A varied diet

I lay in bed this morning, trying to get back to sleep. It's not yet 7, too early to get up. I had the radio on. The programme was on the subject of cheap food during these times of recession.

First it debated the value of so-called "value" ranges. They were dismissive of processed foods as so often "value" meant high salt, fat & MSG, reduced meat or fish content. However, when it came to basic foods such as raw, frozen & tinned veg, the conclusion was favourable. On the whole the difference lay in that they may not look as good, in that the sizes are more varied. Personally I've nothing against irregular shapes & sizes. I just object to tasteless fruit & veg.

They progressed to the question of meat. Here, they reckoned the secret of getting good quality for less money lay in buying the cheaper cuts. Again I've nothing against cheap cuts. The problem with this apparently is that younger people don't know how to cook properly & so don't know how to slow roast, braise, casserole. The butcher went on to comment that his wife buys about 10lb of stewing meat for the two of them,& makes a vast stew. They then have some immediately, hot. The rest she divides into small batches & freezes, then when she needs a quick meal she just gets out a bag & heats it through, maybe adding some fresh dumplings. Half an hour at most.

But what really caused my ears to prick up was when the programme continue to say that, since most people only have about 6 meals which they always eat, surely it would be possible to teach anyone how to cook 6 different, inexpensive, quick meals. Just 6 meals! We eat a far more varied diet.

I suppose I have to admit I grew up on such a regime. Grilled steak on Sat, roast chicken, lamb or pork on Sun, leftover roast with chips for Mon, grilled lamb chop on Tues, grilled pork chop on Thurs, fish fingers on Fri. Wed varied a bit but the same thing would be done for months at a time until it varied but usually it would be liver or sausages. Christmas brought the welcome variety of turkey. So life went on. You knew the day of the week from the meal you got.

When I left home & took control of my own diet, I was determined this would never happen in my home, & it never has. Occasionally financial constraints has meant the same very cheap meal would appear a few times in a week, but you never knew when. It just seems such a waste when there's all that choice of food options with various meats & cuts, fish, fruit & veg. I accept, too, there are some old favourites that do reappear but they are so numerous they don't appear every week. If nothing else I want the pleasure of cooking different things rather the boredom of the same old inevitable meal.

By the time I'd recovered from the shock of the thought of just eating 6 meals over & over again, I was well & truly awake, so I got up. Since then I've turned to preparing today's meal - roast pork with caramelised apples. I've not done a roast for weeks so I'm really looking forward to all that lovely crackling, some honeyed apples, roast spuds & sprouts. Great, especially since the meat is from Thursday's Farmers' Market, from a stall where I'm sure the meat will taste really porky. Delicious!