I am keen on the environment, it was latent for many years but in the last 10 I have tried to be green and ethical in my life and I have made a few simple changes (no aerosols, hardly any food waste, nozzles on taps to reduce water usage, recycling, composting). I use my oven to bake and cook a meal utilising all the shelf space. I try to buy fresh, I eat poultry/fish at most 2 times a week. I use the local markets and try to use mainly local and seasonal produce. I cook from scratch, I love one pot cooking and I use up leftovers and often cook 2 different meals in one pot using the same base. The latter is common in many countries and continents, I’ve eaten meals like this in Ireland, Morocco, Africa, Italy etc. I buy in bulk and sometimes split purchases with friends i.e. large market purchases of tomatoes or seasonal fruit which would spoil by the time I made my way through them. This is a win/win as it reduces the food bill and we all eat well.
I committed a little while ago to pulling together a menu for a month that was healthy, fairly local, easy to cook, economical to cook and that the total monthly spend would be £50 for 1 person. This would consist of £10 for the main store cupboard items and £10 a week for fruit/veg/protein etc. I know it’s possible to live off of £10 a week with a little effort but it was the making it easy and 1 pot and….
I am doing this for my sister from Wales whom I adopted when she came to London a year ago and stayed with me for a while. She didn’t know a lot of the basic kitchen skills, to bulk out meals and the simple tips for flavour and she bought badly and expensively. Considering she is on a starter wage I have helped her to come to terms with London and surviving on more for less. She is a bit of a glutton where food is concerned, if something is nice ‘she’ll be the first to admit that’ so portion control and self-control are also on the educational agenda 😉
So this is my first week and we have the food bought and I also have the first weeks meal plan ready and I introduced her to one pot vegetable rice topped with a fried egg last night post-shop. She did look in the pot for seconds but took them away for lunch today instead and did admit that she was full once she had left it settle. I will be updating with the meal plan in a couple of hours. I have included the shopping list so….. if you fancy joining in I’d love to hear your comments/thoughts.
