Cooking the Books

Feeding this family of four which include a very fussy teenager and at the other end of the scale a 10 year old with an insatiable appetite plus us two adults isn't easy. I love cooking, but the biggest chore is planning it all along within the fnancial constraints.

Last night it was a beef stew. Because the kids social lives sometimes dictate what we sit down (and I do believe in round the table every evening principle) last night I'd planned on a beef stew. Given the cold weather yesterday, and the fact I could throw it in the oven at 5 and it would be fine if things ran late with picking one of the children up from a friends house it was a good idea.

Thought I'd try dumplings with this stew, I admit I'd never cooked them before. The beef - shin of - was £2.85, bucket loads of root vegetables, my beloved butter beans, the remains of a bottle of red wine and in it went. Looked up loads of recipes for dumplings, but in the end went for for fault free prepack mix for 40p.

Well this worked, really well. Talk about bulking out a meal. Served four of us with mash and there are two large portions of leftovers in the freezer. Awesome, six meals for £5.00 I reckon.

I could do with finding more recipes like this. I do have another favourite, found on the MSE -Old Style board. New potatoes, cut into halves in a large roasting dish, chicken portions (particularly thighs) laid on top, a garlic bulb or two, rake each clove and scatter amongst chicken and potatoes. A lemon quartered and squeezed over everything and added to the layers, glass of white wine and a dash of olive oil. Throw it in for a good hour and a half , turn the chicken occasionally, adding more white if you feel like it.

It's just easy and tastes wicked, the garlic gloves are like sweet little pearls, squeezed on to some bread. Any chicken left over tastes even better the next day for lunch.

Today it's a the family favourite of roast chicken, which will stretch to chicken salad and jackets tomorrow, chicken wraps for lunch boxes and by Wednesday the dog will have whatever - if anything - is left. I tried the soup thing withthe carcass before and can't do it, but now I have discovered dumplings made easy I may well try again.

Gosh I'm hungry....