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Recipe round-up for #CreditCrunchMunch for March 2016

April 1, 2016 by manjirichitnis 7 Comments

March was a whirlwind crazy month where I was swamped with lots of work. I am most happy that I have set in motion something I had planned for years – getting rid of unused and unwanted things from our house on an ongoing basis, key words being ‘ongoing’. Which means I don’t wait to spring clean and do not feed my habit of procrastinating. As both my husband and I, are working together to get into a healthier lifestyle one of the aspects involves yoga,meditation and learning to create and maintain a harmonious home – a zen-like space that is not cluttered and filled with things we will never use. It is almost like a soul-cleansing exercise, that we plan to continue to – clutter you see has a way of building up. It makes managing our space and keeping it clean, easier and we feel so good about donating things that we will never use but will surely help someone in need.

With that motto in mind, spring cleaning was actually an enjoyable experience and not the annual nightmare that we dread. This also meant taking a stock of my kitchen and what followed is a series of activities involving labelling, rearranging and donating things to our local food bank too. I was also able to create some really great meals using ingredients that I had forgotten I possess and ensuring that even the most dreary looking vegetable or fruit is not wasted. That is the reason I find all the recipes shared with #creditcrunchmunch this month, hugely inspiring.

I do hope that you, in turn, are inspired to create delicious meals and inspire others too to eliminate food wastage and work together in creating a more balanced and conscientious society where we respect and value what we have.

Chicken, prawn and mango recipe by Sarah who blogs at From plate to pen, is such a warm and inviting dish. Her post screams nostalgia! Frankly, I would never have thought of adding prawns and mango to a chicken curry but now am willing to try.

Chicken, prawn and mango curry

Reggae potatoes by Kate who blogs at The gluten-free alchemist are infused with coconut milk. Tropical tasting, delicious crispy potato skins seem so irresistible and a very entertaining post by Kate where she shares how she came about to creating this recipe – a must-read!

Reggae Potatoes by Kate - The GF Alchemist

5 a day cake – yes you heard that right cake it is by Michelle who blogs at Utterly scrummy and is mum to two teenagers, a tween and an adorable toddler – Michelle how do you do it?! If you are looking to make a sweet treat and use up overripe bananas and even carrots and courgettes than look no further – try her recipe now!

5 a day cake 2 - Michelle - Utterly scrummy

Cheeseless vegan pizza? Yes, please! Kate from the Veg space has an easy-peasy recipe idea which results in a pizza with crunchy toppings that guarantee you won’t miss cheese – great for all those who are watching calories and want to eat light but don’t want to miss out on flavour or for when you want a pizza night in.

Broccoli-Kale-Chilli-Hazelnut-Pizza Kate of The Veg Space

Green vegetable galette with flaky pastry using ready prepped frozen vegetables from Iceland made by Choclette of Tin and Thyme is a perfect example of a speedy healthy meal idea when you are running low on fresh veggies.

Green-Vegetable-Galette- Tin and Thyme

I am trying to lose weight and eat healthily, so I do end up stocking up on many ingredients, so that I can easily rustle up a healthy salad, often that means a lot of lovely ingredients left in small quantities that need using up and fast, this Healthy superfood and smoked salmon salad recipe by me is an attempt to do just that.

Healthy superfood and smoked salmon salad

I absolutely love this thrifty and fabulous soup recipe by Hanna who blogs at Arctic Cloudberry, easy to make when you are pressed for time and when faced with an almost empty fridge. Try her chickpea, potato and coconut soup recipe if you are in a similar situation – or not – for a healthy and light weekday meal.

Chickepea potato coconut soup by Arctic Cloudberry

Stunning GF quiche recipe with roast dinner leftovers by Kate of The gluten-free alchemist – a very innovative idea and sure to please even the fussiest diner.

roast dinner quiche GF by The GF alchemist Kate

Caramelised Sesame Peanuts by Pro kitchenware looks so moreish and is for everyone who stores nuts for topping salads and making several jars of nut butter – like I do!

Caramelised-Sesame-Peanuts-Pro Kitchen ware

I always have some frozen veggie sausages lurking in my freezer and one lazy weekend afternoon when I was faced with an almost empty fridge tray I had a few minutes of utter panic. Not in a mood to eat anything elaborate my frozen veggie sausages and frozen organic GF pizza bases came to the rescue. I loved making the sauce and I hope you enjoy trying my recipe for Gluten-free pizza with vegetarian sausages

Celia organic GF beer with Genius GF pizza base

As an Indian born and bought up in Mumbai in a Maharashtrian family, I grew up eating dals with chapatis for most of my main meals. It is for me the ultimate healthy meal and very easy to make. That’s why this frugal version by The Veg hog is a recipe that I fell in love with the second I saw it. A different way to cook dhal!

Dhal and chapati by The Veg Hog

Cooking with lamb is great fun and I have wanted a slow cooker for myself for the longest time now. Both reasons why I love this next recipe so much. Hopefully, I shall be able to get a slow cooker soon for my experiments. Sarah over Tales from the kitchen shed shares an interesting recipe for slow-cooked citrus lamb shanks.

slow cooker lamb shanks - Sarah - Talesfromthekitchenshed

Homemade Doritos? Oh yes! Any homemade versions with low or no sugar and less oil are always a fabulous idea and Shaheens green chilli Doritos are just the thing when you are feeling peckish. Check out her easy recipe on her blog Allotment2kitchen

Homemade green chilli doritos Shaheen allotment2kitchen

And another great recipe by Shaheen of Allotment2kitchen – this time, it’s jacket potatoes but she has used sweet potatoes in her vegan version called Super loaded sweet potato jackets

Super Loaded Sweet Potato Jackets Shaheen - Allotment2kitchen

I am very excited about the next recipe and not just because it has koftas but because it has been blogged a very dear friend Nisa on her blog Flavour Diary. We were neighbours and I dearly miss all the time we spent together over cups of chai discussing food!

cabbagekoftacurry_flavourdiary_2

Next up is a spicy beef and chickpea stew with ras el hanout, orange and dates by Emma of De tout cour limousin blog. What a great way to spice up some leftover beef!

beef and chickpea stew -detoutcouerlimousin

A very refreshing and colourful spring kale salad by Jane of The taste space perfect way to use up any vegetables that are just asking to be used in an innovative dish.

spring kale salad by Janet at The taste space

Gorgeous and moreish, these frugal Polish cheese buns by Margot of Coffee and Vanilla blog are such a delicious way to make a tasty snack perfect with a big hot cuppa tea.

polish-buns-drozdzowki-Coffee and Vanilla

Thank you to everyone for linking up this month and happy cooking to all of you. Hope these recipes inspire everyone to cook more frugal meals and do their bit to stop food wastage.

Filed Under: Food Tagged With: Batch cooking for the freezer, Dishes using cheaper ingredients like cheap cuts of meat or vegetarian, Faster cooking for example dishes that take less oven time or using a pressure cooker, Food you have grown yourself, Meals from reduced food in the supermarket, Meals that use less energy to cook, Meals using leftovers, Meals using up the ends of packets, Packed lunches, Pressure cooking, Recipe round up for #creditcrunchmunch for March 2016 by Manjiri of travelsfortaste blog, save money on 5 essential ingredients with my ideas at travelsfortaste, Slow cooking, Substitutions of cheaper ingredients, Sustainable foods, Thrifty recipe ideas

Save money on these 5 essential ingredients + #CreditCrunchMunch for March 2016

March 1, 2016 by manjirichitnis 8 Comments

I cannot believe we are already into March 2016 – time truly does fly past at lightening speed. Of all the firm resolutions and changes for 2016 I am glad I have managed to stay true to my money saving ideas if not the ‘I shall blog 3 times a week’ or ‘ I will exercise at least 3 days every week’ type of resolutions.

One of the many things I have changed about how we manage our monthly budget on a single income is by doing batch cooking and also being mindful of where I buy my groceries from. Apart from the many sensible tips one can find for WHEN and WHERE to shop and how to make good with various supermarket offers, I also have some rules for my top 5 fresh ingredients for Indian cooking. Here they are:

  • Always buy fresh coriander bunches and curry leaves from your local Indian shop or Pakistani/Bangladeshi butcher shop – they sell larger bunches and you can buy two big fresh bunches for £1
  • Ginger – I make fresh ginger tea very often – the famous Indian masala tea or as we call it in Marathi – ‘chaha’ – again I buy a huge chunk of fresh ginger for much less from my Indian grocery and vegetable shop
  • Garlic – most of my Indian curry and vegetable recipes use a lot of ginger, garlic and red onion and this is another item I bulk buy from my local LIDL – they sell cute mini baskets with at least 5-6 big bulbs of garlic – deal!
  • Red onions – most Indian shops or Pakistani/Bangladeshi butcher shops stock sacks of red onion – 5 or 10 kilos at rates much lower than your local supermarket – I generally stock up and though that means having to sort these out and process them quickly, it’s totally worth it. I chop the best ones and store them in my fridge in an air-tight container. The not so fresh ones quickly become puree’ for curries and stews and go into my freezer.
  • Dried lentil packets, Rice – especially Basmati , Chapati Atta – flour to make rotis and chapatis – I hunt for deals on various supermarket websites and at my local stores and only buy the ones that give the best deal. I prefer to go in the afternoon just after noon so I can concentrate on checking out the offers minus having the store flooded with school going kids.

I truly envy those skilled enough to grow their own herbs and that is one of my top TO-DO’s this year – a container garden!  More on this sometime later though and I hope these tips prove useful to all you thrifty shoppers out there. Now, I am guest hosting #CreditCrunchMunch for March 2016

Credit-Crunch-Munch-Just-Pic

For those of you have not heard about  #CreditCrunchMunch (and for the regulars – a re-cap) , here are some cool ideas that you can consider when linking up:

  • Dishes using cheaper ingredients – cheap cuts of meat or vegetarian
  • Meals using leftovers
  • Meals using up the ends of packets
  • Substitutions of cheaper ingredients
  • Packed lunches
  • Meals that use less energy to cook
  • Pressure cooking
  • Slow cooking
  • Faster cooking – less oven time for example
  • Batch cooking for the freezer
  • Sustainable foods
  • Food you have grown yourself
  • Meals from reduced food in the supermarket

How to take part in CREDIT CRUNCH MUNCH:

Simply blog about any money saving idea or recipe that is vaguely food related. We do a full round up so I will be mentioning all the recipes that are submitted.

There are a few very simple rules:

  • Please link to this post, and the Credit Crunch Munch pages on Fab Food 4 All Fuss Free Flavours
  • Please use the Credit Crunch Munch Badge
  • Tweet using #CreditCrunchMunch and tag me @manjirichitnis @FabFood4All & @FussFreeHelen
  • Closing date – last day of the month – 31st March 2016
  • You are welcome to link up one or two old posts, but please republish them
  • By entering you are agreeing to let us use an image from your entry on this site, and to pin to Pinterest
  • If blogging a recipe from elsewhere on the internet or a book please be mindful of copyright
  • But feel free to send to as many other events as you like, let’s help everyone save money!
  • Please visit a few other blogs who take part plus comment and share
  • This is a blog hop so please grab the code and share the linky on your site too.We look forward to seeing your entries!

<!– end LinkyTools script –>

Filed Under: Food Tagged With: #CreditCrunchMunch for March 2016, basmati, Batch cooking for the freezer, Chapati Atta, curry leaves, Dishes using cheaper ingredients – cheap cuts of meat or vegetarian, Dried lentil packets, Faster cooking – less oven time for example, Food you have grown yourself, fresh coriander, garlic, ginger, grow your own vegetables, how to save money while buying ingredients for Indian recipes in London, Meals from reduced food in the supermarket, Meals that use less energy to cook, Meals using leftovers, Meals using up the ends of packets, Packed lunches, Pressure cooking, red onions, rice, Save money on these 5 essential ingredients, shop smart, Slow cooking, Substitutions of cheaper ingredients, Sustainable foods

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