Waste.

Watching the BBC's Eat Well for Less this evening and I was struck by one thing.  Waste.  Gregg Wallace went to Tom Kerridge's Michelin starred kitchen to talk about chips.  A noble quest I say.  Chips are great.  

However I was watching Mr Kerridge's technique, he was coring the potato with an apple corer.  The leftovers were obvious.  I am not suggesting that with his stars and all that he makes a bad chip, his customers on the twitter seem to think they are the Bee's knees.  However I feel that the programmes title, Eat Well for LESS did not seem to come to a satisfying conclusion, the test audience prefering the more expensive option of fish and chips as opposed to the cheaper.  I would love to spend my money on line caught fish (although I wouldn't cook it, see previous post) and fry my potatoes in duck fat but I don't have the money for that.  

This is the BBC's Cost of Living season of programming the intentions of which are lost on me.  I recently watched Nick & Margaret – Benefits: How Much Is Enough? and was infuriated by some woman (Debbie) tagging along to the supermarket with a woman (Kelly) who was doing the shopping on a budget she was quite clearly used too.  Debbie said she would return the full chicken ad buy chicken fillets instead.  Now most cooks with an ounce of sense know that a chicken (in this case one that was just under a fiver) would feed a small family for more than one meal.  The cost of chicken fillets is really high and tend not to be very versatile.  

I feel that I do need to challenge the Michelin route of wasting ingredients.  It does infuriate me when I see it on the telly.  The BBC's Great British Budget Menu was a good watch.  Seeing people struggle in the various situations they are in.  Both working families and the elderly are highlighted in this programme.  They were, at the end of the programme, presented with a cookbook full of useful nutritious recipes.  It was really wonderful to watch.  On the BBC website there is a link to perfect and cheapest store cupboard items* and on the BBC Food site a list of said recipes, wonderful and essential stuff.

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/tv/budgetmenu/gbbmstorecupboard.pdf 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/programmes/b036x3pv