Pasta on the cheap

Pasta.  Most everyone loves it, from linguini alla vongole, farfalle, apple and walnut salad, to a good old spaghetti bolognese.  As a student, I picked up a 3kg bag of conchiglie for a few quid which lasted me three terms, plus a good few months into my first job.  Buy in bulk if you can and buy what's cheapest no matter what kind or shape. I've found wholemeal tends to be a bit cheaper and is better for you.

So without further ado, what did I find for the SupermarketValue Treatment® ?

Buon appetito

You'll notice this pasta isn't from my usual source of reduced items where "every little helps"  This find was from my local mini-market whose logo happens to be a tree in a circle.  Just to prove I'm not biased for or against any one supermarket.  Plus, obviously, it was reduced!

Cheap garlic, as we'll see, is not to be taken lightly.  I ended up planting one of the more sprouty-looking bulbs and it's coming along nicely.  The other bulb was split in half and pickled.  You could also use it to make flavored oils as well.

4 servings of fresh pasta for €1.25

Discount garlic.  Beware those little green shoots!

I'm going to keep this very simple, as I think the best thing to do to pasta is just that.

Tagliatelli all' oglio e olio.  (Noodles with garlic and oil)

Remove any green shoots from about 2-3 cloves of the garlic by cutting it in half and picking it out of the middle, as from bitter experience (literally) they don't taste good.  Chop finely and fry until soft in a few tablespoons of good olive oil. 
 Boil the tagliatelli for the requisite time, and drain.

Add the fried garlic and the oil to the pasta and toss.  Season with salt and pepper.  

That's it.

I got four servings out of this packet so some other budget pasta recipes I like and ate (other than spag. bol)

• Salt, pepper, butter, lemon.  Simple and fast.  I just ate it for lunch as I type this, 5 minutes from pan to plate.  Very tasty.
• Sliced sausage and tinned tomato & chilli sauce (see previous post) makes a nice warming arrabiata supper. 
• Tinned tuna, capers and cream.  Sweetcorn's cheaper than capers and also works

Other good budget pasta recipes to make are here , and here but my favourite cheap table-filler is pasta bake for using up leftover pasta.  A tin of value-grade chicken soup can be used as the base for a sauce of course.  Hmm... I've given myself an idea for a future post  (note to self, buy cheap chicken soup and value grade lasagne...)

Spanish Omelette on a package tour budget

Happy belated Easter!
Eggs are a cheap and versatile food, so they're ideal for budget cooking.  
  But  I don't need to tell you what sort of conditions battery hens endure.  This guy has already done that.  They also taste , well, not worth it.  So budget eggs are one budget ingredient I can't in good conscience use.

However... it's sometimes who you know, not what, saves money...


Spanish omelette, or Tortilla Espanola, is typically a thick cake consisting of eggs and potatoes.  You can buy this for around €3.99.  Hardly budget, and the one I tried from the supermarket was nothing like the ones I've had in Málaga.  So here's my attempt, with a nod to CB*

Ingredients

• Eggs - A friend of mine who keeps chickens gave me half a dozen free range eggs FREE!  I promised him some of my herbs and broad beans when they ripen (one of my other hobbies is growing my own window-box herbs and plants, but that's another story...) 

• Potatoes - One tin, about 567g -  €0.59 - This was the "supermarket" ingredient today.
• Onion - 1 large , finely chopped.  
• Garlic - two cloves, smashed with salt and roughly chopped.  
• Chilli powder, 1 pinch - paprika or pimentón is better, but this is what was in the pantry so...
• Chorizo - I got a small one from my local deli for about €0.80, and only used half.  The other half will be used later.  This is in contrast to the ones that cost about €3.99 from the supermarket.  So I call that a budget win.  Cheap sausage also works if you add more garlic and chilli.
• 1/3 a bird-eye chilli for colour and a liiiittle heat...  no more than that.  You could use scallions (spring onions) as well / instead.

Lastly the secret ingredient:

Turmeric.  This little root tastes oh so slightly bitter, but is creamy, with a subtle flavour.  It'llstain your fingers bright yellow when you chop it, or handle it in food, mind.  As CB* never said, but it's the sort of thing she would have said. you eat with your eyes as well as your mouth.  This helps both the presentation, and the flavour.  

 - Normally €1.39 from the supermarket, this was free(!) from my friendly neighbourhood greengrocer, where I like to shop, when I'm not testing out ready meals to improve... 

Method

Dead easy:  

•  Chop the onions and garlic finely, add lots of oil to a pan and sweat them off with a little salt and pepper.
• Lots of oil is the key to getting everything soft without it burning, spuds and all.
• I've gone for a few large knobs of butter for flavour instead of just 100% veg. oil  (see below)
• Chop the chorizo as finely as you can, discarding the casing, and add that to the pan.
• Meanwhile shred the potatoes on a box grater, or chop them if you like a more chunky texture.  Add them into the pan and fry them up.  

•  When the chorizo looks cooked and before the onions, spuds, and garlic burn, drain that oil off.  Keep it in an old jar or bottle, it will be full of flavour, and will be a vivid orange from the paprika in the chorizo.  
• Add the beaten eggs (no salt, it messes with the proteins in the egg) straight into the pan.  Check the colour the turmeric is giving it, below...

• Once it starts to look like it's cooked on the bottom (see above), 
• Carefully use a spatula to flip the whole lot over like a pancake, rather than the French way of making omelettes, which is to fold it in half.  
• Cook that for about the same time, so the eggs are cooked through.

*Munch*

Mine is a bit thin to be authentic, plus chorizo and chillies would be served on the side as part of another tapa, but ...this was still one dang good result.  I can't emphasise enough the subtle flavour the turmeric gives the eggs.  It eats as well cold with some of that all-purpose tomato chilli sauce I made in a previous post as it does warm.  
Some more (authentic) recipes for tortilla are here, here, and here. 

I think the moral of this meal is, supermarket value food is all very well, but real value is in talking to the people who rear the animals and grow the vegetables around you; give them a free hand, and you might get something back.
* - CB is an ex-girlfriend of mine who loved the "secret ingredient" turmeric so much, she practically made me add it to everything I ever made with eggs in it...

Sausage and squash casserole

I had a great haul a few months ago, where I found enough meat and vegetables to not only make one of my favourite suppers, but provide for a few more dinners as well.  So...

Sausage and squash casserole

I picked up carrots, celery, onions, sausages, tinned tomatoes, and butternut squash.  Total cost was around €3. 

I also had some leftover salami, which gave the dish some extra meatiness.

Sausage casserole is one of my go to meals, so to get the produce to make it, as well as keep some vegetables back for future dishes* , as WELL as try a new ingredient, is a complete bonus.

So .. 

 -   Brown the sausages in a pan.  I often prefer to slow cook the whole caboodle; some folks don't like the texture, but I quite like it.

 - Saute the veg in the same pan for 10 minutes or so, adding a little salt and pepper of course.

 - Meanwhile put the tomatoes and squash in a saucepan and simmer for 30 minutes, or more, ideally.

 - Season with herbs, spoon of mustard, spoon of ketchup or tomato puree, and a bit more salt and pepper.

 - There's a secret ingredient I tried...

 

Yup, marmalade.  It gave the casserole some sweetness and a nice bitterness as well, the citrus also cuts through the fat from the sausages.  I'd go easy on it though.

The finished article...

Serve with mashed potatoes, or just on its own, this was enough for 4 servings.

* - I was able to make a heck of a lot of vegetable and chicken soup with the veg too.

A great result.

Bonus post: Knives, equipment, budget strategy.

A few handy budget value tips

This blog isn't , nor will it ever be, about how to feed a family of four cheaply.  If you live in Ireland, please see these food banks if you are struggling to make ends meet, and food is becoming difficult to afford.

 This blog also will never be about 5 star food, or even home cooking.  There are a lot better blogs out there who can tell you how to scratch bake muffins, or whip up Pho in 15 minutes.  

That said, it IS about value for money, so here are some things I've learned:

1.  Equipment.

 - One good reliable knife.  The one on the right below has lasted me over 15 years.  It wasn't overly expensive, nor was it a budget buy.  But if you keep them clean, and never leave them in the dishwater,the good ones will never let you down.  I've cut through everything from carrots to stewing steak with this thing.

 - One big knife.  I've found chef's knives to be a lot of hard work to keep sharp, so I prefer serrated ones to be honest.  This one on the left was a gift from my brother, and is top drawer.  I repayed the favour last June for his birthday - got him a €200 set of knives from the culinary school that shut down across the road for €50.  :-)  Anyway, my three best friends are below... 

I could also recommend a Chinese style cleaver - very versatile, but they can be pricey.  Here's the one I inherited from the former tenant of my Edinburgh flat 

 - Crockery & cutlery -  If you want to go for real value, don't bother with the supermarket or shops.  Charity shops have a tonne of very decent plates, bowls, knives, forks etcetera, as long as you don't mind them being mismatched.  

 - Charity shops - Amazing places for culinary tools.  Picked up two balti pans and a really smart pestle and mortar for a tenner just before Christmas; present to meself.  

 - Chopping board.  This you can get ideally from the supermarket budget section.  Just make sure you keep it good and clean.  See below...

 - Kettle.  Ideal for cups of tea and coffee, speeding up pasta preparation, and sterilization of chopping boards...

 - One frying pan.  Thin ones will suck, but get what you can afford

 - Two saucepans.  Well... One will do but two can be handy...

 - One casserole dish.  Got mine from the charity shop as well - it doubles as an excellent mixing bowl.

 - Box grater - The effort you put in chopping cheese up sometimes is not worth it.  Will be put to good use in further posts.

The more money you can afford to spend on your equipment, the better, but if circumstances dictate you need to only pay a fiver for a tiny frying pan that a fried egg just about fits into, it's better than nothing.

2.  Freezer

As I've said, not everyone has a big old chest freezer and can make vast quantities of stuff.  I have an icebox.

That said, I do use it as best I can.  If you don't want to get bored of that massive pan of cheap soup you improved, eat half, freeze half.  But use a freezer bag and label your frozen goodies in permanent marker!  Sounds obvious, but I've thrown out lots of unlabeled food which was probably perfectly cromulent, if I could identify it...

3.  Pickles

I'm a recent convert to pickling things.  After the initial outlay for a Kilner jar, you can recoup the £5 or £8 it costs by sticking your leftover vegetables in it - anything from carrots to cabbage to chilli to garlic, to whatever you want, in a simple mixture of vinegar, salt, and whatever other spices you like.

4.  Don't buy what you're not going to eat.  It seems simple, but waste is not only money down the bin, it's a pain throwing all that (nearly) edible food away.  So THINK CAREFULLY!

That's all for now.  Sausage and squash casserole will be next Friday.  Comments welcome on your money saving and food improvement tips.  

Budget Mac & Cheese, made infinitely better

This is another old post from the "pilot episode" days of 2013.   More to come soon, including a budget find so good, it'll need its own theme music.  But, for now:

Budget Macaroni and Cheese

So this was my second foray into trying to make reduced and / or basic brand supermarket food taste better.  On this August day in 2013, it was good old Mac and cheese.  

This comes in at just above 25%  of the normal price; good news!

I fired a sample into the oven to see how it would taste au naturel.

*munch*

There's no getting away from it - the pasta tastes like wet cardboard, soaked in wallpaper paste.  I'll give it this, the sauce does taste a little bit like cheese, and is pleasant, but... yeah... I've eaten wet Rizlas with more texture than this.  

So far what should be a comfort food is more of a punishment food.  Time for help.

I asked my good buddy Paige about this classic Canadian cuisine staple, took some of her advice, and I did the following:

1.  More cheese.  Remember the hard cheese I grated over the caesar salad in my last blog posting?  I added a lot more of that.  A LOT.  The more cheese you can put into bad mac and cheese, the better.  
    - DON'T use cottage cheese - that's for poutine, which, if you didn't know, is French-Canadian cheesy chips and gravy.  Not this time bub.  

And you shouldn't use cottage cheese for that either BTW.  
No.  
You need, at best, a nice strong Cheddar roux; at worst, budget red Leicester mixed into the whole article, to cheese this puppy up.  
I used lots of old Pecorino.  Lots.  Mixed in, and a lot on top.  

2.  Hot sauce.  You really need something to distract you from the terrible awful texture of that cruddy pasta.  I used piri-piri , as it was what I had to hand in the cupboard, but I can maybe show you a good recipe for your own hot sauce, if you like that kind of thing, at the end of this article...
3.  Worcestershire sauce - a few dashes for some nice tang and umami.
4.  Breadcrumbs on top to get everything crunchy and toasty.  Probably the key to solving the texture problem.
5.  More salt and pepper.

Et voila:

As I've said, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, and there's nothing that can be done with overcooked pasta that's been sitting in a sauce, in a depot in Hertfordshire, for 6 weeks, that's going to make it eat better.  But after a good 5-10 minute under the grill to melt the extra cheese, and toast the breadcrumbs nicely, the whole meal was pretty dang decent.  

The extra flavours in the cheese and the sauce make you forget how bad the macaroni is, and how resourceful your culinary skills are.  And the crunch of the breadcrumbs on top gives it a bit of much needed bite.

  Yes, obviously I'm never going to top Paige's M&C, or anyone's properly home made one for that matter, but as supermarket bargain bucket rescue missions, go, this was a good result for the home team. 1-0 Belfast Giants.

PS - Here's a recipe from a certain Essex based chef for a killer macaroni cheese   

Quick chilli sauce

• 1 tin of tomatoes
• 2-3 chillies, depending on the variety, and how hot you like your sauce.  De-seed them and remove the white pith (carefully I should add...) so you get better control over the amount of heat.  You can save the seeds to attempt to grow your own chillies or dry them and use them as a seasoning later.
• Salt (2 good pinches) and pepper (black, 1 good pinch.  Use a little white pepper if you have it for extra heat)
•  Vinegar, 1 good slug and any lemon or lime juice you have for a bit of acidity.
• 1 onion, finely chopped.  Very finely.
• Garlic.  2 big cloves, finely chopped.
• Any extra herbs, dried or otherwise that you have.  Coriander is ideal, paprika works, but any mixed dried herbs will give the sauce some extra goodness.
• A bit of sugar is good too, I don’t really use it but I always put some in my coffee when I’m at my local cafe, and so, well... a couple of extra sachets taken home come in handy...
• METHOD - Fry the onions and chillis until soft, add the tomatoes and other ingredients, slow cook for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer to get it reduced down.
• Pulp the whole lot up and put into whatever container you can find.
• Taste...  
• Adjust recipe to taste.

Caesar Salad

This post was written in 2013, when I was living in Edinburgh and first started thinking about a blog about reduced food items, and how to make them better.  I've only now decided to set this blog up, had more funds back then, and could afford things like balsamic vinegar and olive oil. But you only need to buy those once, and they make all the difference, as we'll see next week...

Dressed salad - £1.75, reduced  to  0.11p  From a certain firm that comes in blue and white stripes.

Let’s start with the basic salad, which comes with black pepper, croutons and a pea and mint dressing.  The leaves are a little tired and bitter to be honest and definitely need something to make them into an acceptable dinner.  The dressing is a little bland and sweet for my taste.  The less said about the croutons at this stage the better.   

 

Fortunately I have the making of a nice-ish Caesar on me:

-          Odds and ends of bacon, which I chop into cubes

-          Some very stale hard cheese, which has taken on an exceptional flavour.

-          A small bulb of chicory, which has seen better days, but is still good,  once the outer leaves are trimmed. 

I fry up the bacon on a high heat with about half a teaspoon of olive oil to get it going, and then slowly let it render down a little to release the fat.

While this is going on I mix 1 tbsp of every day olive oil with a splash of my super nice brand name extra virgin, and a splash of basic balsamic vinegar.  I add a bit of pepper and mix this about at the bottom of my salad bowl.  I drop the chicory, sliced up finely, into this.

 Now the bacon’s looking meaty and like it’s swimming in delicious lard, I turn the heat up and drop the croutons in and sprinkle liberally with ground black pepper.  

Once they’re nicely toasted and have soaked up the flavour, I layer some salad leaves on top of my dressing, grate some hard cheese, squirt the pea and mint baggy sauce onto the top and add another layer of leaves.  

Finally I drop in the bacon, croutons and pan juices and shred another fine dusting of cheese on top.  I give it a bit of a jumble, but not too much.  Get the flavours nicely layered, but not homogenised.

The effect and taste is rather good, if I say so myself for my first time writing about my creations.  The layering effect works really well, the sweetness of the peas and mint is balanced by the sharp balsamic hit at the bottom.  And the croutons at the bottom benefit from soaking up all that lovely dressing I made, as well as having a bit more punch with the pepper I added.  If I could change one thing, I’d probably back off on the balsamic a little, and definitely shred the salad leaves up into more bite-sized chunks, as they were a little big and tended to hog my forkfuls.  I’d also go easier on the bacon.

But all in all I've turned something that was destined to be refrigerator slime, into something, while not fit for Caesar, would satisfy one of his thriftier Praetors. 

Introduction

This is the supermarket value food blog.  My name is John, and I'm a single guy living in a tiny flat, on a limited wage.  I take the cheapest budget ready meals and reduced food items I can find, and pimp them up, to see what'll happen, and to see whether you can eat healthily, cheaply, and above all, tastily, by buying them and altering them.

The purpose of the Value Food blog is not to try and turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse.  But, with the use a little bit of creativity you can turn a sow’s ear into a star-anised deep fried crispy thing of joy – spicing up what we've got for as little money as possible.

I'll aim to post once every two weeks.