Something from "nothing"

We had guests for lunch the other day, and luckily there was enough left to re-heat for the next day, even some pud left as well, so although it wasn't a meal from nothing, it did feel like it!

MicEelf a variation I do is chopped root veg, a small tin of baked beans and a small teaspoon of marmite. Put in a casserole and after about an hour rollout suet crust pastry, or make dumplings adding a little parmesan to the mix. for a savoury 'bite' to it.

Make baked bean pie. Fry onion and streaky bacon( smoked) add tin baked beans. Put in dish top with mashed potato and sprinkle cheese on top. Lovely.

Riverwalk I am intrigued! The "Parmesan & spinach pudding" recipe says use Kosher salt! I cannot imagine why its Kosher salt given that the rest of the dish contains a pork product and Jews should not mix dairy and meat products let alone eat pork. Is Kosher salt any different to ordinary salt?

I have solved the Kosher salt mystery. Thanks to Wikipedia. It is an American term for what we would call a large grained salt! Nothing to do with Kosher as in terms of Jewish food rules. You can learn something new every day.

Couscous or bulgar wheat are good for bulking up a meal if you've run out of potatoes.

One of my cheapest meals is a stir-fry.

For the two of us, one chicken breast provides enough meat, and most of the veg are out of my garden, so even allowing for the veg I can't/don't grow (peppers), herbs/spices and some cous cous or noodles, we have a huge plateful each for under £2.

If there is only a small amount of meat left over from a roast (or day 3 after a roast), I often use that instead of the chicken.

My mum's favourite stand-by or cheap meal is Corned Beef Shepherds Pie.
Corned beef isn't as cheap as it used to be, but a full tin makes a big enough pie for two days so it is still very economical.

She also does a mixture of corned beef, onions, mushrooms and tinned tomatoes that she serves with rice.

MamaCaz,I might try that corned beef shepherds pie sounds yummy!

MamaCaz - I use canned corn beef to make a corn beef, onion and potato pie, cover it with some pastry, in the oven and eat it with some vegetables whilst watching Man United get beaten again. It's our favourite football food

I haven't had corned beef shepherds pie since my Mother made it [about 1967] it was great! I loved it. So why have I never made it?Errrrr...... don't know exactly HOW to make it! Please tell?

I'm rapidly running out of the "nothing" to make "something" with

roses I should imagine it consists of making a "hash" of corned beef, onion and tomato, maybe add a tin of bakes beans and then top it with some mashed potato. My mother used to make something similar and she called it "Cowboy Food".

Phoenix .

Yes, I'd forgotten that, cowboy food. It's interesting how many of us can cook from the fridge bottom, and come up with a tasty, nutritious meal for not much. For children who don't grow up with parents who cook, we really need proper 'cooking' lessons in schools.

When I make corned beef shepherds pie I just fry the corned beef with onion,add an oxo cube and then layer it with mashed potato instead of just topping it,the savoury taste then goes through the bottom layer. Cheese on top makes a substantial meal with veg.

MamaCaz,did she drain the tomatoes or was the moisture needed?

Fried up some wedged carrots and parsnips this evening. Chucked in a small tin of tuna and a couple of chopped hard-boiled eggs. Threw in some noodles. Sprinkled soy sauce and toasted sesame seed oil. Twas good.

#What's in the larder/end of the week meals.

we ought to have a 'pot luck' party by taking our favorite food to freeze and cook over to Pheonix's house. BYOB or whatever and cheer her up! I wouldn't mind seeing Devon besides...people are dying with the flu over here 11 already in my area of Tn.

That's a lovely idea, envious

Shocking about the flu deaths!

Bags that sounds tasty.

Mamacaz one of our cheapie meals is whatever chicken is left over from a roast (often not much) and husband makes Chicken Arrabiata on penne. Yumyum.

Another one of my conjured up meals is to pick every last scrap of chicken off a carcass and making a "fruity curry" by frying up in the curry powder onion and a cooking apple and anything else I can lay my hands on fresh veg-wise, must have a couple of tomatoes in, then chucking in the chicken scraps and adding a tin of butter beans when it has all got going, or some other beans. When I make this, I add a good dollop of chutney to the dish as it cooks. Delish.

Enviousamerican: No, my mum didn't drain the tomatoes, because the juice added the ''gravy' to the mushroom/onion mix that was then served with rice.

She made the shepherds pie as Annsixty mentions: with onion and oxo (adding water too to make it moist - in fact, I personally used to use quite a lot of water then thicken with flour too! However, unlike Annsixty, my mum didn't layer the potato and meat, though that does sound like a great idea!

Lam64: I often used to make corned beef, onion and potato pie myself, back in the days when corned beef was way cheaper than the tinned stewed steak that my mum and grandma always used for meat and potato pie. Actually, I haven't had that for years - it might go on next week's menu

Grannyknot: doesn't it just make you want to cry when you see people throwing away a chicken carcass that still has lots of usable meat left on it?
I can still remember visiting my late mother in law many years ago and secretly stripping off as much meat as I could from a chicken that she was about to throw in the bin. There was enough to feed myself, DH and our two young sons for at least two days, What can I say - times were hard!
Fortunately, things are currently not that hard, but old habits die hard, and I absolutely hate to see waste, although it's possible that my mixed heritage (Yorkshire / Scottish) has something to do with that

mama it sure does, and what upsets me even more ... the other day I was in Lidl when it was about to close and overheard the staff discussing how hard it is for them to throw away food that had not been sold by the 'Sell by' date. Something really needs to be done about that. The shelf stacker who was saying how sorry he was, had an armful of what looked liked perfectly good chicken kievs.

It's just plain wrong for the supermarkets to be throwing food away on the one hand, and on the other there are food banks proliferating.

Left over chicken
Shred mix with cottage cheese, tinned (or fresh) asparagus, apple that has been cored, diced and put in lemon juice. Mix in a bit of mayonnaise and serve on a bed of fresh lettuce.

Thank you annsixty for answering my question 'how to make the corned beef hash.'Sounds so tasty I will make it tomorrow night.