Eat well on a budget

Tags

bananas, batch make, beans, big shop, BOGOF, braising steak, breakfast, cans, cereals, chickpeas, creamy sauces, crips, curries, eat sensibly, fibre, fish, fizzy drinks, freeze, freezer, Frozen fruit and vegetables, great tasting meal, green tea, healthy, hearty vegetables, highly nutritious diet, home, important, lentils, low-fat, lunch and dinner, meat, microwave meals, need, non perishable items, nutrients, nuts, pasta sauces, plan, recipes, salt rich dressings, save money, seal, shin, shopping bill, shopping online, shoulder, slow-cooker, smoothies, social media, stock, sugar tax, sweetcorn, takeaways, tinned tomatoes, vitamins, waistline, waste, Water with lemon and cucumber, work, yogurts

We all know how important it is to eat well and have a highly nutritious diet, but doing that a budget doesn’t always seem possible.

We have had a look at how you can eat well and save pounds on your waistline and shopping bill.

Have a plan
Boring, maybe. Effective, definitely. Having a weekly meal plan means no last-minute microwave meals or takeaways because there is nothing in the cupboard. You can cover breakfast, lunch and dinner for each day of the week and will find that in no time at all you will no longer reach for the crisps when you come home from a hard day at work because you don’t know what to eat.

Buy what you need
Doing a ‘big shop’ might not be helping your quest to be healthy or to save money. Buy what you need for the next few days, then that is what you have to eat meaning you will have less waste. You might also find shopping online, using the cheaper and free delivery slots, helps you stop going buying the BOGOF offers you don ‘t need instead stock up on cans and other non perishable items that can be cheaper when bought in bulk.

Shop late in the day
You will be amazed at the fresh produce that is reduced at the end of the day to ensure it sells. Bananas, fish, meat, yogurt and bread are all up for grabs at a knock down price so be savvy and save money.

Freezer happy
Freeze any unused food, batch make curries and pasta sauces and if you aren’t going to eat something before (see above) the ‘best before’ – freeze it.

Buy frozen
Speaking of frozen food, you will find you waste less if you go for these options in the supermarket. Frozen fruit and vegetables are just as good for you than the fresh varieties as they are picked at the peak of freshness and frozen to seal in their nutrients. You will find many frozen fruit and vegetables come pre-chopped, ready to use and in handy portion sizes which not only help you eat sensibly but also save waste.

Don’t be a brand snob
Yes, the big brands have a good reputation but things like tinned tomatoes and sweetcorn, cereals and nuts will taste just as good whether they are the supermarket’s own option or the shiny famous choice. Go on, give it a go.

Be pulse happy
Beans, lentils and chickpeas are some super cheap but also packed with fibre, vitamins and are low-fat too. Using them to replace mince or chicken in meals like chilli con carne or chicken curry and you instantly have a cheaper, healthier and even tastier option.

Buy meat for less
If you spend longer cooking your meat, you can go for cheaper cuts like braising steak, shin or shoulder. Putting these in a slow cooker with hearty vegetables and stock is a great tasting meal at a good cost and if there are leftovers, have them for lunch the next day.

Cook from scratch
Forget creamy sauces and salt rich dressings and instead prepare your food from scratch. Social media has a wealth of great recipes that are easy to follow and as you tuck in you know exactly what you are eating.

Think about what you drink
With the new sugar tax now launched, there is one more reason to cut out the nutritious poor fizzy drinks from your diet. Water with lemon and cucumber is a great hydrator, smoothies offer a fruity punch and green tea is a sensible coffee swap.

Eating the healthy way doesn’t have to cost the earth but it certainly can help save some money.

Team Pure-Beauty

Bolognese and Mary Berry – what’s all the fuss?

Tags

alive, authentic taste, boiling water, Bolognese, carrots, celery, chopped tomatoes, diced carrots, dish, double cream, Dried porcini mushrooms, dried sage leaves, family, fat, fettuccine, garlic, healthy source of protein, Italian mixed herbs, Mary Berry, media, minced beef, olive oil, onion, pan, pappardelle, pasta, Quorn, red meat, rich, salt and pepper, sause, sensation, slow-cooker, Soffritto, spaghetti, stock, surprise, tagliatelle, taste, thick, tomatoes, translucent, turkey, vegetarians, white wine

While Brexit and Trump are still toping the headlines, it was Mary Berry who stole the media show last week with talk about the ingredients of her somewhat unorthodox Bolognese sauce.

The kitchen veteran revealed that she added double cream and white wine to her sauce, but not everyone was impressed.

Whatever we thought of her ideas, she got on thing right by following the one rule of Bolognese, which is that it must not, under any circumstances, be served with spaghetti and rather pappardelle, as she uses.

For many families, Bolognese is a mid-week staple so we have put together a tasty recipe that will make everyone happy.

For one batch, you will need:

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 400g of minced beef
• 1 onion, sliced and diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 100g of carrots, grated
• 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
• 400ml of stock
• 400g pasta – ideally tagliatelle, pappardelle or fettuccine
• Salt and pepper to season

With the ingredients prepared, here’s how it goes?

• Heat the olive oil in a pan and once hot add the mince and a little salt and pepper. Cook the mince until browned then transfer to a bowl and set aside.
• Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan and gently fry the onions until softened and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for around two more minutes, then mix in the carrot and put the mince back into the pan.
• Next chuck in the tomatoes, stir and pour in the stock. Bring all of this bring to a simmer before reducing the temperature and cooking for around 45 minutes until the sauce is thick and rich.
• Cook the pasta as advised, we love fresh for a really authentic taste, then serve with the sauce and enjoy.

If you do want to have a little extra taste we do have some other ideas to bring your sauce alive.

Dried porcini mushrooms add a depth of flavour that will really surprise you. Soak the mushrooms for around 10 minutes in boiling water and add them into the sauce for a real taste sensation.

If you aren’t a big red meat-eater, why not use turkey instead. This is lower in fat but does need a little added flavour so cook this in a slow-cooker and add a few dried sage leaves over the finished dish, and enjoy.

Soffritto is a mixture of diced carrots, onion and celery, and adding it to your sauce adds extra flavour, colour and texture. Because it’s finely chopped, it clings more easily to the pasta, too.

You can add various herbs for added taste. A teaspoon of dried Italian mixed herbs added at the start of cooking, or a tablespoon of fresh, chopped oregano added to the meat sauce towards the end of the process, can offer depth as well as taste.

For vegetarians, you can swap the minced beef for Quorn, which is a healthy source of protein.

However you cook your sauce, enjoy eating it!

Team Pure Beauty