These are posts I never thought I’d write. I’m such an advocate for using fresh foods in my dishes that recipes using only long life and previously frozen fresh foods never crossed my mind. What also never crossed my mind was that 2020 would be a complete write off three months in and we’d be living through the worst global pandemic of our lifetimes. So here we go! I’ve adapted a few of my usual recipes to only use products from the pantry / store cupboard and anything frozen. The only exception here is eggs because they seem to have about a three week shelf life so unless we go into complete and utter lockdown for longer than a few weeks you’re good to go with the fresh eggs! And when lockdown hits you can freeze eggs. Yes you heard that correctly.
I’ll update this blog post regularly as I keep making more recipes so be sure to check back 🙂
Also any of the “fresh” ingredients I’ve included in recipes below have been preserved by either freezing or other hacks so check out the full list here of how to preserve your food or buying tactically.
BREAKFAST:
Shakshouka – One of my absolute favourite breakfasts. This tomatoey, smokey goodness in a pan is the prefect way to start your weekend. I’ve adapted it a bit from my usual recipe (above) to not include fresh peppers or tomatoes and added additional frozen veg in but it’s still delicious.
Ingredients:
- few sprigs of Parsley from parsley plant
- 1 tsp Paprika
- 1 tsp Cumin
- 1 tbsp Chilli Flakes
- 1 tin tomatoes
- 4 Peppers from jar of chargrilled peppers. (Dry off any oil before adding to the sauce.)
- 150g Cubed Frozen Butternut Squash
- Salt & Pepper
- Olive Oil
- 4 x Eggs
- Feta for topping (feta is long life cheese before opened but should be used within a week of opening)
Method:
- cook butternut squash in boiling water for five minutes to soften from freezer.
- Slice up chargrilled peppers and simmer with the butternut squash in olive oil with paprika, cumin, chilli flakes, slat and pepper.
- Once butternut squash is soft add the tin of tomatoes and let thicken. (5 mins ish) If you want to add more intensity at this point add more paprika / chilli flakes.
- Crack the eggs in and salt the yolks. Cook for around 5 minutes until you can see the bases of the eggs are almost cooked.
- Crumble feta over the top of the dish and place under the grill until the egg whites are fully cooked.
- Chop parsley and sprinkle on top.
Porridge
Porridge is one of the easiest and best long life foods. So porridge week has made an impromptu return whilst we hide up in isolation. A few recipes below.
Blueberry and Cinnamon Porridge.
Take frozen blueberries, water, cinnamon and honey and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes until it forms a compote.
Take coconut flakes and toast in a pan on dry heat.
Cook porridge and put blueberries, walnuts and toasted coconut on top.
Tahini, Sesame & Honey Porridge
Once the porridge is cooked stir through a tablespoon of tahini, a big squeeze of honey and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
Cherry, Chocolate & Walnut Porridge
Cook the porridge with oat milk and a tablespoon of cacao. Once the chocoatley porridge is cooked add a handful of frozen cherries on top and some crushed walnuts. Add honey to sweeten.
Smoothies:
Smoothies are just the best way to start the day. Especially during a phase of lockdown where access to fresh fruits and veggies is going to be more difficult. By prepping and freezing fruit beforehand you’ll have access to un-compromised smoothies every single day.
Green Smoothie:
- Frozen fruit – mango, pineapple, banana
- Oat milk
- Lemon or lime juice
- Cashews
- Seeds
- Spinach
- Spirulina powder
Berry Smoothie:
- Frozen berries – blueberries, blackberries
- Frozen banana
- Oat milk
Chocolate, Cherry & Walnut Smoothie
- Frozen cherries
- Frozen banana
- Walnuts
- Oat milk
- Seeds
- Tbsp cacao
- Drizzle of honey
Vitamin C Smoothie:
- Frozen mango / pineapple
- Frozen banana
- Oat Milk
- Tsp Turmeric
- 2cm of grated ginger
- Tbsp lemon juice
- Superantioxidant supplement (I get mine from The Organic Pharmacy)
This one has a real fiery kick and I only drink it when I’ve got a cold. An acquired taste but I feel like it’s doing more good than harm.
Avocado On Toast:
Did you know you can freeze avocados?! Well I guess we are 100% going to get through this lockdown if we can still have avo on toast. Hallelujah!
To prep your avocados buy them fresh, halve them and peel off the skin and remove the stone. Place in a freezer bag and remove an avocado half the night before to thaw. More hacks like this are available on my long life foods hack post here.
A few fave avo toast combos for me are as follows:
- Avocado, olive oil, smoked salt and cumin.
- Avocado, olive oil, lemon juice and feta.
- Avocado, lemon juice, salt and chilli flakes.
- Avocado, olive oil, dry toasted cannellini beans and salt.
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