Shopping on a Sunday afternoon, I know it is not the best time for fresh food but I still expect to see food. I ended up needing to go to two different large chain supermarkets to get the following: a chicken, baking potatoes, chestnut mushrooms and a green vegetable. There just was not a lot [...]
I have been participating in Menu Monday for a while, after planning my weekly menus I have discovered that I am a boring eater/cook. The main reason for repeating meals is that I live alone and cooking for one is not that fun. Being single in your 20’s is a different kettle of fish than [...]
An egg is one of the most versatile and inexpensive items we have in our cupboards. We can eat eggs at anytime of the day not only at breakfast. They are high in protein and not so high in calories but do watch the cholesterol. Eggs are easy – they take minutes to make a [...]
I am always looking for new recipes for my packed lunch. Feeling quite frugal, I looked to Eat the Seasons because we all know food that is in season is the least expensive. On the June list for the UK was tomatoes, fennel, potatoes, watercress, and basil, among many others. June is a great month [...]
Our lives have gotten even busier with this recession. We are paying off debts, working on making extra money, trying not to be made redundant all while looking cool, calm and collected. How on earth do we find the time to cook? The slow cooker to the rescue! There has been a huge resurgence in [...]
Life in not looking so financially rosy for 2011 in the UK – you have undoubtedly heard that there are tough times ahead from the rise in VAT to 20% on the 4th of January 2011 to escalating food costs due to the bad wheat crop. House prices are all over the place and we [...]
Last week, I barely cooked at all, my very annoying sinus infection totally sidelined me, I went to work came home and crawled into my bed. This week, I am thankfully on the mend so I will be cooking between naps. Monday – Slow cooker red wine short ribs Tuesday -Mushroom ravioli with fresh tomato sauce [...]
A new addition to The Lean Times is Lean Reviews, where I will be reviewing books, apps and whatever else interesting that comes my way. For the premier Lean Reviews, I have chosen to review the new Jamie Oliver book, Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals. This book has been very controversial in the UK, firstly because [...]
As I have probably mentioned before I live pretty much alone, my beloved comes over a few nights a week but is not asked to help me in running my flat. That would be unfair. A few years ago I had a wonderful flatmate and we used to cook for one another. It was such [...]
I must apologize to my regular readers, I have been ill which is why I have not put my usual Thursday post up. This is also why I missed my Saturday market shop, the first one I have missed ever.Now, I don’t have any fresh food in the flat which puts me in a bit of a [...]
As we are sliding into the chaos that is Christmas, I am trying to stay as organized as possible. Over the weekend, I wrote out a list for all the gifts we are giving so hopefully there will not be too many last minute panics. I am going to try to make our week night [...]
This week I am joining the fabulous Penny Golightly for Tenner Week. Which means I will be using the Living Social deal, I bought for my beloved’s birthday in August, clearing out the freezer and using up what we have so we don’t need to buy much. The slow cooker will be working a lot [...]