Leftover bread recipes

Some interesting thoughts on what to do with old bread at the Daily Telegraph.

Sightly stale bread is easy to rescue. Just toast it! Or even just warm it over in a low oven. It also makes excellent garlic bread - slice it down the middle, mix up crushed garlic and butter and spread this inside, and then bake the bread for ten minutes or so in the oven.

That's before you get to the hard old bread that makes breadcrumbs!

My favourite use of breadcrumbs is with butter, parsley and garlic, to make a delicious topping for stuffed mushrooms - or aubergines - or indeed tomatoes. Add a bit of grated cheese if you fancy something more filling. It also makes a nice crust for slowly roast lamb.

And of course there is always bread and butter pudding. I prefer mine with dried apricots rather than raisins, and a little cream added as justifiable luxury. It's also a great way to use up old croissants should you have any left over from breakfast.

More kitchen budget tips

A good article in the Times this morning shows how to economise in the kitchen.

Rather stupidly, though, this is presented as a woman's problem.

You're telling me that my male friend who spend a hundred pounds a week on prepared meals couldn't learn something too?!!

Single men are probably the worst at wasting money in the kitchen. Most of the ones I know were never taught to cook by their parents and haven't done much learning since then. I still remember when my father, newly single, proudly told me he'd just microwaved an egg... and spent two hours cleaning the resultant explosion out of his microwave!

New e-Book out

I've just released a new e-book on saving money in the kitchen, entitled "Cooking on a budget - eating well to save money."

It includes advice on smart buying - including details of how supermarkets try to trick you into spending more, where they put the cheap things they don't want you to buy, and when they reduce their prices on food that's going to be out of date the next day.

I've also included a set of 'recipes you can adapt'. Rather than being 'proper' recipes with lists of ingredients and quantities, they're more like inspirations for cooking - suggestions for ways to use particular kinds of food.

My guess is that depending on how clever you're being already, you can probably save from ten to forty percent of your budget after you've read the book and put the basic principles into practice.

But one alarming article I read while I was researching it suggests that many people could save a lot more. Apparently, most households are wasting up to half of the food they buy. If you're one of the worst, cut your waste and without changing the brands you buy, or the way you cook, you'd be halving your food budget! That's amazing.

The book is available through Payloadz and costs £3.99.