Eating all the shit at the back of the cupboard
I've been regressing to my student dayz by making horrendous meal commbinations out of all the random shit at the back of my food cupboards, purely so WM Morrison doesn't get any more of my hard earned wodge than is absolutely necessary. Pasta sauce made from Heinz mushroom soup and worcester sauce, anyone?
(Smaug rocked out with his cock out on:, Sun 25 Jan 2009, 9:06, 12 replies)

Hmm...
No thank you.
(clumsyeloquence is a girl, Sun 25 Jan 2009, 14:42, closed)

That sounds tasty as!

(MrOli is ugly, but in the morning you will be sober, Sun 25 Jan 2009, 15:21, closed)

Try baked bean sauce
you just add some kind of fluid, water, wine, whatever, to beans and cook them whilst mashing them up to make a crude sauce. It's passable, especially if you add some spices.
(sailorspoon started wiping his own arse from, Sun 25 Jan 2009, 15:51, closed)

This
also makes a good soup.
( Olembe Refuses to write in this space, Sun 25 Jan 2009, 16:29, closed)

Other sauce alternatives
I have tried pasta with tins of:

* Tinned beef and gravy (add a bit of chilli sauce and loads of pepper)
* Chicken in white sauce (lovely with a bit of cheese in it too)
* Tinned mixed veg (healthy, but not tasty, so needs loads of seasoning)

Obviously, this was all when I was a student. Nowadays I cook gourmet meals from scratch each evening, naturally...
(SnowyTheWereRabbit the Leporid from Hell, Sun 25 Jan 2009, 16:20, closed)

Why combine them?
Just have a bowl of mushroom soup. I've never understood that compulsion to mix everything.
(GrimbleGromble, Mon 26 Jan 2009, 0:04, closed)

Pasta with mushroom soup
The Meal of [student] Kings!

Cover it with cheese, bake in the oven for ages. Mix with chicken soup as well for an extra-special dish!
( uberdeity Wondered why Owen Lars knew of the term "hell" on, Mon 26 Jan 2009, 11:24, closed)

baked bean sauce
normal homemade tomato pasta sauce, but with an added tin of baked beans due to not realising half way through emptying the can into the pan it was the wrong one.

Due to the credit crunch (and being a student) most things in my cupboard is Sainsbury's Basics - and they're all in white and orange tins, rather than red for tomatoes and blue for baked beans or whatever it normally is.

Wasn't too bad, but made far better soup.
(deadly_sinners, Mon 26 Jan 2009, 0:53, closed)

worcester sauce
Reminds me i was looking for something to jazz up some scrambled eggs yesterday and I found some of this in the back of the cupboard. It was only after I ate that I spotted the expiry date was December 2004.
(kebabking - salad and garlic mayo pls, Mon 26 Jan 2009, 10:44, closed)

Ah but did you know...
That the first ever batch of Worcester Sauce happened when an imported had barrels of anchovies, garlic and chillies in his cellar that he just left there 'cos he'd no idea what to do with it. Then after his death, years later, his son opened the barrels and tried to mix up the contents a bit... he rubbed them through a sieve, and there we had it! So I dunno if the date's that important tbh....
(Beer Elf Thought this was like a campfire, anyhow, on, Mon 26 Jan 2009, 14:02, closed)

Student cooking can still be good
I still have a cookbook produced by the UEA student's union. Most of the recipes are quite edible and bear a passing resemblance to the real thing. They also have the benefit of being pretty cheap to make. The most complicated recipe was this spag bol which I make the same way to this day (16 years on):

1/2 pound mince
1 onion
1 garlic clove
1 tin of tomatoes
1 tiny tin of tomato puree (or ketchup if you are desperate)
stock cube or gravy granules
oregano or mixed spices

Brown the mince and fry the onion & garlic. Drain fat. Mix the rest of the stuff in and cook for 20 mins. Meanwhile cook the pasta for 10 mins and serve.

If you want to get fancy, you can add sliced mushrooms, olives, grated carrot, red wine and olive oil. Any combination makes for a rich and delicious spag.

Same sauce ingredients plus kidney beans and chilli powder make chilli con carne.

The constituent ingredients add up to less than a jar of sauce and taste much better. For extra points, freeze a few portions for later.

I reckon learning and cooking 4 or 5 different meals will save you a fortune over your life. I also find that I far more enjoy eating food I've made myself than I do eating ready meals. Even if the food I make is terrible, I still look on it as a learning experience.
(MagicMoose, Mon 26 Jan 2009, 14:16, closed)

Don't do it!
There won't be anything left to eat when civilization collapses.
(Richy_T hundreds if not thousands of dollars, Tue 27 Jan 2009, 20:36, closed)