Back in time for tea

Ok, so I've shamelessly nicked the title from the TV programme, but it sums up what I've been feeling lately.

I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like my approach to food, cooking and feeding the family has a distinctly 1940s vibe. I'm super conscious about how much we are eating, what our portion sizes look like, and not wasting anything.

Another thing it's done is made a lot of us a bit more creative in the kitchen. In work, it's certainly something my clients are talking about...what are people making, how have things changed and what do we think that means for what we eat. In our house, it's meant thinking hard about what we are going to create using what's in the cupboard. For a while we have been doing something called 'Surprise Saturday', where we make something the kids haven't tried before to see if it might make it into the weekly repertoire (Instagram.com/surprisesaturday).

But this lockdown has taken it to another level. Lots of ingredients coming from the back of the cupboard to make flatbreads, sweet and sour sauces, curries, stews etc. I also discovered enough stock cubes to last me for the next 30 years! And it reminded me of something I found a little while ago among an envelope of photos and letters that belonged to my grandmother.

Who has some Bovril in the back of the cupboard? Well, if you've been wondering what to do with it (now that you can't put it in a flask and take it to the rugby) your prayers are about to be answered....

Gravy Soup anyone? How about some delicious sounding Brown Veg Soup?

And we may well know some people who are unwell, so at this time, you need recipes for invalids...nothing makes you feel better like a bit of Bovril Jelly

And one day, as I said in my last post, this will all be over. So when we are able to send our kids to school again, and we can go to the theatre, these are the kinds of snacks you want in your arsenal...

So back in time for tea? All the way back to 1938...get experimenting, make something you've never tried before.

You can thank me for the recipes later....