Holiday food prep

I can't believe it's Friday already! But I've had a lovely relaxing sort of week just pottering around the house and garden.  Just what I needed.  First thing on Monday I got a delivery.  Doesn't look like £100 of food does it??  I'm hoping this will see me through the month with just a few fresh fruit and veg top ups.

First thing was to get the chicken, some potatoes and the butternut squash in the oven. 

Then I split some turkey breast mince (750g)  into 2 portions.

400g went into my turkey con carne with a ton of grated veggies and red lentils

The other 350g became turkey meatballs.  I found a tip that said instead of adding dry breadcrumbs to chicken/turkey mince try soaking the slices of bread in water (or milk) to keep them moist.  Squeeze out the water and add it to the meat and spices.  GF bread is really dry so I was chuffed that it really helped them stay moist!!

I made my cheesy stuffed baked potatoes with goats butter and cheese.  Very nice!  The chicken was stripped, portioned up and frozen.  The bones made stock that became chicken and rice soup.  The butternut squash was simply mashed and I've been having it as one of my veggies in each meal.

So I got 8 generous portions of cooked chicken meat, 4 portions of turkey con carne, 9 big meatballs (3 meals), 10 potato halves and a huge pot of chicken and rice soup.  As usual some was shared with eldest DS.

The Teenager was home briefly so I emptied my cupboard and freezer of all the foods I can't eat so he went back to student land with a ton of good food and I made more space by using up yet more stuff.

I used up some GF wraps and goats cheese to make a quesadilla

 I chopped another one up and fried it to make...

...crispy tortilla style chips to dip 

I popped into Dobbies (I was on a mission in Lakeland, more details to follow 😉) and scored a few bargains in their food hall.  You know I love chestnuts especially bargain ones for a cheap protein.  I also got a jar of organic dried thyme for 50p that should have been £3.99!!  The lid had a wee crack but the seal was intact.  The pistachios and corn rolls were just snacks 😉

I've really enjoyed being in the kitchen this week with a few on going experiments to follow🍜