Yesterday saw me cooking the biggest turkey I have ever bought. I got it from Sainsburys at 1/3 of the pre-christmas price (£12.50 instead of £39) , and set myself the task of converting this beast into as many filling, calorie counted meals as possible. First I slow cooked the whole thing - minus the giblets- for 10 hours, yes 10 hours. With a small bath of water to the side and the turkey resting on 2lb of thickly sliced onion, a very succulent bird was obtained. I did not bard or baste the bird either, just covered with a triple thickness of foil and the oven set at 150C. It was also fortunate that I have a huge oven as the bird nearly touched the top ( from the lowest rack possible) !!
So from this one turkey I have obtained 2 x roast turkey dinners for 6 people (12 meals), tomato based curry (6 meals), rissotto ( 6 meals), stroganoff (6 meals), a box of sliced turkey breast that will fill around 4 big rolls/wraps, 24 'pasties' made with the spring roll pastry I use for samosas, etc.., I also used the neck to make a pan of wonderful soup (4 portions), then the rest of the 'giblets' ( liver etc.. ) I boiled up in a little water and then along with the set fat gathered from the stock from roasting the bird, made the dog some lovely biscuits. I scraped every last bit of usable meat from the carcass and this has given 4 meals for the dog and cat ( i will give them some dry biscuit with it to avoid too much richness).
I think I did rather well for my £12.50! The freezer now has 18 complete main meals, 11 complete lighter meals, the meat part of a Sunday dinner for 6 and a whole mountain of uncooked dog biscuits, to be baked a few at a time when the oven is on. The breast for todays dinner is already pre sliced and in a dish ready to pour over a good gravy and to simply warm through ( this keeps it truly tender). Katie (cat) and Alfie have already had 2 meals each, and tonight will have their 3rd leaving the last tomorrow morning. I am one very happy cook, spending a delightful few hours doing what I love to do most and knowing that it has produced so many meals from 60kcals - 350kcals. The best thing of all, proving that to eat healthily really can be far cheaper than eating junk.
😍😋🍗🍵🍛😛😃
As a bit of P.S. if anyone is interested in the doggy biscuits for your beloved pooch, here is the recipe. Half the weight fat to wheat flour ( I had 130g of turkey fat, so 260g flour), 2 tablespoons dried parsley, whatever meat you want to use blitzed finely ( I had 120g turkey giblets meat once took off all the bones). Mix all together and moisten with enough stock to give a soft rolling dough. Cut out your shapes and place on a baking sheet covered in non stick baking parchment. I then bake one tray at 160C for 45minutes, the other tray(s) I open freeze uncooked, then bag once frozen for future baking. Once the cooked biscuits are cold, put in an airtight tub, they will keep for about a week. Alfie gets just one each day, he is exercised well though so this treat is fine. 🐶🐓🐾
An old fashioned economic cook with an eye for a bargain hun 😊. I would love to accept the food hero label though. 😊
Wow Shellie,
Talk about turkey on overdrive !!! 😃 Love it, so many meals and how well planned and I thought sales where just about clothes and shoes !! Lol
Alfie must be champing at the bit for a bickie🐾🐾. A work colleague of mine used to make cheese ones and Calvin loved them but he's on rations now !!
Hope you are doing ok xx
😇
in reply to
I'm doing swell flossie 😊. I make cheese biscuits for the dog too sometimes, lol. My freezer has an awful lot of cheese in it at the minute as Tesco was selling off their cheese board boxes of 7 varieties at an unbelievable price of 40p instead of £4. I confess to buying 11 boxes!!!! I honestly could not resist, less than 6p per cheese!!! So there will be a batch if the cheese biscuits being made in the not so distant future, hehehe. 😂
in reply to
Oh Shellie you made me chuckle, I've got this vision of you pushing a trolley full of cheese and turkey !!! 😃
I thought I did well getting two packs of sliced smoked salmon for £2 in asda !!! You've beat me fair and square in the shopping stakes 👛👛👛
Only recently I was talking to a friend about boiling up my turkey carcass to make broth (soup) and she remarked about how likely/unlikely it was that younger cooks would do the same.
I'm a great believer in getting your money's worth out of everything and especially food. I take my hat off to you Shellie, a fellow thrifty cook, who loves her craft
PS I make doggy treats in a similar fashion using liver and an egg to bind, with the inclusion of garlic, which dogs go nuts for. I cut it into tiny pieces and use it as a training aid
I taught myself to cook/bake when I left home at 18 and vowed any children I had would be able to cook well. They could bone a cut of meat/chicken by the age of 10, and both have their own scrap books of favourite recipes. I do agree moreless that there are far too many that haven't the first idea of where to start with cooking, and especially how to convert leftovers and 'odds n sods' into a tasty meal. 😊
morelessAdministratorSS Supercook7 stone in reply to
I did exactly the same Shellie and my son is now a chef.
I used to work as a home carer and was horrified to meet another carer who had only ever eaten tinned carrots and had no idea how to prepare and cook the real McCoy!!
Sad really to see generations not being able to pass on the where-with-all to feeding themselves from scratch to the following generations. Scary to think a carer whose job in part is to help their clientele to have good nutrition hasn't a clue themselves. 😕
morelessAdministratorSS Supercook7 stone in reply to
Brillant for you what a bargin ...ive been cooking sausages had loads of richmond in freezer cooked 10 meals all with 5 vegtables..same thinking as im not going to waste them.lol..gave two of my neighbours a meal each them in there 80s ...they text me compliments to chef lol oh bless themxxx
This time of year is especially important to check in on our senior residents. sadly most of my elderly neighbours have passed away over the 14 years I have lived in my present home, leaving just one very lovely lady who is a pleasure to know. For the past few years myself and 3 other neighbours have ensured she has a hot meal every night, taking it in turns. She also goes to a 'lunch club' twice a week. If any of us are away, we either take her a couple of pre-made meals she can just ping in the microwave or arrange for one of us to take a double turn that week. My daughter takes her a meal if I am in bed after a shift if it is my day. We also always sit and have a cuppa with her so that she has company each day. It is a small thing to do, but so important to our lovely lady. 😊
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
