Every few months I make a trip to our local Asian Superstore (I'm lucky, we've got 2 massive ones within a 5 mile radius of my house) to stock up on bits and pieces. Supermarkets are getting better and you can find a lot of sauces in the world section now but they can't rival the variety you get in a dedicated store. Besides that, if you go to an Asian market you will get a large 700ml bottle for the price of (or often less than) a 200ml bottle in the supermarket.

I love wandering along the aisles and just marveling at the wonderful, and sometimes weird, ingredients you can find on the shelves. My pantry staples include, but are not limited to, the following:

Soy sauce (light and dark), Oyster sauce, Sweet chilli sauce, Spring roll dipping sauce, Teryaki sauce, Chinese Marinade, Sesame Oil (gives a lovely nutty flavour sprinkled over noodles), tons of noodles (egg, rice and 3-minute noodles), dried chilli (you can get a HUGE bag for a few pounds, just chop them up in the food processor for a supply of chilli flakes or add them whole to dishes to add extra spice), Hoisin paste and my favourite - Tom Yum paste.

Most Asian meals are quick to cook, nutritious and economical - a little bit of meat goes a long way chopped up finely and bulked out with lot's of fresh vegetables and noodles or rice. Here is one of our favourite quick fixes, a tasty bowl of noodle soup that takes less than 10 minutes to prepare and always hits the spot:

Ingredients:

• 3-minute noodles (use any flavour you like)
• Tom Yum paste
• Ginger
• Red onion
• Garlic
• Cucumber
• Frozen Broccoli (or fresh if you happen to have some)
• Fresh coriander

Method (for 1 person):

1. Bring a bowl of water to the boil (I use my soup bowl to measure the exact amount of water I need) and quickly boil the broccoli to defrost
2. Remove the broccoli and add the noodles and seasoning that comes in the packet to the boiling water
3. Add a heaped tablespoon of tom yum paste and a clove of crushed garlic, reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes
4. In the meantime, chop up your broccoli, cucumber, red onion, ginger and coriander

Once the timer goes after 3 minutes it is time to pour your soup into a serving bowl, add the vegetables and sprinkle with coriander. 

Enjoy!

PS: Feel free to add any other vegetables you like or some prawns or left over shredded chicken for a meat version.

Have you got any quick and easy tasty meals to share?

The shopping is done, the tree is up, the relatives are on the way ... and then you have a look around and realise the house is still looking a little bare and you could do with some more decorations. Of course you can nip to your local pound shop and get some stuff there (above are a few decorations I picked up from Poundland the other day at the price of, you guessed it, £1 each). But if you haven’t got the time/energy/resources (delete as appropriate) fear not, here is a very nifty last minute decoration you can make with things you usually have lying around the house. Also great to get the children involved and keep them occupied over the bank holidays:

All you need for this 3D paper snowflake is: 

• Paper (I used normal white photocopier paper as it goes with my Winter Wonderland theme, but feel free to experiment and use different colours if you like)
• Scissors
• Tape and/or glue
• Stapler

There are lot’s of tutorials for it online, I found this one from wikiHow very useful: 
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-3D-Paper-Snowflake

Or for a more visual approach, here is another detailed one from Youtube. Don’t get put off by the measuring, I didn’t bother being that precise and did my cuts by eye and my snowflakes turned out just fine:

Have you got any money saving decorating tips? Please share in the comments section below. Merry Christmas!

We all know that the worst thing you can do is to shop for groceries when you are hungry. You have a craving for everything and anything and end up with a mountain of mismatched products that won’t make a meal. I feel the same can be said about hitting the supermarket without a shopping list. I know it takes extra time to plan ahead and might be a little inconvenient, but it pays as you end up with much less to no waste, don’t need to pop back to the supermarket every night because you are missing a vital ingredient for dinner and it most certainly works out much cheaper than just going gung-ho. The time it takes you to plan will be saved during the week as you already know what you are going to do without having to wreck your brains after a long day at work. So it saves you time and money which you can spend on more fun activities than grocery shopping.

The first thing I do is check what I have already got and what produce needs using up. I always keep an eye out for special offers, especially meat and fish, when shopping so I usually end up with a fairly well stocked freezer.

Then I work out how many meals I need to plan for. Most weeknights we eat at home but we often spend weekends with friends and don’t need to cook.

Once I know exactly how many dishes I am aiming for my favourite part of the planning starts. Out come all the cookbooks and I start leafing through for new exciting recipes or old time favourites we haven’t had for a while.

We both like variety so we try to make something different each week. By mixing up different proteins our diet stays varied and we don’t get fed up too quickly. This is a loose formula that works for us:

·         1x poultry dish (chicken/turkey/duck)

·         1x pork dish (pork/bacon/sausages)

·         1x lamb or beef dish (lamb/beef/mince)

·         1x fish/seafood dish (fresh, canned or frozen fish/prawns/squid/mussels)

·         vegetarian dishes for the remainder

We tend to cook larger portions as it doesn’t make a difference time wise whether you cook for 2 or for 4. Any leftovers are used for lunch the next day (I recommend “Save with Jamie” for great left-over recipes!) or go in the freezer for those days you just can’t bear to spend any time behind the stove. Things like Bolognese sauce are easy to make in large badges, freeze really well and come in handy for lot’s of dishes. You can portion them up before freezing, then take the individual packages out as and when you need them. Half the work is already done , all you need to do is to add a few extra ingredients for Spaghetti Bolognese, Chilli Con Carne, Lasagne, Moussaka, Stuffed Peppers or Cottage Pie.

Once I’ve got all the ”big decisions” out of the way I just add the staples like milk, bread, breakfast, fruit, snacks etc. I don’t get too hung up about these and often make an ad hoc decision in the store based on current offers.

We keep a blackboard in the kitchen (it is not exactly the one pictured but something very similar) where we scribble down anything we run out of while it is fresh in our mind (e.g. quick note when using the last bit of the tin foil, garlic, ketchup etc.) so a last check on there finalises my list and I’m off to the supermarket for one big sweep to see us through the week. If I find any good offers during my travels I stock up and put them in the freezer for the following week together with any meat I might not use until the end of the week to keep everything fresh and safe.

We love it as it takes a lot of pressure off during the weeknights and we save money on top. Of course, nothing is set in stone, so if we don't fancy what we've got planned for the night we just switch it up with something else from another day. Or we just can't be asked and opt for a pizza from the freezer instead and push everything back by a day. It's supposed to help us, not punish us so we don't get too crazy strict about it.

Do you plan your meals and shopping in advance or are you more spontaneous in your approach?

PS: Yes, I know there are a lot of Jamie Oliver Books, and that's not even all of them. Hands up, I admit it, I am slight obsessed.

I’ve always been a fan of scented candles but this year I seem to be particularly fond of them. Isn’t it lovely to have a warm glow and a nice fragrance filling the house when the days get shorter? So cosy and comforting when it is cold, miserable and dark outside. Unfortunately my hubby didn’t really share my enthusiasm, that is until we went to stay with friends in Las Vegas earlier this year. They had a scented candle, which smelled a little like pecan pie, on display and every time he walked past it he commented on how much he loved the smell. Music to my ears as that meant I now had an ally and could go out and indulge in candle shopping without the raised eyebrow from DH.

I used to be quite content with the cheap and cheerful Ikea variety as long as the smell was pleasant enough, but that changed when I was given a beautiful Designers Guild Peony scented candle by a friend. The fragrance is intoxicating without being overpowering and it wafts through the entire house. My Ikea candles can no longer compete, in comparison the perfume is so faint that you can only pick it up fully if you sit right next to it.

I am a convert and do believe now that this is a case of “you get what you pay for”, but I still couldn’t bring myself to spend £25 or more on a candle. So I was absolutely delighted when I found an entire wall of delicious smellies in my local TK Maxx. I spent almost an hour sniffing (pardon the pun) out a bargain to the point of feeling slightly nauseous and dizzy. Tough research but it had to be done and I learned that some of the well-known names and highest priced products don’t necessarily smell the best, so I’m glad I didn’t get seduced by the biggest savings but went with my nose instead. I came away with 3 gorgeous candles for my Christmas gift stock (only 2 of them in the photo below as the third is already wrapped up as a Secret Santa gift for work) and I love how they come in beautiful containers that can be used for storage afterwards – waste not, want not.

Do you like scented candles? What’s your favourite fragrance?

Please note: This post is not sponsored and I am not paid to endorse any products or services.

Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against Kindle. I think it's a great space and money saving device, but nothing beats the real thing. I so prefer the good old fashioned paper books, the feel, the smell, the dog ears, the lot.

If you are still in need of some Christmas presents, head over to The Book People website, with the above voucher code you get an extra 20% off all orders. But hurry, offer ends midnight tomorrow! You'll also get free delivery when you spend over £25, 3 for 2 offers on selected authors and a free gift when you spend over £40.

Here are some of my personal favourite bargains from the site:

Click on the titles below to be redirected:

Mr. Men - 50 books: £32
Little Miss - 37 books: £25
Vintage Hemingway - 8 books: £8.99
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series - 5 books: £6.99 (I love them, I've got them all and they always cheer me up)
Charley Boorman - 3 books: £3.99
How to Crack an Egg with one Hand: £2.99
Sexually, I'm more of a Switzerland: £2
Keep Calm at Christmas: £1

What are your favourite reads? Are you still sticking to hardcopy or do you prefer Kindle?

Not sure if it is the lead up to Christmas that makes everyone slightly mushy but love is definitely in the air. There seem to be an increased number of engagement announcements in our circle of friends and family and celebrations are being held left, right and centre. A bottle of bubbly would be the obvious gift but personally I like to add something a little more imaginative into the mix. 

Whilst spending the weekend at friends of ours I noticed their toddlers playing with these little books. They loved them, probably because they are pint-sized just like them. Intrigued by the title I took them to the guest room with me for some light bedtime reading at night and that was it, I couldn't stop and kept my hubby awake with my giggling.

Each book contains hundreds of snippets of entertaining advice, most so outdated and some so politically incorrect that it makes for a good chuckle, but there are also a good few that still ring true a hundred years later:

Don'ts for Husbands:

"Don't insist on giving holidays to the servants during your holiday on the ground that your wife can 'manage' at the seaside. You are not the only person to be considered, and it's no holiday for her to be tied to the children day in and day out while you go golfing or fishing. Probably she would like to golf or fish as well if she had the chance." (Servants? I wish!)

"Don't expect your wife to do all the cheering up while you do all the giving way when things go wrong. Share and share alike." (Hear, hear!)

"Don't forget to buy your wife a pair of gloves occasionally. She will always be pleased to have them." (Personally, I prefer something more liquid ...)

Don'ts for Wives:

"Don't forget to wish your husband good-morning when he sets off to the office. He will feel the lack of your good-bye kiss all day." (Immaculately dressed and coiffured I assume?)

"Don't say 'I told you so' to your husband, however much you feel tempted to. It does no good and he will be grateful to you for not saying it." (Not bad advice actually and still very applicable)

"Don't let him have to search the house for you. Listen for his latch-key and meet him on the threshold." (Needless to say with a glass of his favourite tipple. Those were the days ...)

I think these books make a fun little gift (for anyone who is happy to take the advice given with a pinch of salt and remembers that they were put to paper in 1913!) for engagements, weddings, anniversaries or just as stocking fillers for Christmas. You can buy them at Amazon for £3.15 each or you might be able to get them cheaper on Ebay. There seem to be a few of them around at any one time and prices vary depending on condition and seller. Check them out if you are in need of a little light entertainment and nostalgia, I really enjoyed picking through those pearls of wisdom.

Image source: Wikipedia

Please note: This post is not sponsored and I am not paid to endorse any products or services.

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while but then forgot until I got reminded overhearing a conversation between 2 middle-aged, middle-class men on the train this morning. Come to think of it, it was actually more of a monologue. MAMCM 2 was just very agreeable:

MAMCM 1: I used to pop over to France all the time to fill up the car with booze and food from the supermarket over there, but now it’s not worth it anymore. It’s the same price at Tesco ...

MAMCM  2: Nod and pause in thought

MAMCM 1: ... or Lidl actually.

MAMCM  2: Nod

MAMCM 1: I used to go past there and never went in. Thought it looks dirty, nah, not for me.

MAMCM  2: Nod

MAMCM 1: But then I did. Bottle of Chardonnay, £4. And it’s very good, couldn’t tell the difference. Obviously they’ve got different brands there. And the Prosecco, £5 ...

I couldn’t help but to quietly smile to myself whilst listening to them.

Aldi is the number 1 discounter in Austria and has been ever since I was born. We all grew up on Aldi food, EVERYONE shops there, regardless of income or social standing. I’d say you’d be hard pressed to find a household that does not have at least a few Aldi products in their pantry. From quality food and award winning wines to laptops and washing machines. You can even buy vacations from Aldi now and my friends who tried it had an excellent time.

So I have to admit that it pains me a little that there still seems to be a bit of a stigma attached to Aldi and Lidl in the UK. I’ve been shopping there long before the glossy TV ads and newspaper spreads and I’ve heard it all. From the polite “I’ll check it out” (yeah right, the smirk on your face says otherwise) to the downright ignorant and rude “I’m not eating that foreign muck”.

Have you noticed the difference in the ad campaigns of the major supermarket players and the discounters? The former is showing off how much money they can save you, “live well for less”, “every little helps” and “always low prices... always” whilst the latter constantly seem to have to proof that the quality of their products can rival the likes of Waitrose and M&S. Why? Maybe because the general public is still not convinced and unless there is a label they recognise on their sausages they dismiss them as rubbish?

Marzipan Stollen, German Gingerbread and Spekulatius Spiced Biscuits

Well, I like quality products and I like low prices and I like shopping at Lidl and Aldi. Both have their pros and cons, I prefer the fresh vegetables, cold cuts, bread and wine at Lidl whilst I’d rather have the seafood, fish and frozen products from Aldi. But one thing remains, I’m proud to admit I save money by shopping at discounters and I certainly won’t lose a jewel in my crown by doing so. How about you?