Let's get ready to rustle.... (the pots and pans and make lovely stuff!)

Me - the food fiend!

So why am I writing this blog? Well it came after a few people asked me to help them get organised and save money on their shopping bills. We all  work hard and don’t want to spend our time working out menu plans and comparing the prices of bananas vs grapefruits in a desperate attempt to make our weekly food bill a sensible price rather than the cost of a pair of lovely shoes.

I am a supermarket tart. I admit it. I love them. Don’t get me wrong I yearn for the ideal of cycling along on my bike (with a basket- obviously), popping into the greengrocer for some ripe tomatoes, strolling down to the butchers for a rib of beef for the roast and peddling along to the bakery for freshly made bread. Alas I live in London, I don’t have a bike with a basket (it’s a stupid boy bike!)and I don’t have the thigh muscles to cycle uphill with 3kg of potatoes on my back, so I have gotten into bed with the Supers.

 Some Pavlova handywork! 

I wish I could say the menu ideas in this blog all contain organic, low carbon footprint, seasonal ingredients but to be honest I don’t know when a chili is in season – all I know is that it is in the vegetable aisle when I need it. Maybe as my experience grows I will branch out and see about writing menus for seasonal foods and specific diets (yes my gluten-free beauties, you shall feast!).

The main purpose of this blog is to help people save money. Food bills are rising every week and unless you are organised/ have a store cupboard the size of Chelsea, you will slip into the costly world of ready meals, take aways and “bugger it let’s go out for dinner”. The Supermarkets know this and many of them have started their own meal plans and cost matching exercises (Sainsbury’s and Asda as far as I am aware) but they are mainly geared to families of four and to those with a massive amount of time available to compare the prices of beans across the South of England. And, the recipes are a bit…. Well, bland! I want zing! in my dinner and pow! in my lunch.

Each 5 day menu plan includes lunches and evening meals for two, I haven’t included snacks although I will make suggestions, as I wanted to leave some space for people to have their favourite things and treats! You will also notice this is only for Monday – Friday and not the weekend. This is something that works for me, normally there is one night a week when something pops up or we are invited out so there is something left in the fridge, or we might pop out to the shops (yep the ones in the bike dream) and pick up something fresh.  

Anyway – good luck and enjoy!