I Cook Coz Cocaine Is Illegal

I generally cook Sunday -Thursday weekly and Friday & Saturdays we eat out or have take away. This weekly food plan enables my husband and I to have left overs to take to work for lunch the following day. We have saved thousands of dollars from not having to buy lunch out that can go towards other necessities like our next holiday or bills, whichever comes first!😂

We tend to do our grocery shopping 1-2 weekly and stock up of freshest produce sourced around Perth. Winthrop IGA is alittle pricier for fruit and veg but you definitely get what you pay for! They are fresher and last longer in your veggie drawer. I can say the same for Canning Vale’s Napoli Mercato whose fruit and veg are all sourced from WA! So no frozen defrosted fruits! 

Check out suburbs around you for a fresh foods grocer and see if they supply good quality vegetables over IGA, ALDI, Woolworths and Coles. Don’t be afraid to shop around for your ingredients.

Mise en Place 

I will always do the Mise en plus for whatever I am cooking the day before so that when I come home from a long day of work I will just have to start the cooking process and not stand and chop. And while dinner is cooking on the stove I chop or marinate whatever is needed for the next days meal and so on and so forth. This system has worked well for me the last 3 years.

Meat

I go to the butcher about once every 3-5 weeks and we get everything from chicken breasts to good quality beef sausages. I more or less have it down to a “T” the required amount for a dinner and left over lunch portion for my husband and I. I used ziplock bags and label them with what meat type / cut of meat and date frozen and remove all the air from the bag and freeze it. Ready to defrost portions required for cooking.

Herbs

I have found over the years I have wasted so much money throwing away herbs that I couldn’t finish that have just gone bad at the bottom of my veggie drawer. I tried this experiment and was surprised to find it bloody worked! I buy the freshest looking herbs from the grocery store and wash them all thoroughly then leave them to dry in some choux paper towels and then wrapped the choux with a tea towel for an hour or so. For things like Parsley & Corriander, etc. I then chop them finely or if it’s Rosemary or curry leaves I pluck all of it off the stalk and then either put in a air tight Tupperware or ziplock bag then name and date them. Take out how much you need each time you cook and return rest to freezer for next time. The moment it hits your hot pan the herb is brought to life like you’ve just plucked it from your back garden and the aroma will fill your kitchen!

Vegetables

Fresh or Frozen, they both are equally just as good. Obviously, it also depends what you are using the vegetables for. For example, I wouldn’t recommend you use defrosted vegetables in a salad! Haha! Source the your veggies from the freshest grocers. And store them appropriate to lengthen the shelf life. If your have a humidy control on your vegetable drawer in your fridge. Play around with your settings each week and see which one leaves your veggies lasting longer.