Foody thoughts
Mar. 31st, 2009 04:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayWhen I got back from England, I made a decision that I'd get a bit better with my food planning and budgeting. Every week I was spending too much on food and ending up with far more than I needed, often ending up throwing things away. I'd write a list without any real idea of what I'd do for meals during the week (other than vague thoughts of perhaps a chicken something) and then end up adding lots of things on whims as I went around the store.
Not a good method. And expensive.
I do my grocery shopping on Fridays (so that fresh ingredients for special weekend meals are as fresh as possible without needing freezing) so I sit down on Wednesday or Thursday and plan out the menu. Then I write the shopping list from that. It's been working really well. The new menu goes up on the fridge every Saturday (I do Sat-Fri just in case I can't get to the store on Friday) and the old menu goes into a drawer. This way I have records of what I've done to refer back to when I get stuck for inspiration. It also means that I can get a better balance between cheap, tasty yet nutritious food and more expensive, tasty and nutritious food.
Anyone interested in a weekly menu post? Yes? No?
It's been working really well, but this week it has fallen over. Saturday was supposed to be Ginger Beef with Broccoli in the slowcooker. My aunt decided that she didn't want my shoulder taxed and bought me dinner at a local steak house instead :-)
Sunday was going to be either left-overs from Saturday if there were any or sausages, mash and veg. I decided to substitute the sausages for shrimp cakes (because I forgot to defrost the sausages - d'oh!) and couldn't carry the potatoes from the market, so the mash was left out.
Yesterday was supposed to be pesto baked chicken with pasta. And it actually was! But I'm not very happy with it. The pesto I tried had a better consistency than the last lot (i.e. not a few herbs floating in a ton of oil) but there was no flavour. None. It smelled a little herby, but flavour? Missing entirely. I still have a bit of it left, enough for a serving of pasta with something else. Bugger. I'm going to check out the Italian deli in the city at the weekend. If I can't find anything decent there, I'll be looking for my own recipe.
Tonight was going to be pork baked with apple and some veg. But apparently I overestimated the amount of pork I had, which is in fact, er, none. So I took some frankfurters out of the freezer because they were the first thing to come to hand and I was in a hurry. No, I don't know what I'll be doing with them yet.
I've forgotten what I was doing tomorrow. Something with minimal effort because it's Skype night with my parents. Thursday is home made beef burgers with salad, because it is both very fast to do (shape mince into patties, dry-fry, slap on buns, put dressing onto salad, voila!) and filling, which is important on knit night. Friday is marked as freezer-dive and veg, so probably filo wrapped shrimp.
Surely nothing else can go wrong with this week's menu?
Not a good method. And expensive.
I do my grocery shopping on Fridays (so that fresh ingredients for special weekend meals are as fresh as possible without needing freezing) so I sit down on Wednesday or Thursday and plan out the menu. Then I write the shopping list from that. It's been working really well. The new menu goes up on the fridge every Saturday (I do Sat-Fri just in case I can't get to the store on Friday) and the old menu goes into a drawer. This way I have records of what I've done to refer back to when I get stuck for inspiration. It also means that I can get a better balance between cheap, tasty yet nutritious food and more expensive, tasty and nutritious food.
Anyone interested in a weekly menu post? Yes? No?
It's been working really well, but this week it has fallen over. Saturday was supposed to be Ginger Beef with Broccoli in the slowcooker. My aunt decided that she didn't want my shoulder taxed and bought me dinner at a local steak house instead :-)
Sunday was going to be either left-overs from Saturday if there were any or sausages, mash and veg. I decided to substitute the sausages for shrimp cakes (because I forgot to defrost the sausages - d'oh!) and couldn't carry the potatoes from the market, so the mash was left out.
Yesterday was supposed to be pesto baked chicken with pasta. And it actually was! But I'm not very happy with it. The pesto I tried had a better consistency than the last lot (i.e. not a few herbs floating in a ton of oil) but there was no flavour. None. It smelled a little herby, but flavour? Missing entirely. I still have a bit of it left, enough for a serving of pasta with something else. Bugger. I'm going to check out the Italian deli in the city at the weekend. If I can't find anything decent there, I'll be looking for my own recipe.
Tonight was going to be pork baked with apple and some veg. But apparently I overestimated the amount of pork I had, which is in fact, er, none. So I took some frankfurters out of the freezer because they were the first thing to come to hand and I was in a hurry. No, I don't know what I'll be doing with them yet.
I've forgotten what I was doing tomorrow. Something with minimal effort because it's Skype night with my parents. Thursday is home made beef burgers with salad, because it is both very fast to do (shape mince into patties, dry-fry, slap on buns, put dressing onto salad, voila!) and filling, which is important on knit night. Friday is marked as freezer-dive and veg, so probably filo wrapped shrimp.
Surely nothing else can go wrong with this week's menu?
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no subject
Date: 2009-03-31 07:07 pm (UTC)I always make my own pesto. Of course basil doesn´t last long and the only places I can get it fresh are Pete´s or the farmer´s market.
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Date: 2009-03-31 08:03 pm (UTC)It's also easier to work out "oh, hey, if I get a cauliflower this week then I can do xxx one day and then xxx two days later to get it used up" rather than impulse buying the cauliflower and throwing half a way when I can't come up with interesting things to do with it!
I've always used prepared pesto because I really liked a brand I had in England and I'm lazy. Pasta and pesto was my stand-by quick yummy lunch but I've failed to find anything I like here so far. I tried Classico and the texture was dreadful as well as having a nasty metallic taste to it. The one I tried this week came from the farmers' market and I'm definitely not trying it again.
Out of curiosity, what is your recipe? If the Italian deli fails to produce anything I'll definitely be making my own, but I've got no idea how!
no subject
Date: 2009-03-31 08:13 pm (UTC)Though I don't follow a recipe anymore, just make it to taste. As it's hard to get fresh garlic in the winter, I cut the cloves in half and pick out the little green part because it makes the garlic bitter or something. Also, toast the pinenuts in a dry pan over low heat. Just move them around a bit and as soon as they start to brown, take them off the heat. It will last at least a week in the fridge, maybe longer.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-31 08:21 pm (UTC)I've been cheating on garlic, largely because I never seem to use an entire bulb before it goes icky. So I've been buying the frozen things *sad face* Think they're called Toppits. So far, I haven't noticed any problems with the taste and at least it's a bit fresher than stuff that's been sitting around for two months in my cupboard...