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?

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 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?

When I’ve got the choice between a starter and a dessert, I’m most likely going to pick the starter. I’m more of a savoury than sweet person in general (nothing sweet about me! – unless it’s chocolate ... but that warrants a post by itself) so Dim Sum is right up my alley. If you are lover of Asian cuisine you are probably familiar with the concept, lots of small delectable dishes, a little taste of everything to share with a group of friends.

We headed down to Chinatown on Sunday for a friend’s birthday and made a beeline for our favourite Dim Sum restaurant. It’s not the trolley variety, I find they can be a bit hit and miss, but one where every dish is prepared fresh and served to your table straight away, steaming hot.

A large pot of jasmine tea is a must and plates and steamers filled with grilled dumplings, paper wrapped prawns, Vietnamese spring rolls, steamed prawns Fun Gor, scallop and yam croquettes, some mixed meat glutinous rice and a large plate of Singapore style fried noodles – I’m in heaven!

We ate our bodyweight in shellfish but hey, at an average price of less than £3.00 per dish you can afford to go nuts. I haven’t been brave enough to try the chicken feet yet but maybe one day ... or maybe not! In the meantime I play it safe and stick to what I know and like. So if you haven’t tried it yourself, go on, give it a go.  Yum, yum!

Image Source (Chinatown): Wikimedia Commons