Dinner ideas..limit of food supplies

nutwrencher, Apr 13, 12:27am
Hi everyone..
I am so running out of ideas for dinner..
Where i live we have limit supplies of veg and fruit ( If any sometimes)

You can get it all frozen or in a can but not alot of fresh :((
We can get most of everything else meat..canned stuff etc but rather pricey but got to eat so got to eat..

Just sick of eating the same thing over and over and my brain just cant get into gear and do something different as there is just no inspirastion here..

Remeber limit of vege...the most at the moment are pototoes..sweet potato..red peppers..cucumber..tomatoes..l-
ettuce and thats about it..no fresh fruit at the moment...

lucas08, Apr 13, 12:39am
i have just started making a crock pot meal,
about 1kg casserole steak, mushroom soap mix, onion diced, salt pepper, soy sauce just a squirt and same of worchester cut meat into cubs about 2cm. put all into crock pot, cover the meat with boiling water, put crock pot on high till lunch time then add potatoes kumara carrots (cut into raost vege size, halfs). then leave till about 6ish add peas and thicken with cornflour. My family love it. even my 3 year old cant get enough.

nutwrencher, Apr 13, 1:24am
Thanks lucas08..
That sounds nice :)

cgvl, Apr 13, 1:38am
do you have eggs and cheese, if so you could do a self crusting quiche.
or if you have a can of cream style sweetcorn and onions you have the basis for kumara chowder.
750g kumara or thereabouts, peeled and cooked, 1-2 onions chopped and saute'd.
Mash the kumara with milk and add the sweetcorn, onions, salt and pepper to taste and enough milk to make a thick soup. heat until hot but do not boil. you can add shrimps/prawns and cream to the mix as well.
The self crusting quiche is:
1-2 cups cooked vegies, 2-4 eggs beaten, ½cup milk, grated cheese, salt and pepper to taste, 1Tbsp flour and ½ tsp scant of baking powder or use self raising flour. Mix all together and pour into a pie dish and bake until golden and filling is set.

cookessentials, Apr 13, 1:41am
BEEF AND BEAN CASSEROLE

2 tbsp butter
750g minced steak ( I use premium mince)
1 lge onion,finely chopped
1x 425g can of chopped tomatoes
1 cup hot beef stock ( I use a Maggi Beef stock dissolved in boiling water)
125g pasta - I use the curly pasta-often the tri-colour
1/2 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 tsp chilli powder ( I use about half as it can be pretty hot with 1tsp)
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce ( Lea & Perrins if you have it)
1x can baked beans

Melt butter in large saucepan (I use my smaller stock pot) and brown the meat and onion. Stir in all the remaining ingredients except the baked beans. Mix together well and simmer with lid on for 30 mins or so,stirring occasionally. Add a little more water if necessary. When pasta is tender and meat is cooked, add the baked beans and stir through. Heat through gently and serve

nutwrencher, Apr 13, 2:43am
Both those sound nice :)

cookessentials, Apr 13, 3:53am
Another idea would be to have your own vegetable garden and grow a few staples such as potatoes, beans, tomatoes etc. if you are able to, also get some chooks...you will then at least have a few basics.

nutwrencher, Apr 13, 5:46am
Yes cookessentails we have a few things growing but casue it semitropical we dont get alot of rain and the water we have is tank water so have to be real careful with it...
Got chooks but the lazy bums didnt lay so we let me free and they come back everynite to roost but no eggs....

punkinthefirst, Apr 13, 6:51am
Re water.... save the water from dish and clothes washing and from bathing. If you mulch your garden there will be more than enough water to water your plants.

motorbo, Apr 13, 8:05am
can i ask where you live?

kay141, Apr 13, 8:08am
According to her profile. Norfolk Island at the moment.

nutwrencher, Apr 13, 10:07pm
Yes Motorbo..
We are currently living in Norfolk Island..
Lovely place but abit limited on fresh veg and fruit..
We can get other stuff either frozen or in a can but i am not a big
fan of either but i do use if i have too...
Spuds are always here but they cost $6.00 a Kilo so i dont use of lot of them we either eat rice or pasta..So always on the look out for something with them in it...Lucky hubbie likes both of them but got a 7yr old boy and he is a tad fussy...Typical kid...He would live on chips and nuggets if i let him...
We dont get alot of fresh fruit which is a bugger..NO Apples :((...

punkinthefirst, Apr 14, 2:16am
The most horrendous meal I ever ate was a "Norfolk Island Dinner" my mother and I went to while staying there, back in 1997. EVERY course we had revolved around bananas in some form... savoury or sweet! It was a long time til I could ever eat bananas again.
After a week there, staying in a motel, I had pretty-much gone off Island life because of the limited supplies available in the supermarket.
The soil is pretty good, though, isn't it nutwrencher? And the weather is favourable for growing things, if you can get some shelter from the wind and salt-spray. I'd be inclined to save all my grey water and water the garden with it, and also mulch heavily.
Silver beet grows wellin salty areas and can be made into a yummy salad with orange segments, hard boiled eggs and onion slices. Tastes good cooked, too with a squeeze of lemon juice mixed in at the last minute. You should be able to grow lettuces (try the oak-leaf sort),beans (try Yates Purple King), tomatoes, beetroot and other easy veges, but you may have to get sub-tropical varieties. Potatoes might grow in a tyre stack. I bet if you went out with a sack and a spade you could collect seaweed from the beach and cow manure from the side of the road (or from the Island dairy farm) to make compost.
Kumera cerainly should grow. For fruit, you might have to look at bananas, tree tomatoes, passionfruit, grapes, citrus, peaches and look for an apple variety that grows in Northland or similar. That is, of course, if you are planning to stay long-term.
Even so, it would be a nice legacy to leave a flourishing garden behind for the next person. I suspect that the short-tenancy mentality has as much to do with the lack of supplies on Norfolk as anything else!

cookessentials, Apr 14, 3:08am
You may find that they are laying their eggs elsewhere!

nutwrencher, Apr 14, 9:39am
True punkinthefirst..I havnt had one of those island dinners and dont plan on it either..
No Dairy farm here anymore ...And no seaweed aroud anymore for some reason...
As for fruit yes it is here but unless u grow it yourself or have a good friend in a local you cant get it...They either just give it to family or just let it rot on the ground...Sad really but its the way alot of them work over here...
I cant put a garden in as landlord wont let us but have grown a few things in pots but way better in the soil but we do try..

Yes cookessentails we know the little witches are laying else where as they came back with lots of babies..but they odd egg we got were real little ones as they are just the local island wild chooks and they dont really lay big eggs..
But happy we got babies now so hopefully they will be better layers when they start :)

punkinthefirst, Apr 14, 11:50am
I know the "natives " are somewhat insular. How long are you there for? No chance of making friends with someone with fruit or a bit of land you could use for a garden?
As for chooks.... they usually lay in the morning, so if you are able to give them a feed just before sunset and shut them in, do so. Give them a small feed in the morning, and food scraps to scratch around in. Then, if you don't let them out til after lunch, you are likely to have them laying at home. Make sure there are plenty of nest-boxes, so they don't have to wait to lay.

ant_sonja, Apr 14, 8:36pm
just a thought...you can easily & quickly grow micro-greens as well as different sprouts in your kitchen on your bench or windowsill (works well for us) and you can have a more or less continuous supply which adds nutritional value to any meal and a great way to spruce up many dishes - if you can lock your chooks up as mentioned above and feed them in the evening and again some scraps in the morning before letting them out again they will start to get into a routine and the eggs will be laid where you can find them. Best of luck :-)

nutwrencher, Apr 15, 1:19am
Punkinthefirst..
We have been here for a year..Not to sure at this stage how long we will be here for.
Our neighbours has agarden going so we help with that so get a few bits and pieces from that now and then..
Friends...So hard to make freinds with the locals they are all nice to you but so hard fitting in..But thats alright by me dont want to get invovled with some of the gossip etc that goes around..
But apart from that it is a lovely place :))
I guess it would have changed abit since you came here...