Comfort foods

[moira finnie]

I use coupons for stuff like shampoo, detergent, etc. or use the store brand. I never buy processed meals like mac and cheese, though Lean Cuisine is about the best of a bad bunch if you're having a busy week. Also, with a modicum of effort, I'm usually able to make a decent meal from scratch that tastes better too. You're right. The fresh stuff is always nicer and far healthier.

[JackFavell]

I occasionally buy a frozen meal in a bag or two, to have when I have a migraine or feel sick, just so I don't have to really cook if I'm not feeling well. It's not even the cooking that bothers me, it's usually thinking up what to have. Other times, I will just pick up a store roasted chicken. I try to really cook most of the time though.

I hope I didn't mention this already, I've been very scattered the last few days. Last night I started dinner late, and so I thought I would open some tuna and use it in something. I peeled and cubed some potatoes quite small, threw them on a baking sheet with a light layer of oil and salt and baked them at 375 for 22 minutes. I took them out, spread the canned tuna and shredded cheese over the top, broiled it for 3 minutes to melt the cheese, and made some green beans to go with it. It came out great with a minimum of effort.

[moira finnie]

I occasionally buy a frozen meal in a bag or two, to have when I have a migraine or feel sick, just so I don't have to really cook if I'm not feeling well. It's not even the cooking that bothers me, it's usually thinking up what to have. Other times, I will just pick up a store roasted chicken. I try to really cook most of the time though.

I hope I didn't mention this already, I've been very scattered the last few days. Last night I started dinner late, and so I thought I would open some tuna and use it in something. I peeled and cubed some potatoes quite small, threw them on a baking sheet with a light layer of oil and salt and baked them at 375 for 22 minutes. I took them out, spread the canned tuna and shredded cheese over the top, broiled it for 3 minutes to melt the cheese, and made some green beans to go with it. It came out great with a minimum of effort.

Sounds really good, Wen.

[JackFavell]

Thanks, I was surprised I'd never thought of it before, it was so simple.

I'm trying to translate some recipes into gluten free versions, and so this one was kind of like a grilled cheese sandwich without the bread or mac and cheese without the mac.

[MissGoddess]

i've had potatoes in a tuna salad but never thought about the oven. i love the combination.

did you ever find your choc. cake recipe? not that i need another excuse to eat chocolate!

[JackFavell]

No. I could cry... I really loved that recipe, it was soooo good. I know you had to melt chunk choc. , and there was cocoa in the dry ingredients. I think it had 4 eggs, and I can't remember if there were also 2 egg whites, but something had to be folded into the batter, I think it was the melted choc.

sigh. it was yummy. I'm still looking.

I am in love with Salade Nicoise! I used to make it all the time when I was younger, but Andrew isn't as fond of it as I am so I haven't made it for a while. Think I'll make it next week. Need some green beans.

[Rita Hayworth]

i've had potatoes in a tuna salad but never thought about the oven. i love the combination.

My Mom used to make a casserole using tuna, potatoes (I believe baby reds), peas, pearl onions, spices, and some type of cream and sprinkled Special K cereal on top and place it in the oven for certain temperature for 30 minutes ... cool for 5 minutes and its ready to be served. It was quite good ... I might ask my sister-in-law the recipe - if she can find it and post it here.

[charliechaplinfan]

I have a couple of the things in the freezer for emergencies or when I'm not feeling well, usually fish steaks or pizza but they are a last resort, I like to make food and feel a bit cheated when I can't make from fresh.

We have coupons and the range of prices you can paay for certain staples like peanut butter is crazy. The one I really can't understand is toilet bleach, who os going to pay £2 for bleach to go down the toilet when you can get it for 49p yet the msin supermarkets carry the dearer ones but never the cheapones, I have to go to another retailer farmfoods which is a freezer and tinned goods outlet to get it but I'm not paying £2.

Our problem has always been Joe, he's been really fussy from day 1 but he's grown up with a mindset that if it comes out of a packet it must be good whereas if we've made it from scratch it's second rate. I've cooked with him, baked, made meals and he's been really proud of himself, he's tasted as he's gone along said it's good then decided differently at the table. I'm glad to report that he's getting much better but it's gone against the grain with us. We both had parents who were forced to swallow food that we didn't like so refused to go down that avenue. Libby will eat anything with the exception of milk and milk puddings but she'll have yoghurts and cheese, two children brought up the same with differing results. I've never been able to figure it out.

[JackFavell]

I honestly think it's preset somehow in their genes, Alison, and has far less to do with what we make them try or not try.

I was raised to eat anything from oatmeal to barbecue, liver to fish and all kinds of spicy dishes. I didn't like some of it, but we ate it, I sat at the table once till 10 at night with liver on my plate. I have tried with Alice to always have her at least take one bite of a new food.

She enjoys seafood, fried frogs legs, snails, calamari, and sushi, but hates baked beans, green peppers, sandwiches, meats with sweet sauces, and peanut butter. Go figure.

[MissGoddess]

happily, you can outgrow most food snobberies. i'll never forget my rebellion against lentils. YUCK YUCK YUCK (and that's not stooges) was my response and i'd literally cry like a brat when my mother made me eat them. now....i LOVE them. i don't fix them like she did, though...i use lots of cayenne and a dash of tumeric and sprinkle feta cheese on top when served...but there was a time i'd run for the hills when i so much as heard the word.

moira, i signed up for Aldi's emails and the first one was full of pumpkin products.

[charliechaplinfan]

I hated vegetables when I was little, apart from salad veg and raw carrots. I discovered when I started cooking for myself that what I actually didn't like was how my Mum cooked them to death.

I used to have to sit at the table looking, usually at a brussel sprout that I just couldn't put in my mouth, I've sat there for hours. It was also my fault that my younger brother wouldn't eat veg and still doesn't.

[moira finnie]

This was an old New Yorker cartoon from the '20s, but it might as well have been me commenting. Except that you would have substituted the word "peas" for "spinach." Mom served 'em canned...aaaarggghhhh

Mom didn't seem to discover frozen or fresh vegetables of this type until I was leaving for college. It may have been because up till then she had four kids to feed and about 12 minutes to spend on making their dinner that they were not allowed to refuse.

[JackFavell]

oh my gosh, canned veg was the rule in our house, not the exception. I think everyone lived on canned peas, corn, green beans, asparagus (yuck), spinach(even yucker).... then frozen started getting popular, thank goodness!

[RedRiver]

We have one of the highest standards of living in the country

The cost in Kentucky is fairly low. Unfortunately, so are salaries! You really can't win.

not a good consumer. I probably overpay for everything

It's all about convenience. If I plan ahead, I'll get a bargain. As often as not, I just buy what I need when I need it!

[knitwit45]

Frozen has come a long way...remember those awful TV dinners in metal trays? Mom & dad wouldn't go near frozen foods for years.
I went to Trader Joe's today. It might be cheaper in NYC, but not around here... They did have Brussels sprouts on the stalk, but I couldn't remember how Moira said she prepared them. My local store is featuring 5 lbs of russet potatoes for 0.99c, wish I could send a couple of bags to Ms.G!!!