We couldn’t help but notice Oxfam’s Green Granny this week – she’s becoming somewhat of an internet phenomenon, posting videos on how to save cash and live better – the perfect combination!
In this video she takes some keen young cooks through their paces as they use up bread that would otherwise go stale in a delicious bread and butter pudding:
Did you know we throw away 1m loaves of bread a day in the UK? That’s a lot of potential bread and butter puddings. Instead of throwing away bread away why not try storing sliced bread in the freezer? Just toast slice by slice from frozen. Delicious.
And in another video she shows that, just like us, she’s a big fan of the shopping list. Our research shows that half of us have got the shopping list habit, but we don’t always stick to it… well, it is hard to resist a bargain and so provided I’ve got cupboard or freezer space for my special offer deal; it goes in the trolley with the things I have planned to buy.
For more on Oxfam’s Green Granny visit the Oxfam website, and if you’re reading this Barbara, we’d love to hear from you!
The Christmas festivities are a distant memory, Easter is still a few weeks away and there is nothing registering on the social calendar. Now is a great time to catch up with friends and it doesn’t have to cost much – a good thing as my wallet is still recovering. Read more…
Here are some of my favourite reads at the moment…
101 Things Every Cook Should Cook This blog is packed full of my favourite dishes. Recipes are really easy to follow, there are great cookery tips and even a bit of food news.
Souperior Fahara is a fellow blogger living off her leftovers! She has just started studying at Leiths School of Food & Wine so has become a poor student again. I’m looking forward to her tales about Leiths.
“The recession got you cooking more than usual but you’re not great at sizing up portions? The Portions Calculator measures perfect portions for unfamiliar and familiar foods, like pasta, that are notoriously difficult to portion correctly.
In my experience, Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day, is a great excuse to empty the fridge.
Pancakes are easy to make, perfect for the hungry hordes when they come back from school. But while they are delicious for tea, spread with jam or golden syrup, or a squeeze of lemon and a spoonful of brown sugar, pancakes also make a great supper dish. You can add almost anything and roll them up, in much the same way as a wrap.
With a well-stocked storecupboard, who needs to trek through the blizzard for groceries?
The snow is thick on the ground, you can’t get the car out of the drive and your local shop has sold out of bread and milk… what are you going to serve up for supper? It’s time to rifle through your storecupboard.
My top three storecupboard essentials all come in tins. If you’ve got tomatoes, fish and pulses in the larder, you can curl up by the fire, safe in the knowledge that your family won’t go hungry!
Has anyone been watching The Victorian Farm? The series has presented some interesting ideas about food issues a hundred years ago.
Last week, historian Ruth Goodman mentioned that it was possible to buy leftover food in certain shops in Victorian times. Places like hotels and gentlemen’s clubs made their surplus available for the poor to buy. A neat way of addressing food waste!
Kids can be fussy little blighters sometimes. I used to despair when I opened their lunchboxes to discover half-eaten sandwiches, apples with only a bite taken out and everything smothered in leftover yoghurt.
Until I came up with a few ideas to make their lunch boxes more exciting and encourage them to eat everything.
I went to four birthday parties last week, including my own. It was also my parent’s ruby wedding anniversary. I have managed to eat my own body-weight in cake in the last ten days.
It’s the same story every January – the excesses of the Christmas period seem to drift on for another month. I rarely make New Year’s Resolutions. I’ve learnt from experience that they require will power, something that – when it comes to cake – I just don’t have.
