(image from bbc.co.uk)
Now, don't get me wrong, I like Nigel Slater. I love watching his tv programmes and I have a good selection of his books, but it is his mode of grocery shopping which I cannot abide.
He empties the fridge [not got a problem with that - seems sensible] but then he wanders around the shops and buys whatever takes his fancy.....
There are two kinds of grocery management which I can get to grips with, and I do a bit of both - the pantry principle [you buy what is on sale and eat from your cupboards] and meal planning [you plan your meals and buy what you need to make those meals] but his idea seems a bit too laid back for me, and I suspect that in real life, he is just feeding himself and his partner and he can get away with this sort of thing. Households full of children needing to be taken places after school rule this sort of shopping out for a lot of us. I suspect that it is not that economical either, although he does talk often about making the most of his ingredients.
4 comments:
With you there completely!
Bob and I watched him make a chicken pie - and it was almost exactly the same as the one Bob made last week with the leftovers we already had in the house.
And S does seem to wander round some exotic, esoteric, expensive little shops. Full marks for shopping locally/organically and all that - but in the Real World where you and I live, Aldi is more likely to be my destination!!
I agree - there has to be a certain flexibility if you find a good sale or something looks extra good, but surely you have to have an idea of, 'well, Tuesday everyone eats at different times so it is a casserole...' days. Even I manage that! WS xxx
@Angela - I liked the look of the chicken pie, so I might concoct something along those lines one day too.
@Sybil - exactly! One has to have some kind of a plan...
I loved Sheringham earlier this week, because I just popped in to the greengrocers and bought a couple of bananas one day, and another day in Holt, I went in to the butcher's shop and got the rabbit; I can admit that I am slightly jealous of the little shops that Mr Slater seems to have on his doorstep, but on the other hand, I would probably need his bank balance to be able to do all my shopping in his kind of shops!!
That does seem crazy, although I confess I don't have a brilliant plan either. We usually go to Tesco once a week (when we've run out of bread or milk usually!) and buy a set of staples, as well as things that will last that are on offer, as well as some things that we have planned a meal using. So it's sort of a combination of pantry method plus meal plan!! Probably not the most efficient, but it gets the job done on a pretty reasonable budget.
Post a Comment