Day 22: Economy Gastronomy

Taking inspiration from this book Joel bought for me a couple of weeks ago I have started meal planning. I openly say I hate cooking and the fact that I have to think of things for tea everyday annoys me - I wish our bodies were just happy to take a holiday from eating sometimes to do other things for a change and that that didn't harm them in any way. Since that isn't case instead I dream of one day I might be a millionaire and first thing I would do would be to employ a chef. I'd rather clean, do laundry, decorate, wash the car... anything but cook everyday. However...I'm not a 'ready meal' person and totally hate the evil that is MacDonalds...you only have to watch 'Supersize Me' or play that old 90's computer game 'Theme Park' to know the ethos of businesses like these are totally wrong and I dont want to invest any pennies into keeping a business working which exists to addict people and destroy their health...it's exactly the same as smoking (Joel has never been in my bad books more than the time I found a happy meal toy in the car) My value is eating well, 5 a day, including superfoods as much as possible in your diet, homecooked food, avoiding processed anything where possible and so I do have to cook and I'm happy to say that I have children that do eat really well. Holly is amazing... I was particularly strict with her as a baby and now think its quite funny that she ate plain organic brown rice, food processed with water instead of packeted baby rice. She ate every kind of superfood and fruit and veg - all steamed or raw to keep the flavour and nutrients in. She now hates processed meals, cordial, fizzy pop... I dont have to try to make her eat good stuff - she has a naturally healthy taste. She has packed lunches at school - not because she is fussy- its a money thing and is quite happy to eat homemade seed bread, carrot and corriander soup and fruit while her friends tuck into crisps and tomato ketchup sandwiches... it does happen in real life... not just on Jamie Oliver!
So this book is aimed at giving you good recipes for good hearty food but with the aim to have a limited stock of ingredients which means less waste and better use of food. While a lot of these recipies still look a bit on the expensive side for us at the moment...anything involving salmon and filo pastry shouldnt really appear in a money saving recipe book surely! So using the few things I know I can cook on the cheap and healthy I'm using the inspiration of the no-waste idea and working a two week plan for meals. Prior to this we decide at maybe ten past 5 what we might have to cook that night... ummmm... not a great strategy. So I now have a shopping list which should cover every thing we will ever need which is 3/4 of an A5 notebook of writing... it's an exciting prospect that it ?COULD? revolutionise our shopping! My aim is to cut a third of our shopping budget to make space for Christmas... yes, I have started the present shopping!