15p veg- ideas?

Tesco again had Holiday offer of veg, large bags of tatties, carrots, swedes and cabbage for 15p.

I'm so mean that I stockpiled and now have a small problem of trying to edge my way past the mountains in our kitchen. Thankfully all keep very well but in a 2-person household we might run out of recipe ideas. I'm all for traditional eating but potentially we'll start bleeding carrots in a week or so.

Does anyone have inspiring ideas?

So far here's the plan:

• Georgian style (= anything with sour cream and tomatoes qualifies as Georgian) cabbage casserole
• Swede casserole (traditional Finnish Christmas dish, essentially swede mash in oven with loads of cream) (But I might need a ham to go with it)
• Swede remoulade (grated with sour cream and some vinegar)
• Airfryer chips (awfully nice actually)
• Mash, gravy and something
• Mash, gravy and something else
• Mash, gravy and something else than else
• Cabbage soup (freezes well but Child doesn't like it- blackmail potential )

I'm considering pickling some carrots too.

Thanks for ideas!

 

Mixed veg soup whizzed in the liquidiser. Child will never know.

Shepherds/Cottage pie with a buttery mashed potato and swede topping.

Clapshot with haggis or almost any meat dish
Traditional Clapshot Recipe

Welsh Cawl. Cawl recipe

 

Stuffed cabbage leaves.
Carrot and swede crisps.

 

Stir fried veg with rice. Just stir fry the thinly sliced veg with a bit of sauce of your choice. Soy, plum, ginger, whatever. Or improvise with tomato puree, marmite, stock.

Fry up. Who made the law that fry up has to be made with yesterday's leftovers? Just cook up a load of veg, make some mash, smash it together, fry it. Serve simply with tomato ketchup.

 

Carrot-slaw...

 

Great ideas here, thanks!

Now I remember my Mum used to make flatbread with leftover mash- just add an egg, flour and liquid if needed and bake in hot oven.

Sadly, The Child is the vegetable cook of this household so might get a hint what is in the soup when chopping things up

 

I can never understand why people who are struggling say they cant afford fresh veg.

I think its mostly one of the cheapest food items, but they say they cant afford it and order a "cheap" pizza instead.

 

So many recipes in tv etc nowadays are Mediterranean, Middle Eastern or Asian in origin and the veg involved, tomatoes. aubergines, courgettes etc are more expensive than those used in traditional British and Northern European cooking … and the Mediterranean diet is supposed to be healthier, and many folk weren’t taught to cook by parents and grandparents since most mothers need to work full time

 

You could boil and mash a load then make ‘bubble and squeak’ (bit like @Clueless 1 v2 suggested as a fry-up). I think it would freeze ok too - particularly sims small ‘patties’. Served with a bit of grated cheese and dipping sauce/pickle is divine!

 

When I'm not using fresh veg I prepare and chop a lot to create mixed veg then freeze it. This is then used for various slow cooker meals.

 

@Dovefromabove I was at boarding school from the age of 5 until I was 16! I never had the chance to be taught how to cook anything even when I was home for the "holidays". When I did start to cook I was rubbish and did the shortest way to something that could be eaten. No idea if it was healthy. Years and years gone by I have learnt so much by just doing the cooking. I love to cook now and also love to use the fruit and veg from our garden in as many ways as possible. As @pete says you can buy veg cheap but many people don't want to spend the time doing something with it. Our society does mean that knowing how and what to cook is a lost art for so many. So sad.

 

Thanks for the inspiration all, we have been fed very well (and cheaply ) recently.

On topic of cooking, I know many people who are very good cooks as long as they have a recipe and the meal has a name. Spaghetti carbonara? Not a problem. Chicken biryani? On its way.

But... starting the other way around i.e. checking what ingredients they have and cooking a meal by improvising is something many are not comfortable with.

There's a new concept of home delivered boxes that contain a recipe (chosen by the customer) and all ingredients in pre- weighed portions. These are very popular amongst my friends. Example: Hello Fresh

I enjoy reading recipes but rarely use them unless I want to try something very new, such as some traditional Jewish dishes recently. It's much more fun to just start messing about with what I've got, and if things look sad, add some cheddar

 

I must be unusual then because this is how I prefer to cook. I can't remember the last time I followed a recipe. Probably in cooking class at school.

In our house, my wife will admit that I'm the more creative cook in our house. My kids now think it's perfectly normal that even if I say I'm making a specific meal, it will be different to last time I made it, and every other time, because as I've told them many times, I never do the same recipe twice.

 

The last time I followed a recipe was 2023 for Easter lunch. The recipe was in the 2023 Almanac...torta pasqualina. I would do the dish again but like others have said adapt it without constantly looking at the recipe. It was very good even though I say it myself!