With food prices escalating fast, we’re all looking for ways to keep the bills down.
First up, of course, is not to buy expensive food, then throw it away. It’s nothing new: throughout the centuries, recipes have evolved to use up leftowers from one meal in making the next. And many have become traditional favourites.
Think: what is quiche if not a way of turning a few scraps of ham into a tasty and filling meal? You can put almost anything into a quiche: the pastry and eggs make it filling and nutritious, the other bits are there to add flavour and interest.
Meat and vegetable pie?
Fishcakes?
Other traditional favourites are a way of stretching meat – always the most expensive ingredient – to feed more people. Think dumplings, pies, Yorkshire puddings, stews with pearl barley and beans…..
Root vegetables are cheap and will bulk up a casserole. A base of onion, carrot, swede, potato and pearl barley makes a filling mix that only needs a little meat to flavour it. Add herbs and a stock cube, cook it long and slow, and it will be delicious.