Eking out the food

You can freeze milk.

I've got too much milk at the moment so thought I'd make a rice pudding. Can I make one with arboreo [sp] rice or long grain rice [I don't have any pudding rice]? The recipes I've seen say to use vanilla but I don't have any. I do have cinnamon and dried fruit.

I found a tin of not quite out of date Marvel in the cupboard bought for bread making but never opened.

It should make 15 pints of skimmed milk, insipid but better than nothing!

Oh yes, MamaCaz!!

Alishka We already had weights ranging from 1kg up to 5kg, which I use for weighted cardio, so we were looking for 10 through to 20kg. Everywhere is completely sold out so we mustn’t have been the only ones!

I lift quite heavy weights at the gym as part of the fat loss regime I’ve been following so, instead, I’m using the weights we have but far more reps until I can’t do any more.

Thank you for replying; it’s really appreciated x

A while back, I bought a jar of Thai Green Curry Sauce, something we had never tried before. Last night, I decided we would try it, using up lots of veg and a tiny bit of chicken.

It was nice, though very fiery.
This morning I discovered that it burns you twice - once when you eat it, obviously, but then again when you .... (I will let you use your own imagination for the latter)

I swear by handfuls of red lentils to stretch mince, they're unnoticeable when cooked through. I really love Jack Monroe's first book, A Girl Called Jack, and have made many of its recipes again and again, but I'm not impressed by any of her later books. All her recipes are on her website too.

The water (or aquafaba) from tins of beans and chickpeas can be used instead of beaten eggs in cake and brownie mixes, eggy bread and even mayonnaise. Whip it up just like egg white. If you're short of eggs, and opening a tin of beans anyway (in water, of course, not tomato sauce!!), this website has some really good ideas and you don't need a vegan in the family to enjoy them

www.vegansociety.com/whats-new/blog/20-amazing-things-you-can-do-aquafaba

Fran can you substitute cans for dumbbell weights?

I'm enjoying myself in the kitchen......a spicy bean thingy, soaked overnight then cooked up a load of different beans and green lentils in a tomato puree chilli, served with a revived soda bread and rice. A Bolognese made with dried soya mince, and lentils (hubby asked if it was lamb mince), tired veg soup, then made in to a main meal by adding a little chorizo and smoked sausage. Mixed fruit crumbles used up the tired fruit.

That sounds yummy leeves den

I found a bag of gram flour in the cupboard, still in date. I've used some before to make dumplings - part of a Madhur Jaffrey curry recipe. I'll Google to find more recipes. I looked out all my dried fruit, and made a couple of light fruit cakes.

Addendum: you dear ladies gave me motivation to look more closely at wartime deprivation experience by a nation. Just ordered a book called Wartime Cooking by Patten. I don't know how many facts I will actually use, but the research will help break the tedium.

BbarbB's post was so uplifting. Maybe you could post some of the wartime cooking hints in the event we need them. Thank you.

It seems to be pretty much back to normal up here as my husband went to get various things for three different households plus ours. He managed to get gluten free bread for the coeliac plus tinned tomatoes, butternut squash and bananas for a neighbour.

I always use all the vegetables up in soups etc once they’re past their best and freeze leftovers; not that there’s ever much left!

I hope everything settles back down across the rest of the country and you all manage to get what you need.

The only thing we’ve struggled with is getting dumbbell weights for working out at home now that the gyms are closed

Re ekeing out mince/bolognese sauce (assuming you can find any mince!) I’ve been adding a good handful of red lentils for ages. They disintegrate completely, so anyone who’s going to care will never even notice.

I usually add some finely chopped carrots, celery and mushrooms, too, but those are something of a luxury at the moment! Though having said that, I did find some very limited fruit and veg in 2 local Coops today. At my first stop however, a small Sainsbury’s, the F and V shelves were stripped completely bare.
1st Coop was restricting all items to one per person, very sensible.

I needed the sugar then and there, LynneH, but thanks for the tip for what’s left in the packet..

I haven’t found there is any shortage of food. I haven’t done a big shop. Perhaps it’s as a vegan my stuff is always there. I quickly learnt to avoid the big supermarkets and never in the mornings some late pop ins to waitrose in the late afternoons after dog walk means I have got what I fancy for the day. Oatley milk freshly baked seeded sourdough and cranks whole meal frozen liver for the dogs dried pulses to soak overnight for me and the dogs, the days bargains, yesterday it was aubergine and halloumi stew with bulgar wheat. Nowhere near eking out yet. Though there is just one human... and loving food the larder and freezer was always full and still is...but I enjoyed the good read

What are eggs?
Milk?

A change of plan for tonight's meal now, so that I can use the broccoli leaves: Homemade bean burgers (made last week then frozen) served with broccoli leaf, carrot and onion slaw.

@*CBBL*You've just reminded me of a recipe my Mum used to make during WW2. Based on using dried up bread.
Crumble up the bread and soak it in hot milk.
Add grated cheese, finely chopped onion, tinned tuna, tinned corn etc. And eggs if you can get them.
Put into a greased casserole dish and bake in a hot oven until risen and browned.
Serve with salad veg.
I still make this sometimes, but it's a bit heavy. I suppose it's a savoury variation of sweet bread pudding.

I had soup for breakfast yesterday because I needed to make some more soup, so as not to waste any veg

Seefah. I love the sound of your sausages, and cannot wait to make some! Thanks.

I was just thinking same granmanat trench Cakesounds good jang .we have had beef stew two days and then there was a bit left so I blitzed it and made soup need a change tomorrow .!!

Are a lot of people now making bread because of the CV19 crisis? DH makes all our bread, but we were surprised to find that there is no bread flour available locally - the supermarket shelves are bare! Like other GNs here, I was bought up on "frugality" after the war. (We always had enough to eat and there were treats like home-baked cake, but we were very conscious of a "make do" and "waste nothing" approach.) Nowadays our household rarely wastes a bit of food.

Dear GN contributors,

I have thoroughly enjoyed nearly all the threads and I think you're all remarkable, resourceful and inventive. It is good to 'associate' with positive people who are helpful, encouraging, and who like to share.

Stay well, stay healthy and continue to be positive
granmanat