£10.77 worth of food for £1.65!

£10.77 worth of food for £1.65!

A great little haul on the way home from the gym tonight when we popped in to our local Tesco Express and mini Co-op. £10.77 worth of food for just £1.65!

Here's what we got:

Greek yoghurts - £2.39 down to 65p
Milkbread - £1 down to 25p
Wholemeal rolls - 85p down to 9p
Multiseed loaf - £3.15 down to 32p
Houmous - £1.38 down to 14p
Two lettuces - £1 down to 10p each

Plenty of bread to stock up the freezer!

Recipe: 'Out of time' swede, celery, carrot and thyme soup

Swede, celery, carrot and thyme soup

Do you get confused by sell by dates, use by dates, best before dates? No need. Just ditch them. Yep, that's right, ignore them. Use your senses instead. Sight, smell, taste, touch. Only ever use a date on food as a guide.

Since I've been writing this blog, so many people have told me they throw food out as soon as the date has passed. Or worse still... BEFORE the date has passed. Fifty years ago did our parents and grand-parents have dates on food? No, they just used their common sense - and their senses.

Many people these days would turn their nose up at what I did this afternoon - I cooked soup using a swede that had been left in my fridge for three months. Yep, you read that right - three months. And I've survived to tell the tale!

I must admit, I did approach the three-month-old swede with a little caution. But after a quick whiff, peel and chop, I realised it was absolutely fine. To reassure Mr Kate I did have a quick Google and read on several websites that swede can keep in the fridge for several months. In which case, why do the supermarkets put such a short date on them? I'd hazard a guess they're just playing safe in this health and safety obsessed blame culture we live in these days.

And it's not just swede. I had some month-old celery to use as well. And yes, that was absolutely fine too. Not as crisp as you might like it for a salad, but fine for a soup. I only used four sticks so still have some left - another week or two left for the rest of the packet I reckon!

So my plea to you, if you're not already a convert to yellow stickers and using your senses, ditch the dates and use your brain. If it smells bad and is moulding - bin it. But please check before you bin perfectly good food. And think about the money you're, literally, throwing away.

Here's how I made my 'out of time' swede, celery, carrot and thyme soup to serve four:

1) Peel and chop a whole swede, an onion, two carrots, and four sticks of celery.
2) Soften the onion in a large saucepan with a glug of olive oil for a few minutes.
3) Add a clove or two of chopped garlic.
4) Add the chopped swede, carrots and celery for a few minutes.
5) Add a teaspoon of dried thyme.
6) Add a litre of chicken or vegetable stock and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the veg is all soft.
7) Add a good grind of black pepper and rock salt to taste.
8) Serve and enjoy!

With the 19p swede, about 4p worth of reduced celery and a reduced chicken stock cube added to the cost of the other ingredients, this soup came in at around 60p. That's 60p for four healthy servings which are now portioned up and ready for lunch tomorrow and our packed lunches on Monday.

Ditch the dates!

£21.98 worth of food for £5.61!

£21.98 worth of food for £5.61!

My first blog for a month or so - I've still been hunting out bargains but just a little too busy with the day job to blog! But I had to let you know about this cracking haul of cut-price bargains from Co-op on my way home from work tonight. I was surprised to see such good reductions at 5pm!

Here's what I popped in my basket:

3 x fish pies down from £3.69 to 89p
2 x Muller Corners down from 71p to 18p
Roast chicken breast down from £4.05 to £1.09
Fresh tortellini down from £1.95 to 55p
Roast veg cous cous down from £1.49 to 39p
Fresh blueberries down from £2 to 55p

Should have cost £21.98 and I got it all for £5.61! Weekend lunches sorted, fish pies in the freezer and I'm planning on treating Mr Kate to a breakfast in bed of porridge and blueberries. Result!

Recipe: Aubergine and coriander dip

Aubergine and coriander dip

I've never been a particular fan of aubergines and as they're not at the top of Mr Kate's veggie list I've never actually cooked them myself. But when I saw two reduced from £1 to 15p each I thought it would be worth giving them a shot.

We were having fish and veg for dinner so I thought I'd whizz them up into a dip to serve on the side. With some fresh coriander on the windowsill waiting to be used, aubergine and coriander dip it was!

Here's how I made it:

1) Pre-heat the oven, wash the aubergines and dry.
2) Prick the skin of the aubergines with a fork.
3) Place in a baking tray and drizzle a little olive oil over the aubergines.
4) Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the skin is all wrinkly.
5) Leave to cool for a few minutes and then scoop out the flesh.
6) Whizz the flesh up in a food processor along with the juice of a lime, a finely chopped garlic clove, a few handfuls of fresh coriander and a glug of olive oil.
7) Add salt and black pepper to taste.
8) Serve with a little fresh coriander sprinkled on top.

This dip would be great with carrot sticks or pitta bread and I certainly would try aubergines again after this tasty experiment!

Restaurant review: La Pazienza, Northampton

La Pazienza, Northampton

I’ve walked past La Pazienza on Northampton’s Wellingborough Road several times since it opened earlier this year but never ventured in. So when a two courses for two (and coffees!) for £17 Groupon deal popped up I thought it was the ideal opportunity to try out the new Italian eatery.

My experience didn’t get off to a very promising start when I called to book a table – I asked if I could book and was told to ring back in 10 minutes as they were busy… Why answer the phone if you’re busy? If I call a restaurant and no one answers I take that to mean they’re either closed or busy serving and I’ll call back later. To actually answer and be told to ring back… well, that’s just not good customer service in my book.

As a result, I wasn’t expecting great things when we arrived but I was pleasantly surprised to be welcomed into a pretty dining room – spotlessly clean, tastefully decorated and neatly laid tables with pristine pale green tablecloths. Someone has clearly paid a lot of love and attention to the room.

Our waiter was perfectly pleasant but we were surprised that our starter order was taken and he left before taking the order for the mains – coming back ten minutes later! Mr Kate asked for fritata for his starter and was told they had none left. He then asked for octopus salad and was told they had none left. He then asked for the coppa salami and was told (can you see a theme developing here?) they had none left… Three out of the eight starters were off the menu so we both went for the easy option and ordered bruschetta with fresh tomato sauce.

With the fuss of ordering, our expectations were lowered once again but were soon raised when the bruschetta arrived. A very generous portion of two huge slabs of bruschetta each but we devoured every bit of the bread laden with delicious finely chopped garlicky tomatoes. Things were looking up!

Bruschetta

The mains arrived in good time and I went for fusilli pasta with a tomato and tuna sauce whilst Mr Kate plumped for a classic spaghetti carbonara. Both dishes were thoroughly decent and we ate every last bite. Good home-cooked comfort food.

Tuna and tomato pasta

A nice touch during our meal was the chef coming out to every table to enquire how their meals were – something that doesn’t happen very often in restaurants these days but was a happy addition to the experience.

Carbonara

We were both too full to sample a dessert but as coffees were included in the Groupon deal I did opt for a hot chocolate to get a little post-dinner chocolate hit! And the hot drinks certainly didn’t disappoint – Mr Kate’s Americano coffee hit the spot and my hot chocolate was deliciously frothy (as all good hot chocolates should be!).

The total of our food and coffees bill should have been £30.15 but was just £17 with the Groupon deal.

If you’re after a warming bowl of comforting pasta then La Pazienza is a good place to try for a quick bite and ideal for families. If you’re after something a bit more ‘restauranty’ then it might not be for you but it is well worth a visit for decent home-cooked food in pleasant surroundings.

La Pazienza, 268 Wellingborough Road, Northampton.

01604 949017

www.lapazienza.co.uk

Recipe: Stuffed courgettes on the cheap!

Stuffed courgettes

I'll be the first to admit that these stuffed courgettes weren't the most appetising meal I've ever cooked, but don't be fooled by appearances - they tasted great!

And they were cheap too! The courgette, which was actually more marrow sized, was free from Mr Kate's Uncle Gerald's veg plot and I decided to use up some yellow-sticker specials from the freezer and cupboard.

In somewhat of an experimental mood, I used a small pack of minced beef reduced from 96p to 45p and a jar of salsa reduced from £1 to 49p.

Here's how I made my stuffed courgettes on the cheap:

1) Pre-heat the oven.
2) Slice the courgette in two length-ways.
3) Scoop out a well in the centre of each courgette half for the filling.
4) Brown the mince in a pan with a drop of oil and a clove or two of garlic. Add the scooped out courgette if you don't want to waste it.
5) Add the salsa to the mince and warm through.
6) Rub a little olive oil on the skin of the courgette, add a good grinding of black pepper and salt and place on a baking tray.
7) Spoon the mince into the courgette and sprinkle some breadcrumbs over the top.
8) Cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the courgette is cooked but still firm.

I had some filling left over so popped it in a little casserole dish with some breadcrumbs on top and served it on the side.

It might not look all that but it really did taste good - the experiment certainly paid off!

And with 45p for the mince, 49p for the salsa, courgettes and garlic for free (we've grown our own garlic!) and a few pence for the olive oil and seasoning, this came in at just over £1 to feed the two of us. Result.

Looks like we're going to be getting a lot more courgette deliveries from Uncle Gerald soon so I'd best get my thinking cap on for more recipes!

Waitrose lemon sole fillets reduced from £4.71 to 78p!

Waitrose lemon sole fillets reduced from £4.71 to 78p!

Not a lot puts me off my food but this heat certainly is! Light meals are the order of the day at the moment and I really enjoyed my simple supper tonight. I used a pack of two lemon sole fillets from the freezer - one of my bargain buys from Waitrose reduced from £4.71 to just 78p.

I always think fish should be cooked as simply as possibly to properly enjoy the flavour - all I did was season the fillets with a little salt and black pepper and then cooked them skin-side down on a griddle pan for a few minutes before turning over to to colour the fleshy side for no more than a minute.

I served the fish on a bed of spinach as we had some left over nearing the end of its life in the fridge. I added flavour to the spinach by chopping a red chilli and softening it in a pan with a glug of olive oil. I added a touch of garlic and ginger paste before wilting the spinach.

Lemon wedge to serve - done! Healthy fish supper for two for around 50p each. Bargain.