Don’t disregard bacon mis-shapes

We don’t  eat a lot of meat, and we definitely don’t eat a lot of bacon because of the nitrates. However, every now and again I will buy a packs of bacon mis-shapes as a treat or to add flavour to my food. It is suprising the quality of the bacon you get in them. Yesterday I bought 2 packs to cover the winter period. They cost me 75p each from The Company shop. For those that don’t have access to this, I have found that the quality of the B&M one is usually good and it was £1.20 the last time I looked. Meat is becoming a luxury and so these are a way of making it afforable.

The packs  usually weigh just under a kilogram. That is a lot of meat. Some of it may be smoked, some not. Some of it may be chops, some slices, and some bits. When I get a pack I break it up and put it into portions to freeze. The picture shows what was in one pack. Those chops are thick. Not bad for 75p.

Mr S will have a chop when I make his favourite mixed grill next month. The rest will make various meals which I will list later.

In my 20s I was vegetarian for nearly a year but a bacon sandwich, passed to me on a long distance walk through the night, was my downfall. I love bacon but I know a lot of it is not good for us as it has a lot of cholesterol in it, and it is a processed meat which have been shown to increase the risk of cancer. It is also expensive. Four or five times a year I will buy a packs of bacon mis-shapes to satisfy that bacon taste. I know that they are not the best quality bacon, (though often I am suprised how good they actually are), but they are cheap, versatile and  I can make a lot of meals for little money.

For me half the fun is not knowing how many thick or thin slices I am going to get, and adapting my meals and recipes to what I find. I always take some on holiday so that we can enjoy a bacon sandwich.

Bacon freezes well for about 3 months, though I am often guilty of freezing it for longer with out noticing any difference in texture. Here are some of the things we use it for. I will often get 6 to 8 meals from one of these big packs and use it for main meals, lunches and breakfasts. Sometimes it is the main ingredient, but at other times it just adds flavour.

1. I add a few bits to bubble and squeak to use up left over mash and cabbage. Also using the residue bacon fat to cook these in adds taste.

2. Pigs in blankets. I only make these at Christmas now but my kids loved the bacon wrapped around the sausage when they were younger.

3.  Adding a few bits of cut up thicker bits to a pizza topping with pineapple.

4.  I use the cut up thicker bits in pasta with a white or cheese sauce.

5.  Bacon sandwiches with brown sauce.

6.  In mac and cheese to make it feel more luxurious.

7.  In a quiche.

8. With beans and cheese on a baked potato

9. BLT sandwich

10. Chicken and bacon wraps with salad (in a flour tortilla)

11. Egg and bacon wraps for breakfast (you only need a little bit of bacon).

12. Bacon and cheese wrap (like Mcdonalds). We crisp them up in the air fryer.

13. Egg and bacon pie

14. Elvis sandwich which is bacon, banana and peanut butter on white bread (Mr S loves Elvis but hates bananas and so won’t even try these). An American friend introduced me to these.

15.Bacon and beans with mash (I add chopped onion, a bit of tomato sauce, a bit of the chopped thicker bacon and a bit of paprika to half a tin of baked beans for the two of us.)

16.Roasted with vegetables in the oven (the taste seeps into the veg and I use the bits with more fat on.)

17. Bacon pancakes (cook the pancake in a pan tinged with the bacon grease, and scatter cooked bacon in the batter.  Sometimes I will put some bacon in a carbonara sauce and put inside pancakes and then crisp them up in the air fryer like those frozen ones you could buy in the 70s.

18. Chicken wrapped in bacon and baked (nice stuffed with cheese too)

19. Bacon wrapped around cubes of white fish on a skewer

20. Bacon wrapped around asparagus (good for streaky bits)

21. Cooked and baked in bread.

22. Cooked with sprouts

23. Bacon, cheese and apple toastie.

24. I add some chopped, cooked gammon bits, or some crispy thinner bits to salad.

25. Add crispy bits to cheese scones

26. Added to minestrone soup

27. To pad out chicken in a pie

28. Use in a bolognaise or lasagne with lentils instead of mince

29. Eat as gammon with pineapple or egg

30. Making soups like chicken and ham, pea and ham etc

331.Half a chop as part of a mixed grill.

32. Add to a rice and vegetable dish.

Some people use bacon in sweet dishes eg chocolate and bacon bark or chocolate and bacon brownies, but I have never tried iit.i do like it with maple syrup and pancakes. The thing I have have found is that if you can only afford a few ingredients it does not mean that food has to be boring.  There are always lots of ways to add variety to your food. How would you use the bacon mis-shapes?