Collective Bias Cooking Challenge Shop!

One of my pet hates is supermarket shopping. A little while ago I discovered the joy that is online supermarket shopping, however, there was one slight problem, whenever the driver delivered the shopping there was always an awkward pause where I was never sure if I was meant to tip or not. One of my friends once told me that the drivers are not allowed to accept tips, but still, the moment persisted. I find things like that really embarrassing so back to the supermarket it is! Usually, we shop at our local supermarket which is Asda, I kind of feel a bit brainwashed as I've attended a few events at Asda house in Leeds and really do like their stuff (plus it is VERY good value!). However, usually around pay day I like to splash out and do a Waitrose shop. I love shopping in Waitrose, it's so calm and relaxing, even on a Saturday. There is always a parent and child space really near the entrance, you don't have to put a pound in the trolley (I guess because Waitrose customers don't need to steal trolleys, they can afford to buy their own!), the staff are also VERY lovely. I don't know where they find the clean cut youths who work there, but they are very very polite and seem genuinely happy in their jobs (this is in the Otley branch of Waitrose, the one exception being the staff in the cafe who are a bit offish!). To me, this makes a big difference and is the main reason I don't shop in Morrisons; I simply wouldn't want to shop somewhere when I know the staff are poorly paid and are always utterly miserable, presumable because of poor working conditions. I'm considering trying the "feed yourself for a £1 a day" that a lot of people are doing this week, but it's going to have to be next week now!

Anyway, back to Waitrose; so before I set off I worked out my weekly menu which goes something like this:

My shopping list! I like to plan each meal day by day.

So this is my list for the week, (slightly different from above in the end!).

Saturday
Us: Duck breast, spinach and new potatoes
boys: cod fillet, sweet potato and peas.

Sunday
Duck green thai curry - duck, thai sauce, noodles and stir fry veg.

Monday
Pork loin with cauliflower cheese and sweet potato mash.

Tuesday
Pork curry with spinach and rice

Wednesday
Bought filled pasta, us crab and crayfish, boys pumpkin and pine nuts in a homemade cheese sauce.

Thursday
Meatballs and pasta

Friday
Homemade pizza with peppers and spinach.

You can see here a picture of my fridge "before" I like to make sure I've emptied all the minging food before I go shopping so I can put it away as soon as I get home.

My emptyish fridge, ready and waiting!

Even though we only do one actual shop, we do pop down to our local co-op during the week for things like yoghurts and milk if we need them. I don't really like co-op though, it's all pork pies and ready meals, not nice ones either.

Our nearest Waitrose is about a twenty minute drive away, because it's quite far, we usually call in on our way back from shopping or theatre going in Leeds, though that usually involves one of the staying in the car with the children as it's just too stressful taking them both in sometimes. Unfortunately, even though it was only 10am, my youngest fell asleep in the car, then it started raining, then a police car flashed me and I thought my time was up, luckily he only wanted me to pull over! Not the greatest start to my day though!

Little man playing sleeping lions, he was actually quite happy to go in the trolley which is a rare thing!

My whole shop came to £113, e££y!

My whole shop came to £113 which is quite a lot more than I usually spend, normally about £75, but it was payday and I also bought several items like washing powder and toilet paper that put the price up quite a bit.

The young man on the checkout was very friendly and interested in what I was doing, I explained I was writing a blog post and we started talking about the £1 challenge, he even came up with some ideas of how a person could try to eat for £1 a day though we both agreed it would be a rather joyless experience. When I bought wine I fully expected to be asked for i.d., but it seems at the ripe old age of 34, married with two children, I am no longer deemed to look 17, sigh. He did though, have to ask his supervisor to approve the purchase for him.

So, here is my recipe for my *new* duck dinner!

Ingredients
Duck crown
"Whoopsie" Rose Val potatoes
Spinach
Plum Sauce

As per instructions on the duck packet, brown the skin of the duck in a really hot frying pan, preferably with duck fat in it. Fry for about ten minutes on a high heat.

Lovely browned off duck!

Then place in the centre of the oven for 45 minutes with your choice of potatoes cut up small and underneath the duck so they get the benefit of the duck fat.

Duck with soon to be roasted in duck fat potatoes!

When the duck is finished, fry the asparagus in the leftover duck fat and blanche the spinach in salted boiling water for about a minute.

Spinach and asparagus, health and stuff...

In our case, warm up hoi sin stir fry sauce, much cheaper than other sauces!

And serve! Here is the final result!

The final victorious yummy Saturday night dinner! Duck and all!

Whenever I hear the words "hoi sin" I remember Dom Jolly claiming they were Korean for one, two, haha!

So there you have it, a week in the life of my fridge and a lovely duck inspired Saturday night dinner, yum.

Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® #CBias #SocialFabric but all opinions are my own.