Practical but good cost saving tips
- Thread starter deanpark
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Ceist Beag
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On tea, buy the loose leaf, not the bags. Flavour is better and you get more from it. Barrys would be my preference too. Most important thing here is to buy what you like, not what is cheapest.
On the vouchers, absolutely keep these, they are money after all. You wouldn't throw a tenner in the bin!
Make a shopping list and stick to it.
If you like sauces like Dolmio, learn to make your own. It's half the cost, tastes better and doesn't take very long. You can also easily tailor it to your own tastes by adding bits and pieces (i.e. herbs, chillis, spices, etc.).
If you like baking, your own brown bread beats anything you will buy in supermarkets.
On the vouchers, absolutely keep these, they are money after all. You wouldn't throw a tenner in the bin!
Make a shopping list and stick to it.
If you like sauces like Dolmio, learn to make your own. It's half the cost, tastes better and doesn't take very long. You can also easily tailor it to your own tastes by adding bits and pieces (i.e. herbs, chillis, spices, etc.).
If you like baking, your own brown bread beats anything you will buy in supermarkets.
I find their rolls and bread good. Not as good as Dunnes but far better than Super Value (though I agree their brown bread is excellent).
If you cook your own you'll realise just now vile Dolmio actually is.
Ceist Beag
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The funny thing is, it's probably the same leaves in both loose and the tea bags and we're both just imagining our preference tastes better!
If it's handy could you post how you make your own pasta sauce. I use Dolmio and other shop bought pasta sauces but agree that they're a bit bland. But I wouldn't know how to make from scratch.
Ceist Beag
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It's very straightforward. Here's an example but like I said, you can play around with other ingredients to suit your own taste.
Ingredients: Onions, Garlic, Olive Oil (not Extra Virgin), Tin Tomatoes (we prefer Passata), Tomato Puree (not needed if using Passata), herbs, drop Worcester Sauce, bit of sugar, salt and pepper
Method: Gently fry the onions first until translucent. Add the garlic for a minute or so (garlic burns easily so don't fry for long). Add tomatoes/passata and cook for maybe 20 minutes. Add tomato puree, herbs, Worcester Sauce, sugar, salt and pepper as it cooks. Leave to cool and then blitz it all with a hand blender to a smooth consistency.
I make big batches of this and when cool, divide into Ziplock bags & lay them flat in the freezer
Also, Mutti passata is fantastic
Dice 2 onions, 2 carrots and 2-3 sticks of celery. Sweat them down in a poy with some olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Dice a jar of sundried tomatoes (the ones from Lidl have capers in them. Add them too). Add to the pot. Add two anchovies, mashed. Add 2-3 cloves of garlic. Add about a quarter of the oil left from the sundried tomatoes. Add a heaped tablespoon of tomato puree. Fry the puree for about 5-10 minutes. Don't let it burn. Add a heaped teaspoon each of dried basil, oregano, and thyme and about a half a teaspoon of chopped rosemary. Add a quarter bottle of red wine (something with some body). Cook it off so that nearly all of the liquid is gone. At this stage if you like a smooth sauce blend it with a hand blender. If it's too dry to blend add some water.
Add two tins of tomatoes (buy good ones, they are worth it). Add a teaspoon of sugar. If you like you can drizzle some olive oil over an entire bulb of garlic, wrap in tinfoil and bake it in the over for 20 minutes and use that instead of the raw garlic. If you do that then add a few more crushed cloves at this stage. The roasted garlic makes a huge difference.
Add more wine to taste, a beef stockpot and some water if necessary. Cook on a low heat for 2-3 hours. Season to taste.
You can add a Leek at the first stage if you want to load in some more veg. The green bits of the Leek are the tastiest part
Add two tins of tomatoes (buy good ones, they are worth it). Add a teaspoon of sugar. If you like you can drizzle some olive oil over an entire bulb of garlic, wrap in tinfoil and bake it in the over for 20 minutes and use that instead of the raw garlic. If you do that then add a few more crushed cloves at this stage. The roasted garlic makes a huge difference.
Add more wine to taste, a beef stockpot and some water if necessary. Cook on a low heat for 2-3 hours. Season to taste.
You can add a Leek at the first stage if you want to load in some more veg. The green bits of the Leek are the tastiest part
Same here with the zip-lock bags.
I generally use tins of tomatoes when I'm slow cooking.
Any pasta that's made using a Bronze Die will have a coarser surface and so absorb sauces better.
NEVER put oil on the pasta. It stops it from absorbing the sauce.
I usually cook the pasta until it's about 2 minutes away from done. then deep a mug of the cooking water and add the drained pasts to the sauce to finish cooking, adding some cooking water if necessary. Then the cheese and lemon zest and juice and some fresh herbs.
the great thing is it can be used with just about any meat or with lentils or Tuna or meat balls or on its own.
Ceist Beag
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Nice variations there Purple. Agree on the roasted garlic, I could eat that spread on toast as garlic bread! The red wine addition is something I personally love but the kids hate it so unfortunately I lose out there.
I'm teaching my small one to cook and have already been through the 2 most common mistakes people do when making pasta:
(1) Not using a large enough pot (pasta sticks)
(2) Over-cooking pasta (horrible mush) by not stopping when al-dente
Try them with it. They give a kind of a hint of a background umami taste but they is no taste of fish at all.
The same works in a beef stew.
That's for a jar. You just need one or two. They last forever.
I like some of the additions though an Italian might baulk at that recipe
An option instead of the dried basil / oregano / thyme - if you have fresh basil or a basil plant, just throw in a dozen basil leaves and leave it at that. A bit more subtle maybe but I like the freshness
I love fresh Basil but I like the sweetness of thyme and oregano has to be in any tomato sauce. Anchovies are used extensively in Italian cooking, including tomato sauces, especially those with chilli in them.I like some of the additions though an Italian might baulk at that recipe
An option instead of the dried basil / oregano / thyme - if you have fresh basil or a basil plant, just throw in a dozen basil leaves and leave it at that. A bit more subtle maybe but I like the freshness
It's called "domaine Arnaud" only in Tesco and always "half price"Please explain further. Ive never seen any of this substance . Is it a brand name ?
Anyone who can actually drink a full bottle of it needs to get tested for coronavirus cos their taste buds are shot