Reduced Veg, The Freezer, The Oven and Budgeting and Portion Sizes, Padding out the meal

Yesterday I had to nip to the shop to get a loaf of bread.  As it turned out I had timed it well for reductions on some veggies.  I use a lot of veggies so if it gets to the point that I am not going to use them I will prepare them and then pop them in the freezer.  However, nine times out of ten I use the veg from fresh where I can.  Veg is good for you and can be used in all sorts of dishes to add flavour.

However, in retrospect, it may be a good and cheaper way of putting up veg into the freezer so that you have a ready supply of veggies for using when time is tight (as all the prep has been done) or indeed a way of ensuring that you do get a regular supply of good veg if you are on a reduced income, have children at home and need to keep the family's stomachs full.

Yesterday, I managed to pick up a net of three onions (strong onions), a cauliflower, courgettes, spring onions.  I still have a few veggies from the shop including quite a bit of the purple sprouting broccoli and have plans to make Stilton and Broccoli soup as part of our tea for this evening.  I also have some cooked veg and chicken left over from tea so that will go towards a chicken stew.  Both are economical ways of preparing soups and stews and using up the leftovers.

I am keen on soups as they are very much a good filler.  When I was a child growing up in the 1960's it was standard practice, especially in the winter months for our evening  meal to start with a bowl of hot home made soup. Sometimes this would be nice and smooth like a gravy and another time would have more texture it depended on what was available and being used.  

My mum taught me that this was the way she had been brought up as money and food were very tight in the household that she grew up in.  A family of originally 12 (including parents which then reduced to 11 after my granddad left).  They survived in a two up two down with just an old small range (a quarter size of an Aga) to keep the family warm and produce a good meal for.  

Essentially the reason for starting with a bowl of soup was to fill the stomach, so when it came to the next course if you only had a small piece of meat it could be split fairly between everyone without putting too much on the plate.  Indeed it was always the practice that there should be some left over for the following day although incorporated or disguised as something else i.e. bubble and squeak or rissoles or any left over mince turned into a pastry case with a lid and cooked as a pie or served as mince in gravy with mashed potatoes and some steamed cabbage. Not necessarily food that was "fancied" but it was a meal that kept the body and soul going and the "wolf from the door".

Pudding was served in our house and often Mum would make "Treacle pudding", Roly poly, Treacle tart, Mincemeat tart, Apple pie, Rhubarb sponge, Eve's pudding.  All served with custard.  Yet again a little pudding would be served but instead of finishing it off on that day there would be some left for the following day as well.  We grew up with very good food, but not large servings of it.  With the meal being split into three sections.

My mum god bless her if she had the  main oven on, always made the most of it and did a big bake for the week; traditionally this used to be on a Sunday morning whilst the roast dinner was cooking and to make use of the heat. I am talking at least two Victoria sponges, a whole host of pastries and puddings, sausage rolls, scones, at least two batches of buns to be decorated as butterfly cakes or simply just iced.  Mum also used to make bread buns as well as on Sunday afternoon we always had a proper tea later on.  That is why I had to be with her in the kitchen whilst I was growing up to actually have a go at making stuff but also doing the clearing up inbetween.  For the best part it is how I learned to cook.  However, I was also extremely lucky in that I had at least 4 hours of Domestic Science a week at the school I used to go to right from the age of 11.

Mum also used a pressure cooker and a single ring for cooking our tea.  It would have the mains in the bottom and then potatoes cooking at the top. Or if it was a meat pie that was cooking in her small oven then just the veg.  Things were always planned.  Even now for the OH and I, I have a cooker with a small and large oven in the kitchen but I also have a small cooker with a Rotisserie in as well, which more often or not is the cooker I use most of the time at the moment unless I am baking or preserving.  The cookers do not go on just for one item. That is a a waste of time.

In this day and age there are many kitchen gadgets which are extremely helpful.  One of my favourite gadgets and which I think is very helpful is the multi-cooker which offers several different functions like a rice cooker, stew pot, soup pot for cooking veg etc.  It saves the cooker going on and everything I want to do is usually cooked in the one pot so it saves on washing up too.

On top of this there are many other ways of padding out a meal. I do not stick with just roast beef. Quite frequently I will make Yorkshire puddings either individual, the medium sized ones and large individual ones.  The individual ones you can put a couple or three on a plate, the medium ones a couple and the large individual ones I actually use as a plate (sitting on a porcelain plate) to actually serve all the  meat and veg into.  This is nice for "Toad in the hole".

Sausagemeat stuffing can also be used in the same way as can other stuffings.  Makes the plate look fuller and gives a bit of substance to the meal.  I also use home made sauces like apple sauce, bread sauce etc as well.

So there are lots of things that you can do to make use of reduced veg to ensure you eat healthily and cheaply as well as padding the meal out to make it go that bit further whether that be by additions such as Yorkshire puddings or whether by serving soup starter, main meal and a pudding.  Cooking like this means that you do not have to eat everything up in a day but could stretch it into a second day too.  

What do you do to make your meals go further.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

x

Comments

  1. I do the same as you, Yorkshire puddings, dumplings, puddings etc, I'm lucky we're from Yorkshire so love hearty stodgy food! Xx

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  2. Hi Fluffy, I have Yorkshire ancestors as well might explain a lot of the stuff I do which has been passed on from one generation to another. Its not "stodgy" it fills your belly and that's all that matters especially when its freezing like it is today. Take care Tricia x

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