Two food blogs in a week. Yesterdays ode to pie and mash was a huge labour of love. Todays, we take a bit of a different stance. Today we look at where we buy our food. I've often stated that I buy my meat from Boucherie Gerard. It is a specialist butcher and provides the best meat in town. You pay a small premium for the produce, but it tastes amazing. Recently we had my nephew and his fiance around for Sunday lunch. She is Portuguese and I don't know if she'd had too many Sunday Roast dinners. Afterwards she said "I don't normally like beef, but that was amazing". She works as a Sommelier and I explained that meat is like wine, the more you pay the better you get. I'd bought a sirloin joint. It wasn't cheap but it was delicious. I gave up eating meat completely between 1984 and 2000, due to health issues and concern for the planet. In 2000, I started eating meat again, but I made a decision that I'd try and stick to free range meats and only eat it as a treat. I had developed a vitamin deficiency and a liver and bacon was the quick fix recommended by the Doctor. It worked instantly, so I built a new set of rules, based around only eating good meat dishes that I really enjoy. So when I eat my sirloin roast, it is not just another day of meat and two veg. Gerard also does the best bacon and sausages, as well as delicous Turkeys. I am not sure if it is because I'm a good cook or we don't use rubbish meat, but I've never had a dry, chewy turkey on Xmas day. I suspect it is a bit of both. The point is that if you want to enjoy your food, get good ingredients.
When it comes to the days I don't eat treats, we eat a lot of pasta dishes and soups. With soup, I tend to prefer fresh ingredients, although we have a stack of frozen veg as they last better. In Mill Hill we have four main places we buy general groceries. I guess the one we use most is Marks and Spencer. Their fruit and veg is good quality and they have many decent high quality ingredients. Their Sourgough bread is also delicious (which is a key part of having soup for lunch). M&S is expensive though. If you are buying tins of beans and frozen prawns, it is not really worth it IMHO. We also have Iceland. As an over 60, I get 10% off on a Tuesday. We tend to buy frozen items there on that day. Usually spinach, frozen fruits and other bits and pieces. Things like Oxo cubes are also cheaper than M&S. We also occasionally get bits and pieces in Tescos. I am not a fan, but Clare has a club card and likes a few things, like their Hummus and Salad. Finally we have the Mill Hill Food Centre store next to Costa's. They are the best place for jars of olives and gherkins, etc. They also do good aubergenes and Oyster mushrooms. I also like their fresh chillies.
Recently, we've also taken to going to Borehamwood Lidl or Aldi for big grocery shops. Things like tinned Sardines are as low as 39p. The cheapest in Iceland are £1 on a deal fo 3. Things like potatoes, tomatoes, etc are also good.
It got me thinking. Back in 2013, I published a recipe for my trademark Rocket Fuel Soup. I always cook this when I'm run down or have a cold/flu. I'm still alive so it must work! It is delicious. Anyway, I thought I'd look at the ingredients, where to buy them and what they cost where it is available on line)
Ingredients.
1 Tin Organic chopped tomatoes - (Lidl 75p/ M&S 1.25)
4 cloves of Garlic - (Mill Hill Food centre - price per weight)
2 large hot red chillies - (Mill Hill Food centre - price per weight)
2 medium sized potatoes - (Maris piper Lidl 79p/100g - M&S £1.20/100g)
1 medium sized onion - (Mill Hill Food centre - price per weight)
A handful of fresh chopped parsley -(Mill Hill Food centre - price per weight)
A tblspoon full of turmeric - (Mill Hill Food centre - price per weight)
A tblspoon full of fresh shaved ginger -(Mill Hill Food centre - price per weight)
A teaspoon of organic capers (M&S small jar £4.99)
2 organic stock vegetable cubes (Tesco - £1.90 for 8)
A lemon (Mill Hill Food centre - price per weight)
Half a lime (M&S £1.60 a bag of 5 , Iceland £1 a bag of 3)
450 ml Water
2 tblspoons of coconut oil (M&S £3.50 for 300g tub, LIDL £1.19 for a 300g tub)
The fresh items I procure from Mill Hill Food Store I've not priced. It's worth noting that on the items I could find an online for this, the difference in cost was £7.05 for the most expensive to £4.44 for the least. What is the difference in quality?
Sometimes the answer is when will you be using them? I generally find M&S fruit and veg lasts longer. However, if you are buying a lime to use today, there is no difference. Organic chopped tomatoes? To be honest, I am genuinely not sure but for a soup, I doubt it. Coconut oil? Check the actual ingredients. I am often shocked how things are not what they say on the tin. I've not checked the label of either, but I would before purchasing. I have no doubt that you'll get the best meat in a quality butcher, the best fish from a proper fishmonger. If however, you are buying Oxo cubes, the cheapest is the same as the most expensive and shopping at a cheaper shop simply means that you've got more money for yourself.
And as for me, it's Rocketfuel Soup for lunch today. I added a bit of beetroot, fresh coriander and some black olives. how does it look?
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