Economy Gastronomy

I've really enjoyed this show. I am just vegging on the sofa watching the last episode on the sky plus after a bit of a draining day. I find Allegra slightly bolshy and annoying but I like the principles that they follow, and it's the kind of advice I wish I'd been given years ago when it comes to cooking. Some of their advice on creating good food for less, and not wasting any leftovers, I have learnt myself in recent years, but some things are new to me, like wrapping your fresh herbs in damp kitchen roll to lengthen it's life in the fridge.

The core of their advice is meal planning, having a bedrock recipe and not letting ANYTHING go to waste. I try meal planning to a degree, but sometimes in our lifestyle at least, things come up - Jon will be late home from work or away, or we will be away or something else going on. I guess this is where the freezer comes in. As for bedrock recipes, I do this with roast chicken - roast on Sunday, make a stock with the carcass, make risottos and sandwiches with leftover meat, but I know I need to expand my repertoire there with lamb and beef on Sundays. Maybe that will be my autumn project. I need to up my red cell count on my current treatment so some good quality red meat in moderation is probably a good thing anyway.

We've got much better at not throwing out leftovers. Since we started doing the council food recycling scheme a couple of years ago, I have become acutely aware of the amount of food that can get thrown out if you don't freeze or over buy and end up throwing out old vegetables. I just found it really wasteful and embarrassing to be buying food and throwing it away.

So I guess at the moment I am quite inspired to follow their advice. I had Allegra in my ear at the weekend and froze all the broken cookies that didn't make it to the party and have just had some defrosted in the microwave so warmed through with some dairy free ice cream for pudding. I try and not have puddings too much, but it had been one of those days and am sure Allegra would have been pleased.

For all I have moaned about Allegra, bless her, the other presenter Paul Merret is pretty cool - and it turns out he is the chef at our local gastro pub - The Victoria. Secret Sheen hey, so unheard of. I'll be in the Victoria tomorrow for my regular post pilates coffee, I'm sure Paul won't want to hear about my leftover cookies if I see him, but you never know.