it all. I got a couple tablespoons from the bulk jar at the store and it cost me a grand total of nine cents. This is a really great discovery for me personally because 99% of the time I am only cooking for myself. Being able to buy a tiny amount of something saves money from throwing away the rest that would go bad. This place also sells bulk rice, grains etc which is great because I can get stuff at "bulk" prices without actually having to buy the 25-lb bag of rice. And it's a 3-4 minute walk from my house which makes it extra convenient.
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# ? Dec 30, 2011 20:17 |
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Agreeable Employer posted:What's the opinion on freezing various cheeses? All I know is that mozzarella freezes well. I would hazard a guess that this means cheeses down the creamy end of the scale freeze well.
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# ? Dec 30, 2011 23:13 |
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Something really cheap and good that I discovered is actually a variant of what I feed my dog. We give my dog a mixture of brown rice and ground beef, I just add some Turkey of Beef gravy to it and it is really good. So that is always an option.
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# ? Dec 31, 2011 01:03 |
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WeezerToon posted:If you are a carnivore like me, you can save a ton on meat by looking out for these things. For instance, this week I have the following in my freezer: A large whole chicken should be £5, i got it for £2.50; A roast beef joint (prepared by the in house butcher), worth £9, I got it for £4;2 hand prepared sirloin steaks, should be £9, reduced to £4 (£2! for an aberdeen angus sirloin!! what?!). I used to turn my nose up at reduced sticker food but now I feel ripped off paying full price for meat. I also get plenty of reduced veg as well, I got a massive bag of carrots for 32p in Co-op yesterday and they should keep for a few weeks. At the moment a lot of supermarkets have cheap hams on offer, I'll be eating pea and ham soup for lunch for work for all of january.
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# ? Dec 31, 2011 20:02 |
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# ? May 21, 2024 16:31 |
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On the subject of lentils, they're great with onion, garlic, tomato, some beef or vegetable stock and a little ground clove. It's great with a toasted tortilla on the side, or a little rice. I actually prefer lentils to beans because no amount of soaking dry beans will get all of the gas-producing starch out. Also if you're looking for a way to add some depth to a pot of beans and rice, try adding some salt pork. It's like bacon but it comes in little blocks. When you do this, you are mainly adding fat to the dish, so only do it every once in a while. If anyone is offended by the texture of leafy greens like Spinach then try Collard Greens. Collards have a much tougher texture more like thin sheets of Broccoli. They're a little on the sour side, but they fry up really well with a little bit of oil. When buying spices, try to buy whole seeds. If you can't afford or don't want to buy a grinder, then a Mortar and Pestle actually works really well. Bigger is better, as they tend to slide around when you're using them. Also, you can live without a microwave, and some foods taste better after being reheated in a pot than they do from a microwave. If you don't like the way something tasted the first time you cooked it, reheating in a pot or in the oven is a great way to rework the flavor to something you would prefer.
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# ? Jan 2, 2012 20:26 |