Treat yourself without breaking the bank | Waste less, save more

Food waste is expensive for Canadians. According to the National Zero Waste Council, a family spends an average of $1,300 annually on food that they throw in the trash or compost. Before putting in a withered vegetable or an unappetizing leftover, “Wait! », wants to launch Nancy Bordeleau, passionate about cooking behind the blog Cinq Fourchettes.

Veronique Larocque

The Press

“Would you take $20, tear it up and put it in the trash on purpose? “, Nancy Bordeleau sometimes asks the tens of thousands of people who consult her website or who follow her on social networks. The answer is obviously no.

“Why do people have no problem putting food in the trash when it costs something? asks, in an interview, the mother of three grown children aged 24, 21 and 18.

If you saw dollar signs on the damaged apples at the bottom of your refrigerator, you would transform them without hesitation into a compote or a crisp, believes Nancy Bordeleau.

It is with a view to helping people reduce food waste and optimize their purchases at the grocery store that she wrote her most recent book, Treat yourself without breaking the bank — 75 empty-fridge recipes to save time and money.

With the price of the grocery basket still very high, this book filled with easy and economical recipes is all the more relevant.

“There are so many possibilities in the kitchen, you just have to let yourself go. […] You don’t need to break your little pig to eat well. And it’s not true that you have to eat only chickpeas to save money,” believes this autodidact who started cooking late, around the age of 30.

“I saw how it was a handicap for me not to know how to cook. How it cost me too much to buy ready-made meals,” recalls the one who studied accounting before taking over the reins of the Cinq Fourchettes blog six years ago.

One food, two recipes

The dishes featured in Have fun without breaking the bank have been carefully considered to maximize the use of each ingredient purchased.

In the first part of the book, Nancy Bordeleau offers recipe duos. Cooking beef balls for supper? We slip the remains into a submarine the next day. How do we reinvent lemon chicken drumsticks with grilled potatoes? We make a bacon potato salad.

By preparing brand new dishes from leftovers, “it doesn’t feel like you’re eating the same thing and it’s going to be a lot less monotonous,” thinks the food blogger. This avoids succumbing to the urge to order a meal at the restaurant.

The second part of the book presents “perfectly recuperated recipes”. “For example, if I made you use egg yolks for a recipe, I won’t leave you hanging with your whites. I tell you how to cook them so that you don’t get stuck with ingredients in the fridge,” explains Nancy Bordeleau. In this case, making a meringue or a pavlova are two interesting options.

For all tastes

And although vegetarian recipes are generally less expensive, Have fun without breaking the bank includes a wide variety of meat dishes. “It’s been six years that, on Cinq Fourchettes, I have been making menus every week inspired by flyer discounts. […] I know from experience what is often discounted and what can be done with it. It’s always cyclical. Something to please lovers of pork, chicken and beef on a budget.

Three tips to avoid wasting

The Press asked Nancy Bordeleau for some tips to avoid food waste. Here are three.

1. Don’t be afraid to go back to the grocery store

Planning a few menus when it comes time to do the grocery shopping is good. However, doing it over too long a period is risky, in the eyes of Nancy Bordeleau. “If you make a seven-day game plan and you buy all the ingredients, it’s sure that at some point, you’re going to have something unexpected, for example an outing to a restaurant. There, you are stuck with food that will rot in the fridge. According to her, it is better to go back to the grocery store rather than buy too much.

2. Bet on transparency

To see at a glance the food in her refrigerator, Nancy Bordeleau puts everything in transparent containers. “That way I see when a vegetable is starting to wilt and I need to use it. »

3. Be imaginative

Adapting the recipes according to the ingredients you have on hand helps to avoid wasting. For example, sour cream can be replaced with Greek yogurt. “Do some tests”, encourages you the owner of Cinq Fourchettes, who works a lot by trial and error. She has already served a neon pesto with a rather questionable taste to her children. “It’s not the end of the world,” she laughs, admitting that they still talk to her about it.

Blade roast declined in two ways

Is the blade roast on the discount this week? Nancy Bordeleau offers you two recipes taken from Treat yourself without breaking the bank — 75 empty-fridge recipes to save time and money. First, slow cooker pulled beef tacos, perfect to brighten up your day. Then, a tex-mex shepherd’s pie, which completely reinvents your leftovers.

Slow Cooker Pulled Beef Tacos

Yield: 5 cups (1.25 L) of meat

Preparation: 20 to 25 minutes

Cooking: 8:10 a.m.

Ingredients for the meat

• 2 tbsp. (30 ml) vegetable oil
• Salt and pepper
• 3 pounds (1.35 kg) boneless blade roast
• 2 small yellow onions, chopped
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 bay leaves

Ingredients for the sauce

• 1 to 2 tbsp. 1 tbsp (15-30 mL) pickled pepperoncini pepper, depending on your pepper tolerance
• ⅔ cup (160 mL) beef broth
• ¼ cup (60ml) lime juice
• ⅓ cup (75 mL) fresh cilantro
• 1 pinch of allspice
• 1 ½ tsp. (22.5 ml) cumin
• 1 C. (15 mL) dried oregano
• 1 C. 1/2 tsp (5 mL) salt
• Pepper, to taste

Toppings of your choice

Taco shells, chopped iceberg lettuce, diced tomatoes, grated cheddar cheese, sour cream, jalapeno peppers, fresh cilantro, salsa, lime juice, guacamole…

Preparation

• 1. In a skillet, heat the oil over high heat.
• 2. Salt and pepper the blade roast.
• 3. Sear the meat for 2 minutes on each side.
• 4. Place blade roast in slow cooker. Add onions, garlic and bay leaves.
• 5. Using a blender, puree the sauce ingredients. Baste the piece of meat with the sauce.
• 6. Close the lid of the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours.
• 7. Remove the bay leaves.
• 8. Using a fork, break up the meat and mix well into the sauce.
• 9. Serve in tacos with the toppings of your choice.

Tex-Mex shepherd’s pie

Yield: 2 servings

Preparation: 15 minutes

Cooking: 10 to 12 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup (250 mL) mashed sweet potatoes
• 1 C. (15 ml) unsalted butter
• 1 C. (15 mL) sour cream
• Salt and pepper
• ⅔ cup (160 mL) taco-style pulled beef (see previous recipe)
• 1 C. (5ml) olive oil
• ½ cup (125 mL) frozen two-color corn kernels, thawed
• ½ cup (125 mL) red and yellow bell peppers, finely diced
• ¼ cup (60 mL) cheddar cheese, grated

Preparation

• 1. Preheat oven to 400°F (205°C).
• 2. Mix mashed sweet potatoes with butter and sour cream. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• 3. Place the shredded beef in the bottom of two small baking dishes. To book.
• 4. In a skillet, heat the oil over medium-high. Cook corn kernels and peppers for 3-4 minutes.
• 5. Spread the corn and pepper mixture over the beef.
• 6. Spread mashed sweet potatoes over corn mixture.
• 7. Sprinkle with grated cheese and bake for 8 minutes or until warmed through. Finish cooking under the grill (broil) to brown the cheese. Taste.

Treat yourself without breaking the bank — 75 empty-fridge recipes to save time and money

Nancy Bordeleau

Editions Trecarré

175 pages