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The challenge of cooking for one

I think my boyfriend was rather shocked when I told him I was dreading cooking for just myself. I was about to leave home, I was moving into a house with a kitchen designed by me, I loved cooking and I did it every evening at home. So what was I dreading?

Two things really. Firstly cooking for myself; I love food and I love sharing food but I always felt the need to combine them. Evenings in on my own had always been excuses to have a slice of cake followed by a bowl of ice cream for supper. If I wasn’t cooking for someone else I didn’t cook and if I did it would be brownies not bolognese. Secondly where would I shop? When I lived at home food shopping was a doddle. I had a car to drive to the supermarket whenever I needed something and with four mouths to feed packets were always the right size. But once I’d left home my car was to be a bus and packets were sure to be too big.

I started by looking to my friends after all they seemed to be surviving- so I asked them what they were eating. Definitely some people were thriving, my boyfriend would happily buy and cook a whole shoulder of lamb on a Sunday and eat the left overs for the rest of the week but so many lived off cheese on toast and the ready meal selection from the supermarket. Frequently yummy I’m sure but oh so boring and actually quite expensive!

But so is cooking they’d say? And yes I agree it can be. Recipes with endless ingredients that no one has in their cupboard and that only use half a bag of something perishable end up in very full shopping baskets, a large bill and wasted food. But it doesn’t have to be that way I am sure!

So I have myself a challenge. To cook interesting, varied and quick suppers with ingredients available from my local mini supermarket. They need to be affordable, easy to cook and most importantly delicious!

They shall be my Supermarket Suppers (until someone thinks of a better name) and now I’m actually quite excited to start.

Wish me luck…

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