The Lockdown Survival Kit: Recipe Rescue

The Lockdown Survival Kit: Recipe Rescue

It’s not just toilet paper any more. By now we’ve all filled our cupboards to overload and we are hoping all that food will last in case the supermarkets suddenly run out completely and cannot be restocked. No amount of reassurance seems to be helping as far as food is concerned. All those cooking shows on the tele are fine and good but what if we can’t get all of the ingredients or worse case scenario any ingredients. Oh and don’t forget your spices and sauces. Mixed herbs and barbeque sauce go with almost anything. The best thing to do is buy cans of anything you can get and try to mix what’s in them with rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, noodles or pastry.

We are still able to buy fresh and that’s great but there are alternatives if you can’t get fresh. DON’T PANIC! Tinned tomatoes, pineapples, champignons, capsicum (in a jar), peas, corn, potatoes, carrots, beans, fruit for brekkie, frozen or tinned, are excellent. So is tuna and for those of you who want class in the kitchen, salmon. As for meat, stick to mince, one minute steak, snags or diced beef for stews. Here then are some easy recipes for you as a rescue pack.

Paella:  Mix rice with tomato soup packs, add peas, corn, chorizo and stir.

Omelette: Eggs, mushrooms (champignons chopped) and cheese. Mix, pour into a fry pan and cook at low heat.

Beef Stew: Diced beef or one minute steak, zucchini, carrots, onion, capsicums, barbecue sauce, diced tomatoes, add spices and garlic. Throw it all in a pot and stir. Cook everything together so that the juices mix. You can put anything in a stew. Tinned peas, carrots, corn, and anything else you can think of. So long as you add spices and sauce you are on a roll. Vegetarians can do it too without the meat.

Bolognese: Everybody loves it. Mince with Spaghetti or pasta. Do the mince in a separate pot, add tinned tomatoes or pasta sauce, add veggies, onions, mushrooms, capsicums. Mix it all up with spices, add to pasta and serve.

Chilli Con Carne: Use the leftover Bolognese sauce, add chilli, corn chips, avocado dip, cheese and you’re done.

Soups: Pumpkin and potato. Lentil and onion. Minestrone (tomato soup with pasta). Bean soup with anything. Be inventive. You can add dips to soup. French onion dip, avocado dip, capsicum dip and any other dip you fancy.

There are so many things you can cook so long as you have the right ingredients. Notice that we’ve suggested the same ingredients for more than one dish.

Pumpkins are remarkably versatile. They can be fried, roasted, boiled and baked. Fabulous not only in soup, but in stews, pies and scones. That goes for potatoes too. Mini pizzas too are great with tinned tomatoes, pineapple, and even pumpkin. Oh you can even use cottage cheese if you can’t get block cheese. Also fetta.  If there’s no bread but you have flour, mix with water and make a damper.

As for desserts, dry biscuits, crunched up and marinated in tinned fruit with sultanas or raisins cooked with apples and cinnamon work a treat.

Bon Appetite!

By Renee Lou Dallow

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