The dreaded bog off offer. Buy one get one free

Melon were on a Buy one get one free offer in Tesco, they were quite large and were not a bad price even if it was just for one.
I have heard that thousands of tons of food is thrown away every year because the supermarkets do offers like this, and they are creating this wicked waste, increasing their profits, without a care for the wasted food, or its effect on the environment. Possibly true, but we have a responsibility, if we buy food, use it. Food is a precious resource, and as so many people do not have enough to eat, we should be extra careful to treat the food we have with respect, and not waste it.
There are opportunities, if one has a glut of any produce whether it is from buying special offers at the supermarket, your garden growing lots of produce, or just buying in bulk to save money.
One idea is to share your good fortune with other people, have people round to dinner, or give away stuff to a neighbour.
Find ways to preserve what you have, freezing is what I use most at the moment, as it is quick, and it is amazing what you can freeze successfully. We should not forget the old tried and tested methods of preserving food, Jams, marmalades, jellies, and chutneys are all really easy, and the recipes can be manipulated to suit your own taste. Bottled fruit keeps for at least a year, and salting vegetables like runner beans, is another way to preserve food. Salting is my least favourite as I use very little salt in my cooking, and so salt preserved food even when well washed tastes pretty nasty to me, but I dare say it would not taste so salty if you are used to eating more salt than I do.
Another Idea is to find different ways to eat the same produce. This is where trawling through recipe books for inspiration really helps. And it can work using an ingredient you have available to replace one you don’t have, be brave it is all food and you can sometimes find you have invented a new dish. My big problem is remembering what it was I used when it was a successes.
So you have two Melons. Here are a few ways to use them up. I am not sure any of the following would work with water melon, but are fine with a firm fleshed melon like, honey dew or cantaloupe,
The simplest starter, slice and sprinkle with a little sea salt and serve. Or slice and serve with black forest ham, Prosciutto or similar. And another unusual recipe that is suitable as a starter is, diced melon with a little finely chopped onion, walnuts, raisins and French dressing.To use for desert try adding some stem ginger in syrup, or just using a bit in a fruit salad.It also can be the main ingredient in a pimms salad, melon balls, strawberries and cucumber with a dash of pimms.

Tuesday 3rd of April

Monday was sandwiches for lunch, then leftover Chinese. Steve's brother Nigel made a flying visit, literally, arriving after dinner on Sunday then leaving first thing Monday. As we had already eaten he bought himself some food from the local Chinese takeaway. It's only about 30 metre away as the crow flies, a bit further on foot. Too temptingly close for my waistline, or pocket.
Anyway he ended up with too much food and left some in the fridge, which went very nicely with some fresh vegetables, stir-fried, and more chinese from the freezer.
Finished up yesterday's trifle for dessert.

Wednesday

Yes we have more bananas! So that was my starting breakfast along with some juice, this time a vegetable and fruit mixture purchased from Lidl. It is really cheap, a bit too sweet for my taste, but I hope it is doing me good with its added vitamins.
Second breakfast was porridge made mainly with water with just a little milk; I do like my porridge with a teaspoon of sugar rather than the Scottish tradition of salt.
Lunch was a tin of chicken soup with soya and linseed bread. Followed by another hot cross bun.
The son and heir comes to dinner most Wednesday evenings, so after a little interrogation as to what he has eaten this week [very healthy and home cooked, well done son] I decided on not so healthy naughty food.
Chips, sausages, peas and sweetcorn, and later an orange.
Not very imaginative. In my quest for inspiration I started to think about some of the meals that I have eaten in restaurants, and while looking for recipes on line, found an American book with recipes from top US restaurants, it is called The Copycat Cookbook. I have never been to the US but this way I could try the food. I have put a link to it for anyone who might like to see it. Just click on link to the left of page.

Inspiration

Yesterdays meals weren't very inspired, I was too busy setting up this blog.
Breakfast was the remains of the pancake mixture with crispy bacon and mapel syrup, very tasty, though not slimming, or very healthy.
Corned beef and Branston Pickle sandwiches for lunch, on wholemeal bread without butter, to make them slightly more healthy.
Dinner was going to be something tasty based upon Jamie Oliver's book Jamie's" Italy, but we ran out of time so had pizza instead. Well they are italian and we ate a lot of salad with them.
Moderation is the key. It's alright to have chips and pizza, just don't eat them every meal.

Wednesday

We were in a rush this morning, more than usual as I had a couple more horses to look after than usual.
First thing we grabbed a banana and a glass of grapefruit juice. After a long morning we had sardines on toast, with a slice of tomato and some fresh basil.
Dinner was pigs liver, bacon, onions and tomato with mashed potatoes, cabbage, carrots, broccoli (calabrese) and peas. Washed down with a very nice Australian Shiraz.
Finally we had pancakes, because we missed having them on Shrove Tuesday.

Why?

Why have I called this blog "What's for Dinner"?
It's a perennial cry in our house and immediately I hear it my mind goes blank. We don't have a set routine like our parents did.
They had a roast on Sunday, if they could afford it, then the leftovers were eked out for the rest of the week, possibly with fish on friday and maybe some offal.
The same thing every week, the only variation being the type of meat.

Now we have far more choice and are constantly assailed by celebrity chefs, so if you're like me it isn't easy to decide what to have.

What I will try to do is create a record showing what we ate yesterday, warts and all. Maybe it will give you some ideas and seeing it in black and white may help me to improve what I eat.

Watch this space.