My Foody Bloggy
Why?
Okay this blog is a demand blog from some friends of mine (Lucinda and Jube!)
Due to financial reasons I have to food plan, I have always done it and have some cracking recipes, of which most look like the most complicated thing ever yet are really simple things to make with the simplest of ingredients.
My essentials
Kitchen equipment:
- Slow cooker
- Scales/measuring cups (handy if using American recipes)
- Electric mixer with whisk attachment
- Cheese grater
- measuring spoons
- plastic and ceramic mixing bowls (several as I am a messy cook and can have several things on the go at any one time)
Cupboard essentials:
To be fair I don't stock pile things, I tend to buy whats required if I don't have it or have run out, but like most things, they last a while and if you only use a pinch of this and that......!
however a a rough guide
- Worcester sauce
- Tabasco/hot sauce
- light/dark soy
- mustard powder
- mustard English/wholegrain/Dijon
- Vinegar, red wine,white wine, cider, balsamic
- all herbs
- all spices
- All types of stock cube
- breadcrumbs
- Flour plain/self raising
- Baking poweder
- Arrowroot
- cornflour
- cocoa powder
- all sugars
- all pasta types
- chopped tomatoes
- passata
- canned beans
- canned veg
Fridge essentials:
- Butter (salted/unsalted)
- Pasty any kind
- milk
- dounble cream
- cheese
- fromage frais
- cream cheese
Time to get..........
Organised!!
Cook books, recipes, food apps and other such things.
To start with you need to meal plan, to do this you will need a selection of recipes for inspiration, to make life easier in the beginning, get a selection of cook books and start to sift through them, later on you can use apps and websites to source out possibilities, then just make note of ones that you like etc
Apps
Some are good, I like free apps (who does not!). Some are okay and will offer up free stuff but then require finances to access more (my opinion on this, meh, ambiguous). Some require a fee or subscription, Why? dont get this bit, as 99.999999 % of recipes are available online, in a blog etc anyway, so why????
I like Yummly
Just as an example ........
Websites
There are loads, loads and more loads!
Sooooooo
oooooooo there are 7 days in a week (feels like 12 sometimes!), plan your meals around when you like to go shopping, mine tends to be on a Friday when its my day off, so Friday morning I sit down look through the cookbooks and decide what I fancy cooking.
Make things easier by mixing in a slow cooker recipe with a 30 min meal, with a 2 hr preparation meal, then I can cherry pick what suits me best on the day.
So an example this is this weeks menu :-
Beef and Bean hotpot bake
Pork and Garlic bread bake
Fish and leek grills
Bacon and tomato risotto
Sausage and butter bean bake
Turkey and macaroni
BBQ pulled pork
As I said I don't specify a day as this allows flexibility as sometimes you don't know how your day will go xxx
