Top cooking tips

[clothmama]

Top tip for getting the fat of roast juices, drop in a couple of ice cubes, all the fat sticks to them - Kirstyh

Celery is a great tip, you can finely chop a bunch of celery and freeze it in bags or tupperware boxes, you can then just fling a handful of it in whatever you like and it adds a real savoury flavour that is great if you are cutting out the salt - northernruth

For minced onions anytime you need them, buy a whole bunch, put through the food processor and into ice cube trays. After about four hours or so, you can move them from the tray into a bag, and anytime you need some minced onion to start off a sauce or something, just grab a couple of cubes... - Joaninha

I do the same as Jonny with fresh herbs - Louise

Buy a bunch of scallions (spring onions) and keep them with their roots in a jar of water on your windowsill - you can just keep snipping the tops off them with scissors when you need them, and they'll keep for weeks this way and continue to grow for a good while! - Gayleygoo

Don't throw away the stale ends of bread - whizz them with a blender and store in the freezer in a plastic bag. It doesn't matter if you mix different kinds of bread. Use for coating meat, making bread sauce or stuffing. Or you can soak stale bread in egg and milk, fry in butter/oil, and sprinkle with sugar for a yummy lunch, snack or supper. Gayleygoo

Add Marmite to your bolognese and dark chocolate to your chili. Delicious! Bluebell

Please add your top tips here and a mod will add them to the list and delete your post to keep it all neat and tidy!

[clothmama]

Thanks Katherine I'd forgotten about this - has anyone else got any good tips??? I've been doing the celery one - love it and may just do the onion one as have a bit bag just now!

Soya Mince is my top cooking tip. Instant, cheap, complete protein. Rehydrate in a bit of broth or add directly to a soupy sauce to thicken (tinned toms, herbs and onions) and give protein. If your family is vegetarian resistant, mix half and half with meat mince to reduce fat intake, add sneaky fibre to your diet, help the earth and save your pennies. We can't really afford quorn products with our food budget as it is, but soya mince rehydrated in broth with a dash of soya sauce or a bit of marmite really does the trick.

Great to know about the freezing celery technique! I can never finish a whole packet so I never buy it.

Don't buy tins of chickpeas or other pulses, instead buy dried bags. Soak the whole bag (i usually do two bags) over night, and cook as per instructions. Once cooked , leave to cool then put into freezer bags. Lie the bags flat until frozen so they don't clump.

Soya Mince is my top cooking tip. Instant, cheap, complete protein. Rehydrate in a bit of broth or add directly to a soupy sauce to thicken (tinned toms, herbs and onions) and give protein. If your family is vegetarian resistant, mix half and half with meat mince to reduce fat intake, add sneaky fibre to your diet, help the earth and save your pennies. We can't really afford quorn products with our food budget as it is, but soya mince rehydrated in broth with a dash of soya sauce or a bit of marmite really does the trick.

Great to know about the freezing celery technique! I can never finish a whole packet so I never buy it.

i was gonna put thi tip about the half mince and half meat- we do that all the time. DH just cant go without a meat fix sometimes so i make spagbowl/ chilli using half a pack of 500g mince and 250g of rehydrated soya protein- he has no idea its half and half!!! hes never asked so i wont tell him. lol everyones a winner!!!

I LOVE this idea of doing a half and half. makes the transition easier!

To remove the fat from chicken soup wait till the soup has cooled and the fat has settled on the top and then place a piece of kitchen roll on top the fat will stick to it and be easy to remove