Cook with Barb

Prep can save time and food wastage.

• Shop on the outer perimeter of the store. Meat/Seafood fresh fruit and vegetables, eggs, milk and cheese. These are the Staples. I like to say the junks in the middle of the store for example all the processed food.
• If you do need items from the middle isles check out the bottom rows as they are often the cheapest.  Companies pay big bucks to display at eye level. Some larger companies have a shelf brand and lower cost Kabul. It’s the same thing but they are marketing to see what consumers purchase.
• Terms on sale are usually coming up to expiry or there maybe a competition coming out the company wants to display or they have changed the label and need to display the newer items. If it’s on sale it usually has a 6 week cycle so in another 6 weeks it could be on sale again eg coffee
• Read nutrition labels. <30g carb, <500mg sodium per serve. The first 3 ingredient in the itembis the most volume of the item. If there are alot of numbers n brackets and chemicals you don’t know then don’t buy it.
• Cut vegetables into serve sizes and place in ziplock bags or tupperware with lid.
• Cup meat into 150g serve size and put into ziplock bags. Keep in ziplock bag in fridge or freezer. Use 1 bag per person saves time.
• Pre-make salad in tupperware.  Tip don’t cut cucumber into slices. Leave them whole. 1-2 baby cuke or 1/3 long cucumber is 1 serve. Place paper towel in top of the tupperware container to store in fridge. 5 cherry tomato and 3 cos leaf make 1 garden salad.  5 slices cucumber is a serve. Don’t use dressing until serving time. 1tb dressing per serve.
• Wrap whole lettuce in paper towel and store in bag it came in.
• Wrap celery in foil it will keep longer.
• Have avocado to ripen on bench then when ripe store in fridge.
• To ripen avocado faster place into brown paper bag with banana.
• Keep seeds from vegetables eg tomatoes, cucumber, capsicum, zucchini and the ends of lettuce, green shallot to put in soil and grow your own vegetables. Use epsom salt in water to get more tomato and capsicum yield. Banana peel makes great fertiliser for rose bushes. Egg shells crushed around vegetables helps to deter insect and helps to fertiliser the soil.
• BBQ chicken is a lifesaver if you want quick fix meal.  Use a pre bought salad bowl if you are short on time.
• Pre-cook your protein and store in tupperware with lid in fridge. Then reheat for 2 minutes in microwave on plate with microwave plate cover.  It also warms the plate so meal stays hot. If using vegetables add them to plate before reheating. 
• Stir-fries you need to have all ingredients cut and ready to go.
• One pan bakes saves washing up. Add meat and vegetables in baking dish. Season and put oil on.  Cook  for usually  15 min  (meat changes colour on sides so you know then to turn it. Dont keep flipping it as it dries out inside. Then turn and cook for further 10 minutes. You can also add a tray of water on bottom shelf if cooking chicken or a rosst. It helps keep meat moist. Preheat oven for 10 minutes before cooking. If it’s not preheated add 10min to cooking time. A hot oven cooks better than a cold one.
• If cooking roast it’s usually 1hr per kilo.
• For slow cooking meat scrunch up some foil into balls. Let meat sit on the foil. You will get more tender fall off bone kind of meat.
• Try to eat the colours of the rainbow with each meal.