One Pot One Portion

Georgia Raye

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“The cookbook for people who eat, cook or live alone, but are tired of washing up“

I am one woman, yet I currently spend roughly £100 a week on food and I only really eat dinner at home, (I skip breakfast and eat lunch at work which is another expense completely and will have to be dealt with on another day) So when I came across Eleanor Wilkinson’s, ‘One Pot One Portion’ in the book section of my local Sainsbury’s, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to give it a go. My goal was to get everything I needed for five dinners for less than £50 (over a month this would save me £200!!!!!!) What I liked about Eleanor’s book is that she directs you to how you can use your leftovers from one recipe in other recipes, which means you can avoid eating the same thing every day whilst also avoiding wasting food.

I looked through the book and found five recipes I wanted to make over the week, first I checked what ingredients I already had (e.g, there was one recipe that utilises frozen dumplings of which my freezer is constantly filled) and then I went shopping to buy what was left, and amazingly I managed to get everything for about £36 which would have been a success if I didn’t then spend another £35 on non essentials such as Bailey’s, pina colada ice lollies, rafaello ice cream and salted caramel flavour instant coffee but that speaks more to own lack of impulse control in the supermarket then anything else.

Monday

Chicken Parmi

I am writing these as I go because I know from past experience that if I don’t then this post will never go up.

This meal won’t change your life but it’s yummy, it’s quick to knock up after work and it’s filling. Eleanor suggests having it with a side of salad but I couldn’t be arsed to get the chopping board back out so I had it with some oven chips and let me tell you; dipping those chips into the rich tomato sauce was GLORIOUS. . You get two chicken breasts in a pack and El gives a suggestion with what to with the leftover one (see Thursday) However… this recipe was not as waste/leftover free as I would have liked. The smallest tin of tomatoes they do in my supermarket is 400g and the recipe only uses 150g (reader that’s 250g of chopped tomatos and the back of the tin says you have to use them within 2 days… NONE OF THE OTHER RECIPES I CHOSE USE TINNED TOMATOS!!!!) I chucked them in the freezer and I can only hope the next time I go to cook a meal that requires chopped tomatos that I remember they’re there. You also end up with leftover mozarella and ham, you buy a whole pack of ham and use one slice (well I used two) but you’re supposed to use one! That being said I just had a stroke of genius you can make a ham, mozzarella and tomato sandwich for lunch the next day! I’m not going to do that because they do a lovely cooked lunch at my work but it’s in option.

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Tuesday and Wednesday

Once again… LEFTOVERS!!!!! On Tuesday I made this lemongrass, coconut salmon thingy and it was ok, to be honest I wasn’t overly impressed but the portion was quite big so I split it in half and also had it for dinner the next day and funnily enough it was so much yummier once the flavours had had some time to develop. Regardless, I don’t think I’ll be making it again. This was another one where you end up with loads of odds and ends, yes El does give a suggestion for what to do with the rest of the salmon (see Friday) but I also had leftover coconut milk and more than half a bag of mangetout.

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