What are your 3 ‘go to’ family suppers?

thanks crystal

One thing I should have added - a staple of my mother's when she was broke, and a staple of mine, when I have a lot of veg to use up, is her 'dustbin soup' - i.e, made with whatever you have. Veg, red lentils, rice, pasta, suitable leftovers, you name it.

I have one simmering now. In it are two,potatoes, one carrot, one stick of celery, all chopped small, and one chopped onion and rasher of bacon, fried briefly before (cube) chicken stock and veg added.

Shall soon add a handful of orzo (rice shaped pasta) and lastly, for a very few minutes, the finely chopped ends of a) a Savoy cabbage, and b) a white cabbage.
Plus plenty of black pepper.
Will be served with lots of grated cheese.
Different every time.
Dh loves it!

Love this thread. It's given me some brilliant ideas as I've recently hit a brick wall for ideas.
Mine are: spag bol
Pie and oven chips
Roast dinner.

BBbevan I tried your cabbage carbonara dish last night, with a few modifications: I added one small red onion, finely sliced, and some chicken cut into strips which I fried with the bacon. I also added 2 minced garlic cloves, and about 1 tsp each of dried tarragon and fennel seeds. Finally I used a 'gurt big dollop' (as they say here in Devon ) of low fat creme fraiche instead of cream.
It was lush! Thank you

Roasted anything, but preferably beef
Shepherd's (cottage) pie
Any casserole in new electric pressure cooker!

Just wanted to say, I made Urmstongran's pork, apple & sage dish for tonight's dinner.
Delicious!
I served it with buttered cabbage and even Mr Scribbles, who can be quite hard to please, pronounced it "very good". Highly commended ?.

I just wondered how many posters on here were "leavers". Two out of three dishes on here were unheard of in the UK before 1973.

Chilli con carne
Chicken casserole
Pasta spirals in a tomato and basil sauce with chopped ham and grated smoked cheddar added.

What has that to do with anything polyester ?!
I was cooking all types of dishes before 1973.
British people going on holiday in the 1960’s opened up all kinds of new ideas.

PLEASE don’t hijack this thread polyester57 by making it anything to do with the ‘B’ word!

It’s been a lovely, friendly, lighthearted and informative topic until you posted.

There are plenty of political threads elsewhere.

polyester, one of my dishes is Chinese and I don't think China is in the EU.

Lots of people chose Chili con carne. I was cooking that in the early 70s and I'm not sure Mexico is in the EU either.

I was making coq an vin, beouf bourginon, French onion soup etc well before we joined the Common Market. I had even been to Italy and eaten spaghetti in 1970!

What a ridiculous post!

My phone strikes again - bourguignon!!

Urmstongran I made your pork dish tonight - well, slightly modified, because I was using leftover pork from Sunday's roast, so I didn't cook it for quite so long. Oh, and instead of plain water I dissolved a pork stock cube to add to it. It was delicious! Thank you for that - that will definitely go into my regular repertoire of using leftovers

Excellent Bathsheba!
How lovely you posted - thank you! I like your idea of the stock cube.
Our family always enjoy this meal. And I like making it because it’s dead easy!

Ragu.... (delias winter collection)
Roast chicken
cheddar cheese risotto (nigella express)

polyester, my list was:
Spaghetti Bolognaise
Risotto (no one recipe in particular)
Home made curry, (no one recipe in particular)

All these were part of my mother's repertoire in the 1950s. I think the first two recipes came from the Prestige Pressure cooker recipe book, as did Goulasch, another family favourite. The curry dates from when we lived in the Far East during the 1950s, which I suppose means it doesn't really count.

Turkey dinner with steamed vegetables, roast potatoes/vegetables and stuffing.

Salmon with peas, new potatoes or jacket big bowl of salad (lettuce/cucumber/Tom/onion/celery/apple sprinkle of wine vinegar).

Fish pie with steamed vegetables

For the last week DH and I have both been down with a respiratory bug. Meal preparation has been very low on my activity list, in fact any activity has been low on my activity list. Inactivity has been the order of the day. All three dishes I listed above have featured on the menu this week. They are familiar, comforting and frozen in portions in the freezer.

Spaghetti Bolognese
Meat balls in mustard Sauce +Reis
Fried pork filet slices and German potato salad

Thanks everyone for all your meal ideas! I’ve really enjoyed reading every one of these. I just wish I could pull up a chair at some of your tables. ? ??
I’ve got some great meals written down now. ?

Casserole either beef or lamb
Spaghetti Bolognaise
Baked salmon with rice and veg