F Words

I was going to title this Frugal Food Fun...but that's not nearly as attention-getting, is it?

I was looking at what we spent on food in January and thinking about what I had learned from our use-it-up project. I found a couple of new main course recipes that we'll definitely be using again, "Vegetarian Cassoulet" and "Salmon Fishcakes". I particularly liked the latter as it helped use up the mountain of tinned salmon I seem to have acquired over the last couple of years. Before this, I made 'Salmon Puff', which Bill quite liked, but it was fiddly, requiring the beating of egg whites; I don't always have eggs on hand.

We tried a couple of fishcake recipes, one with breadcrumbs, but the one I like used boiled potatoes. Just mash the cooked potatoes with the tinned salmon, a knob of butter and a tablespoon of milk, make into patties, roll in seasoned -- which I take to mean salt & pepper -- flour and fry...except that I broil them. Hey, this has to be good; it comes out of a book with 'cordon bleu' in the title. As with Salmon Puff, one tin makes into sufficient food for 2-3 meals.

Last night we had salmon fishcakes, steamed beetroot and broccoli and, for dessert, sliced kiwi fruit, apple and banana topped with yoghurt. I dare anyone to come up with something healthier.

By my reckoning we spent £59 on food in January, much less than the £88 we spent in January last year. However, meals out in Liverpool, even though Bill's work paid for most of his, added something like another £47 ... Eating out never looks expensive until you add it into the food budget like this and then it's positively shocking!