Yellow curry: a cosy family fave!

Family food on a budget

Okay, I admit it, I am inordinately excited about the return to a routine that the beginning of September heralds. It makes planning meals so much easier when I know what is planned for the week ahead. Between school, work, and activities we can have a hectic timetable each week and so I plan the meals around what we are up to.

While I might be based at home I’m still working full-time which means cooking elaborate meals with lots of preparation is something that never happens midweek. There is a myth that people who work from home spend breaks and lunchtimes cleaning the house and doing chores. The reality is that when you need a job to be flexible to your family’s needs you work at breakneck speed while the kids are at school and pray that you don’t get a phone call.

How can you make your meals flexible to your needs? The trick is to plan your meals around the range of work/school/activities and give yourself more time for everything else that is on the to-do list, which may or may not be as long as your arm. Also, I find that after a long day of work, going into the kitchen and facing a full-on meal to be cooked can be incredibly draining. I want more time to spend with my family and don’t want to be stuck cooking for hours at the end of a long day and I’m not alone in that.

Meals that fit the brief now that we are back in a routine include one-pan or one-tray recipes that I can pop into the oven and dish up with minimal washing up. The effort and time taken to clean after a meal is also a factor in my decision making and it should be in yours too. Yes I know the kids can, and do, get involved in the kitchen but time is at a premium and we’d rather be doing something else.

Then there are big casseroles or stews which are perfect for generating rib-sticking nourishment on dreary days. These meals involve little more than assembling the ingredients and popping the dish onto the hob or into the slow cooker and waiting for the delicious results. This is a great way to cook cheaper cuts of meat until tender and enjoy the money-saving benefits.

As the seasons change we will have oodles of fresh Irish root vegetables to cook with and they can be bought for very little money in the supermarket. Root veg is suited to roasting on one of those one-tray recipes or slow cooking until tender. Sticking to seasonal and Irish food will keep our meals on a budget and support our local economy, what’s not to love?

On the topic of a meal made with Irish vegetables, I’m sharing my Thai yellow curry recipe this week which is the perfect match for those root veg. This meal serves a family of 6 generously. If you’ve small kids in the family then you’d feed more than a family of 6 easily from the dish. Yellow curry is not chilli-spiced or hot; it’s more a gentle warming meal so perfect for all ages, in fact my youngest has been eating this meal since they were weaned. I specifically allow for a small jar of Thai curry paste in this recipe which costs €2.63 but I typically get between 5-7 meals from each jar so it works out very budget friendly over the course of a few months. The entire cost per portion from SuperValu works out at 95c per person, however, you may be able to find certain ingredients cheaper elsewhere and make it more of a budget meal.

The cheapest in my sample shopping basket this week once again is Lidl.

My second recipe this week is a quick pancake recipe which is perfect for making the night before and then finishing quickly in the morning.

Thai Yellow Curry recipe by:Caitriona Redmond  A gentle belly-warmer, suitable for the whole family Servings 4 Preparation Time 20 mins Cooking Time 30 mins Total Time 50 mins Course Main Cuisine Asian Ingredients 400ml hot water/vegetable stock 400ml tin of coconut milk 3 tsp Thai yellow curry paste 2 small onions, diced 1 tsp sugar (optional) ½ tsp salt or 1 tsp fish sauce (optional) 1 bag carrot, broccoli, and cauliflower mix 5 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed 1 tin chickpeas, drained 1 chopped red pepper 300g frozen peas Method Pour the hot stock into a large pot and add the diced onion, sugar and salt. Cover and allow to boil for five minutes. Take the pot off the heat and stir in the curry paste and coconut milk. Stir well so that the coconut milk is combined with the stock, this will prevent the liquid from splitting. Add the carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower along with the chickpeas and chopped potatoes. Stir well to make sure they are coated in the sauce then return the pot to the heat and cover. Leave the pot to slowly bubble away for 20-30 minutes. After which time add the chopped red pepper and frozen peas. Cover again and simmer for a further five minutes before serving.

A gentle belly-warmer, suitable for the whole family

400ml hot water/vegetable stock

400ml tin of coconut milk

3 tsp Thai yellow curry paste

½ tsp salt or 1 tsp fish sauce (optional)

1 bag carrot, broccoli, and cauliflower mix

5 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed

Pour the hot stock into a large pot and add the diced onion, sugar and salt. Cover and allow to boil for five minutes. Take the pot off the heat and stir in the curry paste and coconut milk. Stir well so that the coconut milk is combined with the stock, this will prevent the liquid from splitting.

Add the carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower along with the chickpeas and chopped potatoes. Stir well to make sure they are coated in the sauce then return the pot to the heat and cover. Leave the pot to slowly bubble away for 20-30 minutes. After which time add the chopped red pepper and frozen peas. Cover again and simmer for a further five minutes before serving.

Lazy Porridge Pancakes recipe by:Caitriona Redmond  Get these prepared the night before and stick 'em on quickly of a morning! Servings 2 Preparation Time 30 mins Cooking Time 10 mins Total Time 40 mins Course Main Cuisine American Ingredients 50g plain flour 30g rolled oats 1 medium egg 60ml buttermilk Pinch of salt 1 tbsp sunflower oil (or similar) for frying Method The night before you want to eat these pancakes put the flour, oats, egg, buttermilk and salt into a large clean jam jar with a tight sealable lid. A Kilner-style jar or plastic flask also work well here. Seal the lid tightly. Shake the heck out of the jar. Turn on the music and pick a seriously good and long tune. Give the jar to small people in the house, and let them shake it (under supervision if it's a glass jar). Once you're sure that you've combined the ingredients as best you can, put the jar in the fridge. Don't worry if there are lumps, they will work out overnight. If you see that there is some flour stuck to the inside of the jar maybe just use a fork to loosen it. The following morning, give the jar a quick last shake, and heat a frying pan on a medium heat with the sunflower oil. Use a tablespoon to drop small amounts of batter onto the pan. Cook for three minutes either side or until golden brown. I like mine with jam but they would really set you up for the day with some crispy bacon and maple syrup.

Get these prepared the night before and stick 'em on quickly of a morning!

1 tbsp sunflower oil (or similar) for frying

The night before you want to eat these pancakes put the flour, oats, egg, buttermilk and salt into a large clean jam jar with a tight sealable lid. A Kilner-style jar or plastic flask also work well here. Seal the lid tightly.

Shake the heck out of the jar. Turn on the music and pick a seriously good and long tune. Give the jar to small people in the house, and let them shake it (under supervision if it's a glass jar).

Once you're sure that you've combined the ingredients as best you can, put the jar in the fridge. Don't worry if there are lumps, they will work out overnight. If you see that there is some flour stuck to the inside of the jar maybe just use a fork to loosen it. The following morning, give the jar a quick last shake, and heat a frying pan on a medium heat with the sunflower oil. Use a tablespoon to drop small amounts of batter onto the pan. Cook for three minutes either side or until golden brown.

I like mine with jam but they would really set you up for the day with some crispy bacon and maple syrup.

Just in time for batch baking and making your own lunchbox treats, Aldi has a bakeware sale next Thursday, September 8. There’s a Kenwood hand mixer on sale for €21.99 which is a decent price and actually, this is the mixer I use myself at home so if you are looking for a mixer on a budget then head to Aldi next week.

A wholemeal sliced pan is reduced to 69c at the moment in Lidl, making it the cheapest sliced pan I can find. They were flying off the shelves in stores this week which makes me wonder how many sliced pans there are in freezers nationwide for later on in the week. I may or may not have picked up a few myself!

You might have spotted a viral video this week online where a shopper in the UK compares the prices of Marks & Spencer for value items like milk, bread, and eggs to Sainsburys. Of course, we don’t have a Sainsburys in ROI but we do have quite a number of Marks & Spencers (M&S) food halls so I took myself to my closest one last weekend to do a quick price check. 

I’ve always associated M&S with more expensive grocery shopping but was very pleasantly surprised to see the milk, bread, eggs and several other products being comparable in price to the top five Irish supermarkets.

The lesson here is not to assume that because a shop is perceived as ‘high end’ that they don’t have value for us as shoppers. There is money to be saved no matter where you shop so long as you are careful about what you buy and what you spend.

A number of readers have been in touch to say that they have been unable to benefit from special offers in Tesco without a clubcard. Please take this as a reminder that most special offers in Tesco are limited to clubcard holders only and you will need to bring your card to the shops, or use the app on your phone, to benefit from the best value.

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