Venturing into vegan meals

 

How tasty does this look?!

On Friday, I organised for my friends Blair and Manda to come over for homemade burgers. The plan was to make them using lentils but we couldn't find out if we had to soak the lentils in water or not so instead we popped to Asda and bought their Meat Free Chargrill style burger mix and some bits to go with it (Blair brough quite a bit of prep items as well)

 

I'd never tried sweet potato so I was rather excited when I saw them (there were 3 but for some reason I only photographed the one with the mix) I'm doing rather well with trying new foods I think and finding that I like a lot of them as well!

 

The burger mix was quite easy to make, you simply pour it into a bowl, add some water and let it sit for ten minutes. Shape into patties then shallow fry or grill, we went with shallow fry. Not the healthiest option I know but I have a 1 cal spray for cooking, I no longer use actual oil.

 

After the mix had sat for the ten minutes, Manda (shown above) added in chopped onions and sweet green peppers. I just went for the peppers in mine as I don't like onions (unless its in coleslaw?)

 

The packet said we would get 6 burgers out of it but we made 5 and there was still loads left so I suppose it just depends on how big you want your burgers.

 

We halved the large sweet potato from above and made wedges that you can see below and also sweet potato fritters, I didn't get a photo of them on the tray but you can see them above in the finished meal picture.

 

So I really enjoyed this meal, it was delicious. There was just one, kind of major downfall, I think I'm allergic to peppers. After the meal I felt really strange, itchy all over, severely nauseous and just plain horrible. Blair and Manda felt fine so I knew it couldn't have been food poisoning or anything like that. After they left I was then sick for the next 30 odd minutes till I wasn't actually throwing up anything and just felt so weak!

I felt so bad as I was supposed to be getting the girls on Saturday for the night but when I woke up I just felt so horrible that I relaxed most of the day. Managed to get to town for a quick job interview, a wee comfort lunch then back home.

 

Popchips are amazing by the way! First time I'd ever tried them and I loved them. The Shapers water/juice was really tasty and make me feel a bit more alert and the sushi, well I love sushi so it was fab! There was one wee bit of red pepper in one of the sushi rolls which I whipped out and threw away in disgust.

Not counting the horrible reaction, it was a great meal and I will take away the positives as my first vegan meal. I'm going to make the burgers again but just have them plain, nothing mixed in with them unless it's flavouring and I'll let you know how I get on with that!

Have you tried Asda's Meat Free range? What are your favourite vegetarian meals?

I'm off to see Mick Foley tonight (for the 4th time!) so there will be a post up about that soon, hopefully I get some good pictures!

New scales!

Kitchen scales that is. My manual ones broke and so I moaned at Louis till he bought me new digital ones (he got Nectar points so it was a win win!)

 

Not really much I can say about these really, they are digital scales. Stick a bowl on, turn it on and weight what you need to! However there is one major positive to these scales, which I didn't even realise until we got home, you can weigh things in fl oz and ml as well.

I don't know if this is standard for digital scales but I was more than pleased! Especially considering the scales cost less then £10.

I use them pretty much every day now and they are helping me stay more on track with my food as I'm no longer guessing what I'm eating, I know!

Eating healthy on a budget

I'm so sick of people saying you can't eat healthy on a budget. Yes you can! You just have to know how to shop! One of my favourites (and if you follow me on twitter, you'll have seen a few tweets before) is the reduced to clear section.

I tend to do food shopping on a Sunday evening with my fabby pal Mary-Jane (I'll be doing a post on her soon, so keep your eyes peeled!). We head for the reduced bread, reduced fruit and veg, reduced fridge, back through the fruit and veg, fridges, aisles, quick look through makeup, haircare etc  and that takes us back to the front of the shop where we hit the reduced sections one last time before heading to the tills. We can sometimes pick up things we've picked up earlier for even cheaper.
Sure it takes a while but if it's saving me money then I'm up for it!

On our last trip I had £10 to spend. Sure it doesn't seem like much but wait till you see what I got!

All the Kingsmill loaves cost me 8p (£1.35) each as well as the harvester and cheese rolls (70p). The crispbreads were 68p, one of the full price things I bought.

Next we have baked potatos (80 odd pence for both), a double bag of shredded iceberg lettuce for 33p (£1), 30% less fat lemon and coriander houmous for 11p (£1), sugarsnap peas for 9p (£1), reduced fat smoked sausage for £1, a portion of lemon sole for 75p (don't know how much I got but it's usually £14.97 per kilo), scottish whiting for 34p (can't find the price), cucumber 50p, carrot and coriander soup mix for 9p (85p)

Savoury snack selection (I'll be doing a wee post on this soon) £1, cheese and broccoli pasta and sauce 35p, 1kg of mustard mash for 24p (Asda Extra Special as well, it was delish! £2.50), strawberry flavoured milk 50p (I am a princess, £1.20 each!), some naughty cookies for 5p!(can't find the price), a peanut bar for 26p that I did not enjoy at all :/ and some treats for my degus for 50p 

Vinegar 21p, mild curry sauce 20p, bolognese sauce 39p (I will learn to make my own sauces one day!), tin of vegetable soup 24p (this is a bit of a back up in case I get bored of or eat all the soup I'm going to make with the carrot and coriander mix), tuna chunks 64p

All in all I'd say this was a good shop! For £10.18 (I owe Mary-Jane18p) I got £22.17 worth of food ( a little bit more than that actually if you add the fish and other things I couldn't price!). I'd say that's not bad indeed! Half off just by looking in the reduced to clear sections. 

Sure there were some 'naughty foods' in there but overall it was quite healthy. And so my point is proved, you can eat healthy on a budget. You just have to know where to look!

Waste not, want not.

I'm first to admit that I can be quite bad at storing food and getting the most out of it but here are just a few tips that could save your food a bit longer and save you some money!


Bread - Store bread in a cupboard. Once opened, fold the wrapper under the loaf or re-tie to keep it airtight.






Potatoes - Remove from their plastic bag as this tends to make them 'sweat'. Instead, store them in a cool, dark place. Now this one I didn't know!

Tomatoes - For optimum taste, tomatoes should be stored and served at room temperature rather than in the fridge.







Fruit - Ripe fruit will last longer in the fridge, except bananas and pineapples - keep them in the fruit bowl.







Meat and fish - Cooked meat and fish will keep in the fridge for up to three days - (cool and leave no longer than 90 minutes, then wrap it well). Raw and cooked meat should be kept separate at all times. Store raw meat in a sealed container on the bottom shelf of the fridge so it can't touch or drip onto other food.





Using your freezer can also save you lots of time and money! You can freeze leftovers, stored reduced to clear foods or multibuys on breads, meats, etc.

• Make a chicken stock - Once you've used your meat, simmer the carcass in water with some celery, carrots, onion and herbs for 2-3 hours to make a stock. Measure into pint portions and freeze so you'll have a tasty base for soups, risottos and stews. If you don't have time to make the stock immediately, freeze the bones so you can do it later.

• Divide meat portions - Buying larger quantities of meat and fish can often work out cheaper. Simply divide up the packs into smaller portions and freeze. If you defrost raw meat and cook it thoroughly, you can freeze it again. Always defrost meat properly before cooking. Look out for offers in stores on selected packs for even more savings.

• Bread winners - You can blitz crusts and slices into breadcrumbs and freeze to use in stuffings or to make a crispy coating for strips of chicken or fish - dip in beaten egg, breadcrumbs, then bake or fry. Alternatively, you can use breadcrumbs for home-made meatballs or burgers - they act as a good binder for meat. They're also great for adding to the top of lasagne or cauliflower cheese. And it's always handy to keep a sliced loaf in the freezer. Pop a frozen slice into the toaster - it just takes a little longer to toast.

• Freeze fruit - Keep some frozen fruit in your freezer so that you can make a healthy drink at anytime. Frtui such as raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and kiwi fruit are ideal for smoothies and juices. Slice or cut larger fruits into chinks before freezing. Kick start your day by whizzing mango or summer berries with 300ml fruit juice in a liquidiser - apple juice works well!

What's in my fridge?

So I've shown my cupboards, now it's my fridges turn! 

So from top to bottom we have, Utterly Butterly that's been there for god knows how long now! Louis uses it more than I do. Fromage frais, these actually sat in the fridge for so long that I had to use them in a smoothie a few days ago as they had reached their use by date. The jam is Louis', I'm not a fan really, if I do ever have any, it has to be bitless. I hate bits! In jam, orange juice, yuck and no thank you! Soft cheese, you are my friend and I love you. Egg mayo, I also love you but you are quite naughty, I should maybe learn how to make my own one day! And the final item on my top shelf has become a staple now, wafer thin ham. 

Next shelf we have tinned new potatoes, I've started buying these more and mashing them, very tasty! The garlic bread was Louis' but he didn't eat it for so long so I did. Naughty but it was so tasty! Next to that we have some chicken goujons, I got these because they were reduced to clear, I think they cost about 40 odd pence, if that. Cottage cheese is a new addition to my fridge this year, I'd never tried it before and was very wary but after I did try it, well I bloody loved it! I got some Actimel as they were also reduced to clear and I'd never had them before, wanted to see if they were worth the hype. (Don't think they are really so I won't be buying them full price again)

Bottom shelf - the irn bru is Louis, let's get that out the way now! Then we have baby leaf salad bag, two broccolis, cauliflower and lettuce. In my vegetable drawer there is another bag of baby leaf salad, carrots, soup mix (which I forgot about and had to throw out!) and cucumber. I love my vegetables! My fridge is quite often stocked with veg these days and I love it! 

Condiments and liquids! Nothing exciting really. I bought balsamic dressing for the first time and it's amazing! Extra light mayo (I can't actually eat full fat mayo anymore, it makes me feel sick!) There's also been an addition of french dressing to the door of the fridge, it was reduced to clear to 50p so I thought I'd give it a go! (Are you seeing a habit here, I like reduced to clear foodstuffs. Especially if it's freezeable or vegetables. No point paying full price if you can get it for cheaper. I'm not tight, I'm thrifty!)

I have a really bad habit of buying milk and forgetting about it so I now buy UHT milk in the cartons. I can keep it in the cupboard till I want to open it and it last a bit longer than normal milk. I only ever have it with stuff never on it's own so I don't need to worry about it tasting different or anything.

My fridge isn't as exciting as my cupboards :(

What's in your fridge?

What's in my cupboards

So today I thought I would give you a slight tour of my kitchen, starting with today's post, we shall delve into my cupboards! Louis has his own cupboard that he puts his food in. Stops me feeling tempted as he has much more naughty food than I do! I don't deny myself all the time but I also don't like looking at it all the time so this way works out. If I do ever want a packet of crisps I just jump into his cupboard then scuttle off.

So, onto my food...

This is my main food cupboard. The top shelf is packed with pasta! I didn't pay for most of it either. My best friend's mum got me a food hamper for Christmas and in that was 2 packets of pasta (the green ones) and a packet of spaghetti. I also got sent a 2kg box of pasta sent to me, yet I have no idea why! I didn't ask for it, didn't win it, but the label had my name on it so I kept it! There's also the last bit of a massive bag of pasta I bought from Tesco about a year or two ago! It just got finished tonight! The rest of the top shelf is my extra sugar, teabags, coffee etc

Next shelf is couscous, rice, cooking sauces, pasta n sauces (another hamper gift but not too keen on the flavours)  noodles, beetroot (that I've still not tried) and my meal tins. Beans, tuna, soups etc

Bottom shelf is stock cubes, salt, jerk sauce (wee freebie!) cup-a-soups, pasta n sauce (the one flavour I like) and plenty custard, rice pudding and tinned fruits!

Overall I'd say it's a reasonably healthy cupboard.

This is my breakfast and snacks cupboard. Top shelf we have porridge oats, one last tortilla, strawberry crisp cereal, special flakes (Tesco's Special K?) and malt wheaties.

Next shelf is my slightly naughty shelf, there are some maltesers up the back, you can see the red packet there and a little plastic ferrero rocher tub that has some little sweeties in it. I've shown mega restraint though, those maltesers have been there since my birthday in November and the small sweeties have been there since Christmas! Next to that are my cinema mints and some Asian White Rabbit sweets. Hidden behind the orange mould are my jars of chocolate and caramel spread, honey roast peanut butter and smooth peanut butter. The big blue jar are my multivitamins.

Bottom shelf are my good snacks. Banana chips, bombay mix (well they are a bit naughty), my oatcakes, almond flakes, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, my Ryvita crackerbread that I posted about here, my wee Ricola sweets that I have one of before bed if I feel the need for something sweet and my Disney bag up the back that I need to remember to take shopping with me as it's deceptively huge!

I need to have a wee organise day and sort out these cupboards properly! Have like minded items together and the such. I can definitely tell I'm ill as I want to organise!

The next update on the tour of my kitchen will be my fridge so look out for that post!

What's in your cupboards?