Making things go further

14 watchers

MsG Mar 2020 7:00pm, 28 Mar 2020 1,440 posts	0 MsG Oops, sorry I thought he'd written more about it in the post than that.
GimmeMedals Mar 2020 9:08pm, 28 Mar 2020 16,546 posts	0 GimmeMedals I've dug a 750g pack of minced beef out of the freezer and tomorrow will make bolognaise, the mince basis of shepherds pie and a chilli (we've no kidney beans but I found some black-eyed beans in the cupboard) all padded out with the veg that are getting near their 'need to throw out' stage. I've also got some leeks, more carrots/onions and celery that I'll make something with. That will stock the freezer up a bit more.
Lizzie W Mar 2020 9:28pm, 28 Mar 2020 22,630 posts	0 Lizzie W Fellow eke-er here.
.B. Mar 2020 9:50pm, 28 Mar 2020 40,913 posts	0 .B. I have a big pot of bean and veg chilli planned for tomorrow, and all the green stuff is going in some soup. Meals for most of the week.
BaronessBL Mar 2020 10:50pm, 28 Mar 2020 8,207 posts	0 BaronessBL We had a left-overs lasagne tonight and there is enough left for lunch tomorrow too. I'm very much a tried and tested recipes person me so the Ready Steady cook approach fills me with horror usually but tonight I made a quite passable lasagne with left over roast chicken, a small tin of plum tomatoes, a sweet potato, a few scraps of carrots from the bottom of the fridge the broken sheets of lasagne in the end of the box (but when I took the box out of the cupboard I also found half a bag of tagliatelle that I didn't know I had) and the sauce was a tub of quark, some natural yoghurt and a couple of eggs. Frozen peas to accompany it. It was a bit orange but perfectly edible!
GimmeMedals Mar 2020 10:35am, 29 Mar 2020 16,548 posts	0 GimmeMedals I managed to spread the 750g mince between 6 portions of chilli, 6 portions of bolognaise and 4 portions of mince and veg. Meals for 2 for a week
JenL Mar 2020 11:13am, 29 Mar 2020 27,874 posts	0 JenL Extending the "going further" idea outside of our immediate walls, I'm getting quite tetchy with the rest of the household about changing our usual way of doing things - stock up on stuff just because we fancy it - to a more thoughtful way of shopping. I was lucky enough earlier this week to get access to an Ocado shop, which will be delivered tomorrow. I've taken note of the various emails that Ocado has sent in explanation of the fact that its regular customers have been as unable as everyone else to order a delivery. One of the things I noted in the most recent email was that in addition to Ocado's having more orders placed in recent weeks, orders have been bigger than normal. So I'm trying not to add to that, for example, by not buying 2 or 3 of something just because it's possible to do so, and by thinking "Do we actually need this thing or do we just want it?" before adding it to the list. This led to a rather robust exchange about bacon and toilet rolls but I'm embedding the idea of "Don't take it just because it's there" quite successfully, I think. Ps: does kale freeze well, or at all? Can it be frozen raw or does it have to be cooked first? I suspect that when the kale arrives tomorrow, it will be me who eats it. I am happy to do that but I think there will be too much for me to use all at once so I'm exploring the possibilities - if I have to have it several times in a row then fair enough but if there are options... Still trying to imagine "hiding" kale in orange juice - doesn't it change the colour of the orange juice rather alarmingly?
Elsie Too Mar 2020 4:29pm, 29 Mar 2020 2,443 posts	0 Elsie Too Hubby and son wanted to make my chocolate brownie recipe but we didn’t have enough chocolate in the house but we did fine lemon fudge pieces. Let’s hope brownie mixture with lemon fudge tastes ok.
Lizzie W Mar 2020 5:15pm, 29 Mar 2020 22,637 posts	0 Lizzie W Oh Elsie, that sounds a bit too interesting for me! Eke ideas I use (mostly Jack Monroe or Feed Your Family for About 20 Quid): Smaller portions and lots of homemade bread; Bolognaise and things using mince - handful of porridge oats in the fried mince if it's fatty, red lentils if not, also grated veg incl carrots, courgette; Meat dishes eg chicken curry - add tinned beans (black, borlotti, pinto, cannellini, rinsed baked beans) to tolerance; I may sometimes water down soap products...
Derby Tup Mar 2020 5:20pm, 29 Mar 2020 39,127 posts	0 Derby Tup Moved some of my coffee consumption over to tea because I probably have half as much milk in tea than coffee