Caitríona Redmond: Creative thinking needed to budget for hungry children in grocery shop

This pocket-friendly orange cake ought to keep some wolves off the door... for a while, anyway

There is a problem with my quest to save money on my groceries - my kids are bottomless pits.

They like to treat the kitchen and the food I produce like an endless buffet and they are rarely sated. My boys seem to own several stomachs, one for mealtimes and at least one other for snacking, picky bits, and a separate stomach for sweet things.

This week the 11-year-old decided that turkey slices were his snack of choice and ate half a pack of them in the mid-afternoon slump between after-school snack and dinnertime.

If the younger lad is hungry, the 14-year-old is insatiable. He has a lot of growth to feed. We measured him recently and he is now 6 foot 1 inch tall with more to go we think, based on my family's genetics. All of this growth requires energy and that fuel comes from my kitchen.

Sticking to a tight grocery budget while making sure that my children can continue to eat like hobbits involves some creative thinking.

For main meals, I bulk up the plates with plenty of carbohydrates like rice, pasta, spuds, or bread. Complex carbs like these happen to be very budget-friendly, in particular pasta and rice so it’s easy for me to add a little extra to their plates or lunchbox. I extend stews and sauces by adding pearl barley, lentils, or split peas all of which cook slowly and give a little extra fibre and protein. Even a handful can make a meal stretch a little further.

When I am cooking with meat proteins I will supplement the protein I’m cooking with a tin of beans. Sometimes it’s as simple as heating a tin of baked beans and offering them on the side of the main meal. Bulking out a meal doesn’t need to be complicated, take it from me, often teens are just as happy with plain old baked beans.

If one of the lads tells me they are hungry I’ll offer them a choice. They can have a banana or rice crackers. Now that they are getting older they are more adventurous in the kitchen though, and will cook up what they fancy. Many is the time I have walked into the kitchen only to discover someone has made eggs on toast. While I welcome the initiative, I’m not a fan of the mess; we now have a rule that if you cook for yourself you clean up after yourself.

Boiled Orange Cake

recipe by:Caitriona Redmond 

This cake is surprisingly fat free with the soft texture coming from the 2 whole boiled oranges that go into the batter. The best thing about the cake is the incredible citrus fragrance that fills the house while it’s cooking.

Servings

12

Preparation Time

 1 hours 30 mins

Cooking Time

 50 mins

Total Time

 2 hours 20 mins

Course

 Dessert

Cuisine

 American

Ingredients

• 2 whole oranges (preferably organic)

• 375g coarse semolina

• 250g caster sugar

• 3 eggs

• 100g plain flour

• ½ tsp baking powder

• For the drizzle:

• 100g caster sugar

• 75ml orange juice or hot water

Method

1. Put the whole oranges into a large saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil with the lid on. Simmer for 20 minutes, strain off the water and top up again with cold water, bring to the boil for 20 minutes again. Strain off the water and boil again for 20 minutes. That’s 1 hour of boiling time in total. Strain the water and allow the oranges to cool before chopping into rough chunks and removing any seeds.

2. Preheat a fan oven to 170°C and grease a large bundt tin. Put the 2 oranges into a food processor and blitz until you get a puree. Add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor and blitz again to a thick batter. Pour the batter into the bundt tin and bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes (until a skewer pressed into the deepest part of the tin comes away clean).

3. Remove the cake from the oven once cooked and leave it inside the tin. Poke holes all over the surface with a cocktail stick or skewer. Combine the sugar and orange juice or hot water until the caster sugar dissolves (I just stir the ingredients in a mug). Slowly pour the drizzle over the top of the cake while it is still warm. Leave to cool completely before turning out and slicing.

4. Recipe Note: This recipe is also suitable for 2 lined loaf tins if you don’t have a bundt tin.

Lamb Hot Pot

recipe by:Caitriona Redmond 

Make double quantities of this lamb hot pot meal if you can. It freezes so well and the kids love it.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 4 hours 0 mins

Total Time

 4 hours 20 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 English

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp sunflower oil

• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped/minced

• 300g lamb (I use gigot chops which have bones in but lean & boned is fine too) chopped into bite-size chunks

• 50g plain flour

• ½ tsp each of black pepper and salt

• ½ teaspoon paprika

• 4 medium carrots, peeled & chopped into chunks

• 1 butternut squash, peeled & chopped into chunks

• 500ml boiling water

Method

1. In a large, heavy bottomed saucepan heat the oil on medium. Cook off the garlic in the oil. Meanwhile, take a big sandwich bag and pour in the flour, salt, pepper and paprika. Add the lamb pieces, seal and shake the bag well until they are coated.

2. Fry the lamb in the oil so that it is browned but not cooked through. Add the carrots and squash, turn in the oil for about 3-5 minutes.

3. Pour over with approximately 300ml of boiling water and put the lid on the saucepan. Bring to a simmer, then turn down very low and leave to cook for 2-3 hours preferably.

4. Season to taste before serving.