Deciding what's for dinner...?

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cottagerose, Jul 27, 8:02am
I look in my freezer in the mornings and think, yes I feel like that tonight or if Im working late take something out that can go in the crockpot, although in that case I have to do decide the night before so
Im organized in the morning.
Ive always got plenty of veges to work with

pheebs1, Jul 28, 10:38pm
last nights dinner was soo good new world have fresh hoki at $9. 99 a kilo! ! ! so i asked for 400 gms it was only $4 sprinkled alittle garlic and herb salt on and wrapped it in foilbaked for 15 mins in oven at 200 had baked potatoes with sour cream which went lovely with the fish and had broccolli and cauliflower and carrots.
with caramel self saucing pud from the crockpotwith vanilla icecream. yum

tonight is a roast chook and left over caramel pud
cant wait!

kirinesha, Jul 28, 10:50pm
I shop pretty much the same way as you Fisher. Buy meat on specials when possible so I always have a good variety in the freezer. I do tend to take meat out of the freezer in the morning so that I can design a meal around it during the day (whereas my husband rarely remembers to! ) - and we usually cook 2 x portions too and freeze the rest.

I am buying less veges in one go though (buy fresh a couple of times a week) - and really stick to seasonal where possible. Can't wait for eggplants to go down in price again!

fisher, Jul 31, 6:00am
Just got a 9 pack carton of small chickens for 5 bucks each...
Big enough to spatch and do a chicken jerk or similar and then halve it. . Good size for 2 people. . (maybe 3)... tegal . . I think they were... should be nice young and tender...
I'm growing as much fresh herbs and veges I can muster... it's fun
doing it organically and the flavour is SO much better than store bought. . I'm freezing cauli, broccoli etc and all the winter veges. . so summer prices dont hit the pocket hard...

darlingmole, Jul 31, 6:37am
wow that's cool fisher~! a 9 pack of chooks ... see you're up north though I'll luck out on that bargain. I still manage to make a large chicken feed the 9 of us twice though (the Queen of Mean I'm known as! )Once as a roast and 2nd is either as lunches or else a curry/pasta dish bulked up with lentils and/or veges. I like to think we do well ... but definately as a result of the thread I started last year "woe is me - must feed us on $200/wk". The advice was unbelievabley helpful and further than that it completely restored my faith in people because you know what? People DO care;-)

fisher, Jul 31, 9:30am
darlingmole... these chooks aint big. . there's just two of us here now so they will be ideal for a nice dinner and then to use any leftovers for chicken salad sammies the next day, but there wont be too much left ... Few veges from the garden. . say pak choi, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and my brussels sprouts are coming on nicely, chinese cabbage, green cabbage and red cabbage and my peas are all going great. . still getting capsicums (last 4 on one plant to go). . so this gives me a choice for sides to go with a chook so $2. 50 a portion with maybe a lunch thrown in is extra good value... Not sure how you get on with 9 different tastes. . likes and dislikes all thrown into the melting pot could cause you some strife, arguments and headaches I'd say... dont envy you:}

beaker59, Aug 1, 4:09am
I buy meat on special too and it works really well except that lately the freezer has got very full of roasts of various types and corn beef for some reason so I have stopped buying meat and am trying to run it down a bit. Quite an issue when the places I shop have had so really nice topside and lamb roasts cheap lately. Got to empty freezer for the spring hunting coming up.

We were getting some nice big free range chooks and I am starting to miss those I was getting #20 corn fed etc and then jointing them at home I could get about 4 meals for 3 people out of each chook. Must try and find a new reliable supply.

falcon-hell, Aug 1, 5:19am
homemade buns and chicken tenders, with all the trimmings-nice easy tea tonight, after all my baking today.

pamellie, Aug 1, 5:55am
I too am the same as you Fisher, I buy meat when on special and then stock my freezer with it and then the theory is there should always be a variety in there. Then it's a case of what shall I cook tonight? Like most of us I have a selection of recipes for each meat but every now and then I draw a blank as to what to do, like the other day with boneless chicken thighs. I found a recipe that stuffed and rolled them and then wrapped them in bacon, they were delicious just like mini boneless roasts! Will be making them again that's for sure, always good to find something new. Tonight it's smoked fish (hubby caught and smoked) pie.

fisher, Aug 1, 7:47am
way to go Pamellie. . We also had smoked hapuku wings as a snack and some smoked gemfish roe. . hmmmm... just smoked today. . the roe was a foot long. . :}Then foil wrapped gemfish chunks with fresh parsley and dill stalks. . rock salt, white pepper and a little lemon zest... then onions tomatoes and capsicum layered over the top and finally a drizzle of white wine and some chunks of butter. . 15 mins each side and it was like eating marshmallows... simply superb... nothing like fresh caught and smoked fish eh ? ? what sort of fish did hubby catch. . ? ? We did well friday evening with some nice kingfish and snapper to 10-11 pounds. .

vintagekitty, Aug 1, 7:51am
I buy whatever is on sale and do my best to make an interesting meal out of it! . Its hard when you have a household that ranges from Toddlers to late Teens, and its hit and miss who will be here for dinner or how many. Lately Ive totally lost interest in cooking, so its the same old, same old.

darlingmole, Aug 1, 8:23am
ah fisher ~!

RE: Not sure how you get on with 9 different tastes. . likes and dislikes all thrown into the melting pot could cause you some strife, arguments and headaches I'd say... dont envy you:

It's SO simple.

2 rules apply at my home.

1:You'll get what your given and be damned grateful.

2. You'll be damed grateful for all that your given.

Quite simple really once they get the hang of it eh? ! xx

bedazzledjewels, Aug 1, 8:34am
I like that Darlingmole! Like that here too.

pamellie, Aug 1, 7:41pm
That sounds lovely. It was a kahawai, we are experimenting with the smoking at the moment trying to get the best flavour. Hubby would be jealous of your snapper, it's been a while since we've seen a one down here.

pamellie, Aug 1, 7:42pm
I so know how you feel there!

pamellie, Aug 1, 7:44pm
That's so true, unfortunately a lot of our children don't know how lucky they are these days.

Lucky you are not feeding them coke and chips for breakfast like the story on the news last night.

auntie6, Aug 1, 7:51pm
Lol - im living in the south of France for the rest of this year so am trying to adjust to BIG lunches and tiddly dinners i. e. bagette/ham/salad. Really hanging out for some thai green curry so can do some stirfrys - cannot for the life of me find any sort of stirfry sauces where we are - all visitors are requested to bring green curry sauce/thai sweet chilli sauce/hoisen sauce (and a loaf of vogels if they have the room - you just cant beat it! )

fisher, Dec 19, 9:41am
Sounds great auntie6. . we have friends in the SW of France who are in the USA for work. . when they go back we may pay a visit. . (2011) what part/town are you in. . ? ?
Surely must be some soy and worcestishire sauce about . . or see if you can order from UK. . or make your own as below...

1 stalk lemongrass. . minced OR 3 tbsp frozen prepared lemongrass. . 1-3 green chilies, sliced. . 1 shallot, sliced. . 4-5 cloves garlic. . 1 thumb-size piece ginger, thinly sliced. . 1 cup chopped fresh coriander/cilantro leaves and stems. . 1/2 tsp ground cumin. . 1/2 tsp white pepper. . 1/2 tsp ground coriander. . 3 tbsp fish sauce OR 1 tbsp soy sauce. . 1 tsp shrimp paste OR 1/2 tsp salt. . 2 Tbsp lime juice. . 1 tsp brown sugar. . 3-4 Tbsp coconut milk (enough to blend ingredients together). .
Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Process well to form your green curry paste. Freeze unused.