What are you cooking now?

[teamsaint]

Has Branston Tomato Sauce been stopped by C & B?

I'd get a box delivered to welcome yourself to the new BBM towers.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Branston-Tomato-Ketchup-8x460g/dp/B004MFH6JM

[french frank]

Bean and tomato soup. Pretty ordinary but lifted with a bit of basil and freshly grated parmesan. Cheap and hearty.

Very quick - except for the eight hours soaking the haricot beans.

[Beef Oven!]

Bean and tomato soup. Pretty ordinary but lifted with a bit of basil and freshly grated parmesan. Cheap and hearty.

Very quick - except for the eight hours soaking the haricot beans.

Very healthy - the beans make you young at heart.

[french frank]

I confess to a fascination for meals which are very cheap and nourishing. The soup made three large helpings with a cup of beans (costing pence, say 30p) half a tin of chopped tomatoes (45p for the tin from the local Italian deli), half an onion (10p?), a sprig of basil from the garden, a stock cube (I half cook the beans in water + veggie stock cube and then add it to the pan of tomatoes &c). I always have a lump of parmesan to grate as needed. It's probably years old

Fortunately, I don't mind eating it three days running, but some people are more easily bored

[EdgeleyRob]

Toast,now that I can cook.

[Beef Oven!]

I confess to a fascination for meals which are very cheap and nourishing. The soup made three large helpings with a cup of beans (costing pence, say 30p) half a tin of chopped tomatoes (45p for the tin from the local Italian deli), half an onion (10p?), a sprig of basil from the garden, a stock cube (I half cook the beans in water + veggie stock cube and then add it to the pan of tomatoes &c). I always have a lump of parmesan to grate as needed. It's probably years old

Fortunately, I don't mind eating it three days running, but some people are more easily bored

For the last week or so, I've been having vegetable soup every day. Half a cabbage, 30p; half a broccoli, 30p; half a celeriac, 55p; half a kohlrabi (German swede-type vegetable) 58p; 3 huge carrots, 30p; 2 huge onions 30p. Add 2 cloves of garlic 5p, salt and pepper, total £2.38.

Makes 12 servings. I always have slab of Parmesan on the go (never think about use by dates with Parmesan) and grate generously. Happy to eat it 30 days on the trot (note the singular!).

If anyone has any variations/tips, please go ahead.

Edit: I forgot the 2 parsnips!!!

[teamsaint]

curried parsnip soup during the winter is great, and must do well on the parsimony stakes......

If you are really skint, you could leave out the parsnip.

[teamsaint]

Toast,now that I can cook.

a very versatile dish .
Any thoughts about where you might go after this? Sounds like its going well.

[Anna]

I confess to a fascination for meals which are very cheap and nourishing.

Me too, that's why I particularly like one-pot 'peasant' meals. A couple of weeks ago I made cawl using four rings of lamb neck from the butcher - £2.42. I can't price up sticks of celery, carrots and leeks but assuming it pushed the cost up to £3.00 it made an incredibly flavoursome, wholesome and I hope nutritious meal for four - i.e. 75p per person.
A large cooked ham hock from the butcher at £2.75 can also provide a variety of meals over a few days ending up with the bone and trimmings turned into pea and ham soup. (A mystery is why people happily eat baked beans every day but seem reluctant to use other types of beans or pulses in everyday meals - me, I love lentils!)

[french frank]

(A mystery is why people happily eat baked beans every day but seem reluctant to use other types of beans or pulses in everyday meals - me, I love lentils!)

And just as nutricious as fresh veg. I have haricot beans, flageolets, Puy lentils and chickpeas in my cupboard. Haricots blancs very traditional with lamb dishes.

[Anna]

And just as nutricious as fresh veg. I have haricot beans, flageolets, Puy lentils and chickpeas in my cupboard. Haricots blancs very traditional with lamb dishes.

I have all of those plus red lentils (for a quick dhal) and yellow split peas! However, I use tinned kidney beans (being wary of not boiling them enough and being struck down!) In fact tinned beans, although more expensive of course, are great if you are time stressed.
I saw some pigs cheeks last week - anyone tried them?

[Nick Armstrong]

For the last week or so, I've been having vegetable soup every day. Half a cabbage, 30p; half a broccoli, 30p; half a celeriac, 55p; half a kohlrabi (German swede-type vegetable) 58p; 3 huge carrots, 30p; 2 huge onions 30p. Add 2 cloves of garlic 5p, salt and pepper, total £2.38.

Makes 12 servings. I always have slab of Parmesan on the go (never think about use by dates with Parmesan) and grate generously. Happy to eat it 30 days on the trot (note the singular!).

If anyone has any variations/tips, please go ahead.

Edit: I forgot the 2 parsnips!!!

I occasionally (tho not for a couple of years now) do a week's fast based on a Swiss fasting clinic routine - a broth based on pretty much the above is the mainstay for the week (I add some fennel seeds as that aniseed flavour adds constant interest for me).

[First day: eat only apples and drink only water and make broth; days 2 - 6, one cup of the broth plus unlimited water during the day and some diluted fruit juice, plus black tea with a small spoon of honey if desired; day 7, gentle return to solids (couple of ryvita with light cottage cheese; plus any broth remaining)... Really makes one feel amazing (you need a bit more sleep, and a bit of extra clothing to keep warm if it's not summer) and I lose the best part of a stone. And once I had the routine health check just after and was called back to re-do the cholesterol as all my values were below the minimum, they thought there was an error - during the fast, the body strips the blood of fats etc. Recommended.]

[Anna]

during the fast, the body strips the blood of fats etc. Recommended.]

And it has no impact on your concentration at work (or cycling) or do you take the week off?
(I've done the 2:5 fast but yours, frankly, sounds just like a variation of the cabbage soup diet!)
Also, I imagine boiling a broth containing cabbage and broccoli must stink the place out - not to mention it becoming very unpalateable.

[amateur51]

And it has no impact on your work (or cycling) or do you take the week off?
(I've done the 2:5 fast but yours, frankly, sounds just like a variation of the cabbage soup diet!)

Ooh she knows how to wound, that one

[Nick Armstrong]

And it has no impact on your concentration at work (or cycling) or do you take the week off?
(I've done the 2:5 fast but yours, frankly, sounds just like a variation of the cabbage soup diet!)
Also, I imagine boiling a broth containing cabbage and broccoli must stink the place out - not to mention it becoming very unpalateable.

Actually I'm not sure I use broccoli. A leaf of two of hispi gives an illusion of haute cuisine, however

Mine is a very light broth - just for the minerals, really.

And I find the fast has no effect on concentration. (The tricky thing, largely why I haven't done it for ages, is to find a week with no outings to restaurants or visitors etc...).

Nor - amazingly - do I feel hungry. I just get very very bored of it.

Consequently, the Ryvita and cottage cheese on day 7 taste ABSOLUTELY BLOODY AMAZING!

It's also very good mentally - one feels free of dependency on coffee, alcohol, or whatever (he said, sipping his third triple strength flat white of the day)