Ideas for Summer food that don't cost a lot

 

Rice crust quiche, carrot sticks, yellow peppers, spring onions, seafood sticks and home made hummus with crisps

In tomorrow's Foodie Friday video I'm talking about the cost of foods we eat in the warmer months.  A viewer asked if I thought it was more expensive to eat in the Summer as you can't do as much batch cooking and freezing.  So I gave it some thought and came up with some ideas using similar ingredients I'd use in Winter but prepping them for a picky plate or salad plate.  They last several days in the fridge so you could make a big enough batch to make several meals.  Each meal could be different depending on what you fancy!

Vegetables:

I buy carrots, onions, potatoes, cabbage and peppers all year round.  In Winter I'd cook them into meals etc but in the Summer I use them differently.  You could make various coleslaw dishes and potato salad.

Carrot, apple and onions in apple cider vinegar with mayo

Potato salad made with finely chopped onion, potatoes, mayo and chives

Meat and fish:

I tend to eat less meat in the warmer months sticking to chicken (which can be eaten cold) and the odd sausage.  But I do eat more things like canned tuna and seafood sticks.  Someone suggested batch cooking sausages and home made burgers on the BBQ (or in the oven) and freezing them so you'd have access to making a quick BBQ style meal.  

Eggs:

You can keep boiled eggs in the fridge for a few days so I do batch cook these for egg mayo.  You can also make quiches with or without a crust.  They keep well for a few days.  In the video I'm making a rice crust quiche.

It's featured in several picky bits type meals this week!

Other things to make using standard fridge and storecupboard ingredients could be tuna pasta salad, rice salad, couscous and hummus.  All fairly cheap and nutritious.

You could add pickles like beetroot, onions or olives.

You could serve bread and butter, cheese scones or oatcakes to fill tummies.  I make all these from scratch inexpensively.

And finally, some fruits work well with savoury things.  For example apples, grapes, oranges and pineapple.

So, does Summer food cost more than Winter foods?  As long as you're careful with what ingredients you use and how you use them I think it's about the same.  What do you think?

Easy microwave sponge pudding

 

Even though the sun is shining brightly today, I felt the need for a comfort pudding.  And what's better than a sponge pudding made in the microwave in 5 minutes? 

I didn't have any jam so I opened a jar of mincemeat from the storecupboard I got reduced in January to 26p!!

Ingredients:

• 120g unsalted butter or spread
• 120g sugar (caster is best but granulated worked)
• 120g self raising flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• about 150g jam or mincemeat

Method:

Grease a 2 pint/1 litre pudding bowl with some butter.

Put jam/mincemeat in the base.

Beat butter and sugar together until fluffy in mixer.

Keep the mixer running and add beaten eggs and vanilla a bit at time with a spoonful of flour to prevent curdling.

Fold in remaining flour and mix well.

Pour mixture over jam/mincemeat and smooth the top.

Cook in microwave on full power for 5 mins. Leave to stand for 1 minute.  Check sponge is cooked in the middle.

Serve with cream, custard or ice cream.  It's that simple and very yummy!!

Eating from the storecupboard: Sunday lunch

 

I'm still eating from the storecupboard/fridge/freezer and using up 'stuff' that's in there.  Today I made a Sunday lunch with a chopped up baked potato fried in the wok, some cooked chicken, cauliflower and cheese sauce from the freezer and the last of the gravy granules from the storecupboard.  Ok the gravy was lamb based but gravy is gravy!!  The cauliflower was the end of a bag of frozen cauliflower and broccoli so there were a few wee bits of the green stuff in there too.  I can't even remember when I made the cheese sauce, I didn't date it.  Pity I didn't have any Yorkshire puddings or it would have been the perfect meal.

I have to say it was absolutely delicious and made in 10 mins!! 😋

Eating from the storecupboard: lamb burger hash

 

In my continuing effort to feed myself from the storecupboard/fridge/freezer, today's meal was using up the lamb burgers I got free from the community waste shop ages ago and some cooked potatoes.  A hash seemed a good idea!  The above quantities made 2 main meals.

I broke up one of the burgers into rough pieces and put them in my wok.  I use my wok for just about everything, not just stir fries!  No oil needed as they produced their own fat!

Once they were nicely browned/carmelised I added the chopped potatoes.  I fried them until they were browned too.

I tossed in some steamed broccoli and the hash was done.  It was really good.  I'd never buy burgers but they were free to me.  And as they were M&S ones they were a good quality.  I'm not keen on a burger in a roll so this was a good way to use them up.

I believe a hash usually has a potato and onion base but I used my last onion to make a soup.  I eat a lot of these style of meals as it's all done in one pot, or wok in this case! 😋

Eating from the storecupboard: chicken curry

 

Today I made a very simple chicken curry using the yellow sticker chicken my DIL got me.  I chopped the 2 small breasts into chunks and sprinkled some garlic granules, mixed herbs and a pinch of salt over them.  This amount of chicken will feed me for 3 meals.

I sautéed them in a little oil for a few minutes until just cooked then removed them from the pan.

I mixed 3 tsp of garam masala, 1 tsp each coriander, cumin and turmeric plus 1/2 tsp of chilli flakes.

I fried the spices (carefully to avoid burning) in 1 tsp oil in the same pan.

I added my last portion of tomato and veg sauce from the freezer and about a cup of water.  I simmered it for about 10 mins.

I added back a third of the cooked chicken and simmered until piping hot.  It wasn't too spicy so I only added a little of the coconut cream my DIL also got me.

I served it with one of the naans/flatbread I made at the weekend.  It was really good and so quick to make!  I've now got an opened carton of coconut cream to use up in the next few days! 

Eating from the storecupboard: baked bean chilli

 

I had half a tin of Heinz baked beans in the fridge.  They had been there 2 days as I had the other half with my cheesy baked potatoes.  I pulled a portion of tomato and veg sauce from the freezer.  It has tomatoes, onions, 3 types of peppers and grated carrot so is packed with veggies.

I put a teaspoon of oil plus 2 teaspoons of my fajita spice mix in a hot pan and gently fried off the spices for 1 min (or until they smell amazing!)

I added the tomato sauce and let it all sizzle for 1 min then added some water to loosen it.

I let it simmer for 10 mins while I cooked some rice.

Then I added the baked beans and stirred it all together until piping hot.

I served it with plain boiled rice.  It was honestly the best bean chilli I've ever made!!  You could add more chilli flakes to the spice mixture if you like it hotter 🌶 but I find my fajita spice mix is spicy enough for me.  That's the beauty of mixing it yourself 😋

And there's a second portion in the fridge for tomorrow!

Eating from the storecupboard: flatbreads

 

Since Luna hasn't been well with the respiratory infection I've been avoiding giving her a frozen yoghurt treat (dairy isn't good for mucus!) so I had a lot of yoghurt that was a bit touch and go.  Tasted ok so I used it to make flatbreads with 300g yoghurt, 350g plain flour plus a bit extra and 2 tsp of baking powder.  You could just use SR flour without the baking powder.

I just mixed it and kneaded it lightly for about 2 mins.  I divided it into 6 balls and patted it out into a naan bread shape. I don't have a rolling pin atm!

I put a teeny bit of oil into a hot wok and cooked it for a few minutes on each side.

After cooling on the rack I froze them.  I can use them as a pizza base or serve with a curry or chilli.

After making them I watched a YouTube video by Chetna (of Bake Off fame) make naans in a similar way but she used much less yoghurt and added water until she got the right consistency of dough.  Def much more frugal than equal quantities but I just needed to use up all my yoghurt asap.

CLICK HERE for her easy naan recipe 😋