General Chat

They had a different name then, they were outside Lavies and a Bucket of water. :-D and open backed so they could be removed and used on the garden. :-S

I have listened to the programme this morning, and to the best of my ability, have remembered much of what was said. She advised:-
Menu Planning
Canny Shopping
Have a good store cupboard.
Watch Bogoff's, are they worth it.
Watch 3 for 1 offers on fruit and veg.

She mentioned more than once, what she could do with the "two dried-up rashers of bacon" at the bottom of the fridge.
And, this morning before she had come out of the home to do the programme she had chopped into cubes, a cheap cut of Pork, and added chopped Peppers and Paprika, to make a mouth watering meal in the slow cooker, to provide a meal whence she got home. No mention of what was going to be served with this Goulash, to make it into a meal.
This interview lasted 5 mins. at the most, and I did not learn a darn thing.

Off to embroider the features on a crochet cat. Won't be long to Santa time. Much more enjoyable.

Julia in Derbyshire

Didn't learn a thing Julia?

That's 'cos you know it all :-D :-D :-D

I keep saying lots of people can't cook so the programme is most likely aimed at them but nobody bothers to read/comment on my posts. Stuff 'em I say LOL

PS I think a couple of dried up rashers would make rather good insoles :-D

PPS I think Merlin is right. Some cultures (I imagine) still use the good old fashioned water method rather than fancy loo paper.

Island, I have read your posts where you state that some people do not know how to cook, so these types of programmes are more for them, than for such as myself, and others that have been cooking for years.
But, we would all still like to know how to make the pennies go further

Julia in Derbyshire

Ignore them Julia, just get on with my Shallots. and Bobble hat. And Island, those couple of dried up rashers,wrap them round some prunes and cook. :-D :-D tastes rather good but take the stones out. ;-) ;-) ;-)

Of course,anybody can put chopped pork,peppers and paprika in a slow cooker with some water.It will come out tasting like pork that has simmered in water for hours.

What people need to know is how to make the stuff taste palatable cheaply.

Our friends in Africa eat off the barbecue a lot, which is just as well because they boil their meat indoors in water which,apart from how insipid it must taste,makes it stink.

If you have not cooked before,or been shown how to,you may not know how to seal meat before stewing it. Then you can't cook meat so you don't try again. Too much bother and smell for something you don't want to eat.

Oh well, I thought the programme was being poo-pooed as patronising because housewives have been doing it for years :-S :-)

I'll put any dried up rashers and prunes in the post for you Merlin ;-) :-D

Island, don't forget to take the stones out first.LOL. Funny, I did not know that rashers had stones in them.
And, yes, I still think it was patronising.

Sharron, I totally agree with you re the boiling of meat. I cannot cook mince without there is onion in it.

Julia in Derbyshire

Buying in bulk & stocking the larder may sound like a good idea, but in my experience, the more food there is available, the more gets eaten when I´m not looking.
Same goes for things like toilet paper. If it´s apparent there´s plenty, OH uses it for nose blowing, shoe cleaning, window buffing & anything else he can think of.

JustDinasourJill,

I used to do the Elderberry and Elderflower thing also. Makes you think your getting something for nothing.
I like to taste my Gin and Vodka, and found that putting fruits in, did not give me sufficient taste.
Are you still in the Shetlands.

I would love to have your Pizza Recipe. I am trying to get the OH to take to eating this, as I ;like it, if it has plenty of filling on it.

Many Thanks

Julia in Derbyshire

I have been reading this thread, but not being a cooking aficianado, haven't commented. I do recall my first attempt at cooking mince when I was in my late teens - I well overdid it with the frying to seal - it ended up like air-gun pellets. As for my first attempt at cooking lambs' liver - rubbery (as the Chinese say), not to mention leather insoles :-0

I have impoved (well, the thread is entitled Room for Improvement) since those early days and, amazingly, both my daughters love cooking and are very good at it.

Wend, I think we all have to sart somewhere, the same with everything.
My mother was what was called a" plain basic cook", as she had little incentive to cook. Rations, and father was a vegetarian.
So cookery in the home was not top of the agenda. Both elder sister and myself had to learn from scratch, and, though not up to the standard of the Great British Bake Off, we can both bake a decent cake, and knock up a good dinner.
I think you have to be interested in food itself. As you know, we are the same as you with out allotment, and I do enjoy cooking. I learned alot when I was a Silver Service Waitress, seeing foods I had never seen before and only heard about..
Then when you have a family, and it grows, you learn how to make a little go a long way, and to make sure they are receiving a balanced diet.
As you go along the way, your interest accumulates, as more foods become available, and cookery programmes prolifigate on the television, and, recipes in the ever present "Sunday Supplements".
I've made my mistakes along the way, the same as you with your liver. But you learn from them, and go on.

Julia in Derbyshire

Get yerself on the radio Julia! :-D

Never mind Mrs Posh Pottery, you and Sharron would go down a storm at cooking owt from nowt! :-D :-D

Ohh Aye Up Me Duck Island, thought you'd gone on the school run. The the early doors session. You disappeared so suddenly LOLOL

Julia in Derbyshire

I've been hunting round the fridge for an old bacon insole and a dried plum for Merlin. No luck I'm afraid :-(

:-D :-D

Glad you didn't find anything Island. I've been sitting here wondering about this woman's fridge habits. Finding a couple of dried up bacon rashers in the bottom of the fridge sounds pretty horrendous to me. Aside from the obvious about managing her fridge, if they were at the bottom and dried up it must mean she is confessing that she didn't even have them wrapped up!!!! Unwrapped and presumably uncooked meat in the fridge? :-| :-| :-| :-| :-| Shudders.

Hi Julia,

Nope. Shetlands was for visits but before I met and married hubby I did plan to move there. Now I'm a few miles south of Birmingham.

French Stick

Leftover French stick. We get them from our local M&S who bake on the premises. It's the only bread that daughter will eat. We buy two; one for her to eat on the day and another for the day after for us.

Sliced onions
Sliced cheese - decent Cheddar on offer in supermarket
Pineapple pieces
Sliced tomatoes
Levi Roots Reggae Reggae ketchup NOT the Barbeque one

Cut the bread in half lengthways and put onto baking tray or tinfoil on baking tray
Squirt the Reggae Reggae down the middle of the bread and spread out a bit sideways. The stronger you like your taste, the more you put on.

Have all the ingredients ready to go as the ketchup will sink into the bread.

First sliced onions, then the cheese and pineapple on there sort of side-by-side not one on top of the other. Pack as much on as you think you can. Then put the sliced tomato on with the slices as close together as you can. This cooks the tomatoes but also protects the cheese and pineapple from burning or drying up.

Cook in moderate oven - probably about 180 but my oven so old and knackered it's always guesswork.

For picnics I buy those part-baked packets of four from Tesco when they are on offer. Slice them at angles all the way down (or straight across to make more but smaller ones) thickness of maybe half an inch. Spoon some Reggae Reggae onto each one followed by cheese and a slice of tomato and cook for maybe 10 minutes.

I have never yet had any left over to bring home and if M, one of the kids' friends is there, he would eat the lot if we let him.

Enjoy. <3

Many of these money saving recipes are not what they seem.

For example, I was amused recently to read a recipe for a three course dinner which the author claimed to cost just £4.99.
Fine, until you realise that many of the ingredients you have to buy in larger quantities than needed and will probably not need again for some considerable time.

I priced up the actual cost and it came to over £22.50.

My guess is that some of those ingredients will remain relegated to the back of the cupboard and never be used.

Mushroom ketchup is one of those ingredients in my cupboard, Errol. Can't remember what recipe I used it for once and it will probably be chucked out when it goes past its sell-by date!

Can anyone tell me what I can use mushroom ketchup for please, before it's too late :-D

Surely, Island, you can find something dried up in your fridge to send Merlin. What are you? Ruddy Superwoman :-D