What to have when there's nothing in! (Snacks and Standbys)

Member Name: marymoose

Product:	Snacks and Standbys
Date:	10/12/08 (259 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: All relatively cheap and simple!

Disadvantages: Not all healthy!

Whilst searching for somewhere to put my pork chilli recipe yesterday (I put it in the healthy category in the end if you'd like to check it out!) I came across this one - Snacks and Standbys. That got me thinking about what foods we have in our house for when "there's nothing to eat" and we need a proper meal, or what we have when we just fancy a snack or light lunch. Generally hubby and I cook a lot of food, and don't like to cheat really, but sometimes there just isn't the time to be creative.

Perhaps you'll get some ideas, perhaps you won't!



---Baked Potato---

There's few things more versatile than a potato. If I was going to take my time then a proper baked potato would have to be one down in the oven with a proper jacket (aka a jacket potato - or Jackson potato if you've read my Egypt review). However, sometimes there is just not time. So, get your potato, draw a line down the length of it with a sharp knife, cross over the lines several times, rub in olive oil, salt and black pepper. Put in the microwave on full heat for 10 minutes (or longer if not soft inside). Take out, and put butter on - then top with something exciting. My favourite would be a tin of tuna mixed with mayonnaise and salad cream (aka tuna mayo!), and then some grated cheese on top (you could put it under the grill if you want it to melt - but I like the contrast of hot potato and cold tuna/cheese). Baked Beans are also a good alternative, and we always have them in the cupboard. I won't add beans on toast as a separate food, I presume if you can put a potato in a microwave that you can put bread in a toaster!



---Frozen Corn on the Cob---

Often for a weekend lunch I'm in the mood for a corn on the cob. However, this is usually not when I've bought a corn on the cob! Therefore I always have mini frozen corn on the cobs in the freezer on stand by. You need at least 2 and you put them in a pan of boiling water and simmer for about 10 minutes - serve with butter and black pepper - lovely!



---Sausage and Mash---

This is an ideal food for when you've not got anything special to eat and haven't got anything out of the freezer. We always have a supply of frozen sausages in our freezer which can be cooked from frozen (that's what the packet says!). They're not the best sausages (I think the best sausages really need to be cooked from being thawed out, or not frozen in the first place as ours are). Cook the sausages, and use up your old potatoes to make mashed potato - boil potatoes as usual, then mash adding in a knob of butter and splash of milk - if you're feeling daring you could add a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard. You can either do baked beans, or peas and gravy - I use Bisto (you could even fry off that old onion to add to the gravy) - the choice is yours - lucky you! Alternatively if you have no sausages there might be some fish fingers lurking in the back of the freezer - you could do fish fingers and mash instead!



---Crumpet Pizzas---

A nice quick simple lunch is a crumpet pizza. This would of course assume that you have crumpets. But, if you do, gently toast the crumpets, spread a thin layer of tomato puree on them. Put on any left over ham from the fridge and cover in grated cheese - put under the grill for a couple of minutes. This is the sort of meal that kids would probably enjoy making and putting what they wanted on top - I don't have kids so I wouldn't know!




The final two are cheating as they are recipes using a pre-bought packets (which cost about 70p unless on offer) - but we always have these in the cupboard:


---Tuna Pasta Bake---

I love tuna pasta bake, and although hubby is an excellent cook, he still hasn't managed to make a sauce which I like as much as the pre-bought ones - there are Colmans and Schwarz versions of the Tuna Pasta powder, and I have no preference. Essentially you put the powder in a pan and gradually add milk until it simmers. However, as a twist what I like to do is fry off a chopped onion and some garlic in the pan first in some butter. Anyway, when the liquid boils you add a tine of tuna and a tin of sweetcorn.

Meanwhile boil up a load of pasta. Then mix the pasta in with the sauce (I do this in the dish), and put mixture into an ovenproof dish. Cover with grated cheese, and crushed crisps if you have them. Put under the grill for 5 minutes or so. Then serve with salad (if you have it!).



---Carbonara---

Carbonara is something we often have on a Monday - sometimes if we've been shopping we go as far as buying a pre-made sauce, or if we're not being extremely lazy we'll make a proper sauce from scratch. However, these packets (Schwartz) are great to have in - basically all you need is to add milk to the powder whilst heating up the milk. Fry an onion (I do this as you're meant to put in mushrooms and hubby doesn't like mushrooms) and a packet of bacon (I generally have bacon in the freezer and if you're pushed you can defrost it very quickly in boiling water - don't think you're really meant to though), then add the sauce. Meanwhile cook spaghetti or other pasta - when done mix the two together, and if you're hungry have garlic bread too (always useful to have in the freezer)!


---Finally---

It's always useful to have some tins of soup in the cupboard, Bachelor's Pasta and Sauce, some noodles (to knock up some sort of stir fry), and if you have bread which isn't mouldy toasted sandwiches are always good for a light lunch. Important to also have picked eggs in the cupboard - you never know when you might fancy one.

I have gone on quite enough now!

Summary: My lunchtime snacks, and main meals when we have nothing out of the freezer!