The ultimate in refined eating

[french frank]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22263706

:-)

Any favourite recipes?

[MrGongGong]

I have a heap of frozen wild garlic pesto in the fridge which I made a couple of weeks ago
now is the time to gather it while you can
and it's free !
Mixed with olive oil and walnuts , no need for cheese
not sure how much it works out at ?
But 1 litre of olive oil and 500g of walnuts makes enough for about 15 meals for three people
stirred through pasta
and with anything else you find knocking about ........

[Beef Oven]

I have a heap of frozen wild garlic pesto in the fridge which I made a couple of weeks ago
now is the time to gather it while you can
and it's free !
Mixed with olive oil and walnuts , no need for cheese
not sure how much it works out at ?
But 1 litre of olive oil and 500g of walnuts makes enough for about 15 meals for three people
stirred through pasta
and with anything else you find knocking about ........

I make my own pesto, but I use parmesan.

[MrGongGong]

I make my own pesto, but I use parmesan.

I was keeping it cheap
but tend to add cheese later
as I'm not that keen on freezing cheese
and then you can choose an appropriate one for whatever you are cooking

[Beef Oven]

I was keeping it cheap
but tend to add cheese later
as I'm not that keen on freezing cheese
and then you can choose an appropriate one for whatever you are cooking

I did not know you could freeze pesto. I figured the olive oil would be a show-stopper.

P.S. good call on the garlic season - May. Now's the time to go for it.

[Sir Velo]

Lots of roadkill around at the moment, if you're not too squeamish. Don't get anything that's pancaked.

[Barbirollians]

She sounds like a remarkable woman . Well said at the end though - try living like that .

Meanwhile our government spends several hundred thousand pounds on a reception for dignitaries after Baroness Thatcher's funeral

[mercia]

lots of recipes on her blog - impressive

http://agirlcalledjack.com/category/below-the-line-budget-recipes/

[french frank]

I don't run a freezer (partly to save money, partly to cut down on my use of energy generally) which means if I make lots of some dish, I eat the same dish for days running - you get used to that

So a favourite cheap dish is ribollita:

Beans (cannellini, borlotti, flageolets or similar), cabbage, any root veg, (onions sautéed in o. oil first), herbs, all simmered in the veg water that you've conserved for a few days . You can add a vegetable stock cube to deepen the flavour if you want. Season.

And to finish it, lightly toast a piece of bread (so the outside is slightly hardened) and while still hot rub it thoroughly with the cut edge of a clove of garlic.

One piece of toast goes into each bowl immediately before serving the soup.

And you must make enough soup to have it at least twice or it's not ribollita. Only the garlicky toast has to be done freshly each time.

I use dried beans, soaked overnight, which are cheaper than tins - it's v. cheap if you use stale bread and have bits and bobs of veg that need eating up. Healthy, hearty, peasant food.

[Anna]

There are some nice sounding recipes on her blog. It's perfectly possible to provide meals very cheaply, providing you start with a well stocked cupboard, i.e., dried beans, lentils, olive oil, spices (essential), flour, pasta, rice, windowsill herbs, etc., etc., and you know how to cook. The problems begin if you start with no stores and benefits are suddenly stopped. Which makes me wonder whether foodbanks should also provide cookery lessons as well as providing tinned/packet goods?
I'm marinating plump free-range chicken thighs with ras-el-hanout which are to be roasted with assorted vegs (ok, these chicken thighs from Waitrose work out at 81p each, cheaper to buy from a Value range or drumsticks are cheaper still) but served with rice and peas or some sort of bulgar wheat combo and assuming you are not of the mindset that meat is the main ingredient, still a cheap way to serve four.
I think you could turn frenchie's robollita into a pasta bake and use up any old cheese on top to ring the changes or drain off the liquid, add a chili and turn it into a fritatta?

[Tevot]

A case of back to the future perhaps? Especially as we're now all in it together

http://cookit.e2bn.org/recipes/index.php?cat=20

Best Dishes,

Tevot

[Thropplenoggin]

In my brief spell as an Internet humourist, I created a series of photostories entitled 'Ray Mears: Urban Survival', little knowing how timely these survival tactics might prove for our enduring economic woes:

http://positennui.wordpress.com/2009...-a-fowl-feast/ (Click on the images and they will magically swell to legibility.)

http://positennui.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/ray-mears-urban-survivalmears-gear-knife-saver/

[amateur51]

Anna's completely right about the importance of a well-stocked cupboard when you start, expecially herbs, spices, oils, etc.

Part of the problem of catering on very little money is a) that you tend to feel very restricted over more than two weeks at a stretch; and b) because you've had a previous life, you tend to get hankerings for the old ways.

[Serial_Apologist]

Anna's completely right about the importance of a well-stocked cupboard when you start, expecially herbs, spices, oils, etc.

Part of the problem of catering on very little money is a) that you tend to feel very restricted over more than two weeks at a stretch; and b) because you've had a previous life, you tend to get hankerings for the old ways.

Not to mention all the trendy new Italian words one has to add to the limited vocabulary of one raised in the era of Tournedos Rossini...

[Anna]

Part of the problem of catering on very little money is a) that you tend to feel very restricted over more than two weeks at a stretch; and b) because you've had a previous life, you tend to get hankerings for the old ways.

The thing to do for fresh food is avoid supermarkets if possible (but find out what time of day they start discounting and follow the lady with the stickers!) Use market stalls for fruit and veg (i.e. you can get a large cauliflower for 50p, ditto punnets of blueberries or strawberries) and use your local butcher. I like to see what I can get cheaply, take it home, and then pretend I'm on Masterchef doing the invention test! Unfortunately, if you are a committed carnivore then eating cheaply now is not an option. It's also amazing, in my last job, if I mentioned cooking with beans they all thought I meant Heinz! As for lentils, no-one had tried them - why don't people use these little beauties more? Stir fries and Thai curries are great for cheapness and flavour as well as being cheap as chips. In fact, cheaper than chips!