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After watching the fabulous Big Fish Fight week on Channel 4 recently, I, like the 500,000 people who are backing Hugh Fearnley-Whittinghstall’s campaign, have vowed to eat a wider range of fish.

The programme and campaign, if you didn’t see it, (to see a trailer, click through to my previous blog post Channel 4: Hugh’s Big Fish Fight – starts tonight) aimed to expose the devasting practice of fishing by quota, whereby vast quantities of fish get thrown overboard because they do not meet the criteria or quotas set by Europe’s common fisheries policy or because they have no market value. The campaign also aimed to encourage people to eat a wider range of fish to give our over-fished favourites a chance to be replenished.

But before we all rush out and buy a plethora of unsung heroes, it is vital that we give a little thought to how our fish is stored, processed and ultimately used at home. What we can’t afford to do, in my opinion, is to indiscriminately buy this wonderful fish, only to store it insufficiently, or prepare too much and end up throwing it away. And that’s why I say, for fresh fish buy frozen.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a myth that frozen food is inferior in quality to fresh, but this is often not the case. In fact with fish, it is the opposite. Frozen-at-sea fish are caught at the peak of their quality and frozen within 4 hours, meaning that it is at it’s freshest, tastiest and has all of it’s nutrients and goodness ‘locked in’.

Unless you live by a local harbour, any fresh fish that you buy from a supermarket or similar can be up to 14 days old. This is because fresh fish can spend a long time in the food distribution chain before it reaches your supermarket counter. In some cases it can be up to 10 days old before it’s even reached the harbour!

Another great advantage of buying frozen fish is that it is convenient – always a huge plus when you are a busy mum like me. Not only does frozen save you time, but because you only need to cook what you need when you need it, there is limited or no wastage at all too. With food prices continuing to rise, it is vital that we get the most from our food and again frozen fish ticks the box, it is less expensive than fresh (did you know that frozen fish and seafood can be up to 25% cheaper than fresh) plus it has a longer storage life – freezing, the most natural form of preserving – just add frozen water!

So taking all of the above on board (excuse the pun) I have decided to cast my net (there I go again) and introduce some new fishy flavours to my family.

As I am a NewIceAge mumbassador, I have been kindly sent a voucher from the wonderful people at TheNewIceAge.com and The Fish Society, to try a variety of whitefish, shellfish and crustaceans from their incredible online store www.thefishsociety.co.uk.

Over the next couple of blogs, I will be sharing with you my thoughts on the fantastic frozen fish treats that I have chosen, showing you how simple they are to cook and how delicious we all found them and why as the Queen of Easy Green™, I back frozen fish for saving time, money and waste.

I will also be giving you an opportunity to discover some new fish favourites yourself, as The Fish Society have kindly agreed to offer you, my readers, a £10 discount with orders over £65 (when visiting their website, just use the code ICEAGE).

So pop back soon to find out how I got on and land yourself a treasure trove of frozen fish goodness.

After seeing my guest blog post for www.energyrethinking.com, Simple skincare got in touch to say they had really enjoyed reading it, and my other easy eco blogs here and over at www.queenofeasygreen.co.uk , and would I kindly write a blog post for their Simple VIP’s.

‘Yes, I’d love to’, was my immediate reply and so I have.

The New Year is such an inspiring time to kick off great habits such as getting more exercise and eating healthier – but would you ever consider that you can do both of these and be more energy efficient at the same time.

Well, as the Queen of Easy Green™, I’ve written a timely guest post for Simple.co.uk to say – yes you can.

Not only that, you will find out how these can be achieved easily and econveniently, whilst saving money at the same time. To find out how, just bob over to my guest post at www.simple.co.uk – and please, don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions while you’re there, I’d love to hear them.

p.s. don’t forget while you are there to sign up as a Simple VIP – they have some great offers, discounts and prizes to save you even more money and keep you looking simply fabulous!

A couple of weeks ago I was approached by Energyrethinking.com asking me if I’d like to guest blog for them.

energyrethinking is a joint initiative with Shell, The Energy Saving Trust, IoD, Michelin and Tomorrow’s Company and is all about finding ways to use energy better.

Sharing my love for easy eco ways to help us all save money, reduce waste and use less energy, of course, I jumped at the chance. Here is my first guest blog post for them,

http://www.energyrethinking.org/earth-mummy

Don’t forget to keep popping over in the New Year too,  you’ll find loads of great energy saving information, as well as some more tips from me.

TTFN

Lyndsey

p.s. I have an exciting announcement to make very soon – pop back shortly to find out what it is.

With Christmas nearly upon us, our focus more than ever is on food, as well as ways to make our money go further. To show us how we can all be more energy efficient and save money in the kitchen, please welcome our guest blogger Natalia Gameson editor of  the money and energy saving website, energyrethinking.org.

Seasonal Food

With food price rises on the horizon, going greener in the kitchen this winter could be a key way to take back control of your finances. There are three main methods of saving money in the kitchen: cutting down your food bills by eating produce that’s in season; cutting down on your food waste; and cutting down on your gas and electricity use. energyrethinking.org, the energy saving community, has put together the following tips to help you make a start.

Eating seasonally
Eating food that’s in season, is a well-known money saver – it’s cheaper to buy items that have been grown in the UK and are readily available, rather than forking out a small fortune for a punnet of strawberries in February, for example. Squashes, celeriac, apples, pears, coriander, mint and scallops are all currently in season. If you want to eat seasonally but are not sure where to begin, www.eattheseasons.co.uk, has lots of helpful advice and recipe ideas.

Our new seasonal food video featuring TV presenter, Vicki Butler-Henderson, also has plenty of easy-to-follow tips. The video follows Vicki as she visits a food exhibition to gather tips on cooking a low-cost meal for friends in an energy efficient way.

Food waste
Each year, we throw away an estimated 8.3 million tonnes of food, according to WRAP. A truly astonishing figure considering food costs are rising. But if you’re throwing away too much food, it’s easy to stop by making a few simple changes.

Firstly, plan your meals at the beginning of each week, so that when you go to the supermarket, you’ll know exactly what you need to buy, and exactly what you already have in your fridge at home.

If you’ve cooked too much food, put it in a Tupperware box and take it into work the next day as your lunch. For more advice on using up leftovers, see www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/recipes. (don’t forget your Count On It labels to help you keep track – Lyndsey)

Cut your energy use
Make sure your appliances are in good working order. If the rubber seals around your oven door are broken, for example, your oven may not be as well insulated, and could be using up to 50% more energy than usual to maintain the oven’s temperature.

When cooking food in the oven, avoid the temptation to keep checking on it– every time you open the oven door, precious heat escapes.

Similarly, when you are using the hob make sure the ring matches the size of the pan you’re using – heating a tiny pan on the biggest ring will waste energy you don’t need to use.

Defrost food overnight in your fridge rather than using the microwave. This will help your food to stay at the right temperature – without costing you anything.

For more tips on saving energy in the kitchen, check out our tips at www.energyrethinking.org/cooking.

Do you have any money or energy saving tips in the kitchen? We’d love to hear them at energyrethinking.org/user-tips

A little while ago I saw a product that I wished I’d had when my little chaps, were babies, the Koo-di ‘Fridge to go’.

The reason I wanted to trial the product was because when I used to go on day trips with my boys, I’d always find that any expressed or bottled milk that I’d took with me always seemed to ‘warm up’ quicker than I had expected. On several occasions, I threw it away – which is absolutely sickening, considering how long it’d taken to express – but I just didn’t want to risk it. Yet again more unnecessary and expensive waste, which could have been avoided.

However, the Fridge-to-go does away with this problem, as it’s patented chilling technology means that it works like a refrigerator and can keep food and drink cooled and safe to eat for up to 12 hours.

Although it looks like a regular cool-bag, the Fridge-to-go uses ice packs which are zipped within the lining of the bag and surround the contents in ice-cold temperatures, which take longer to cool down than ordinary ice blocks AND they don’t leave your food and bottles soggy and wet.

So rather than take Koo-di’s word for it, I decided to test it out for myself, but instead of bottles of milk and weaning foods, I opted for icecream – to see if it was just as good as it claimed. Here’s how it went:-

To test the Fridge-to-go I put a couple of scoops of icecream in a glass and popped it inside, at the same time, I put another glass of icecream in a regular cool bag and set the stop watch running.

Two hours later, I checked on both of the glasses of icecream, in the regular cool bag I found a glass of melted icecream at room temperature. To my surprise in the Fridge-to-go, I found the icecream was still ‘firm to touch’, so I decided to leave it a little longer. Three hours later, I checked again and was amazed that although the icecream had melted, it was still very cold.

The ‘Fridge-to-go’ had completely wiped the floor with the regular cool bag and had surpassed my expectations with it’s ‘refrigerator-like’ capabilities.

So, although summer is a long way away, if you’re looking for something to give you peace of mind with your babies food, I’d definitely consider trying the ‘Fridge-to-go’.

Available in two sizes, Koo-di Fridge-to-go (two bottles) is £14.99 and the Maxi is £19.99, to find out more visit their website www.koo-di.co.uk

I’m really excited to say that tomorrow, Friday 12th, I will be Jonathon Lampon’s guest on his BBC Radio Leicester ‘Foodie Friday’ show. As the Queen of Easy Green™, I will be cooking one of my specialities, a quick, easy, time and money saving dish. I’m not saying what my dish is yet, other than it uses locally sourced meat, homegrown vegetables, frozen leftovers and misshapen supermarket vegetables and it tastes delicious.

I’ve never cooked on air before, so I’m a little nervous, hopefully it’ll all go well and Jonathon will enjoy what I rustle up.

As the Queen of Easy Green™, my aim is to show other busy mums like me that cooking fresh, tasty food in the kitchen can be quick, convenient and save them time, money and waste, if they have the right tools and know a few tricks.

On the show tomorrow I’ll also be talking about how we can all reduce unnecessary waste by using our freezer more, storing food correctly and how Count On It® labels and other kitchen accessories can also help us get more value from our food – whilst saving us time, something we could all do with more.

To listen live, visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_leicester

After the show, I’ll pop up the recipe, so if you want to give it a try, everything you need to know will be here.

Speak soon

Lyndsey

Lisa Faulkner watching Tony sear his scallops!

Following on from my blog about Hotpoint’s Campaign for Cooking Confidence, here’s a short video of Lisa Faulkner explaining all about the campaign and how, since winning Masterchef 2010 she feels much more at home in the kitchen.

Masterchef 2010 winner, Lisa Faulkner interview

If you want to try the recipe yourself, like I did (and I can confirm, it’s delicious), here’s all you need to know:

Seared Scallops with spicy crab cakes and a hot & sweet syrup

Serves 4  – preparation time 30 minutes, 30 minutes resting time, 15 minutes cooking time – combined

12 large king scallops (roe off) –3 per person

100g white crab meat

500g potatoes

2cm piece of fresh ginger peeled

1 clove of garlic – peeled

1 tablespoon each of finely chopped fresh  – coriander, mint, basil

1 red chill  – deseeded

2 eggs whites

Zest of 1 lime

150g fresh bread crumbs

75g butter

4 tablespoons of olive oil.

Salt & ground black pepper – to season to taste

Method:

Crab cakes

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Peel potatoes and cut into even pieces. Place in the boiling water and cook until soft ( approximately 10/12 minutes, test with a sharp knife, if goes through easily, they are ready)

2. Drain potatoes in a colander, place in a large bowl and roughly mash.

3. Finely chop the fresh ginger, red chill and the garlic clove and add into the mashed potatoes. Also add the finely chopped fresh coriander, mint & basil, zest of the lime, a pinch of salt and ground black pepper and finally add the crab meat. Mix together by hand.

4. Whisk the egg whites until fluffy and fold into the mix, this adds moisture and helps to bind the mix.

5. On a work surface, roll out a length of cling film,  place the mixture in the centre and roll into a sausage shape. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes. This gives time for the ingredients to bind, so they hold together during the cooking process. (tip: these can also be frozen too for use at a later date)

6. After 30 minutes take out of the fridge, unwrap the cling and slice into about 2cm thick disks and lightly coat with breadcrumbs.

7. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat, add 2 table spoons of olive oil ,cook the crab cakes for 2 minutes on each side until golden brown.

Scallops:

1. Pat the scallops dry with kitchen paper

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a non stick frying pan, add 75g of butter and stir until foaming.

3. Add the scallops to the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes, turning once until lightly golden on both sides and tender to touch.

Hot & Sweet syrup

250mls white wine vinegar

1 clove garlic peeled

2 cm piece of fresh ginger peeled

1 red chilli

Zest of 1 lime

Method

1.Roughly chop the garlic, ginger and chilli.

2. Put all ingredients in a pan and bring to the boil for 8-10 minutes until slightly sticky.

3. Put in a liquidizer and blend.

4. Strain.

The sauce can be made in advance* ready to serve once crab cakes and scallops are cooked. *tip from Tony: freeze sauce portions in icecube tray – ready made sauce always to hand!

To serve:

Place the cooked scallops on the 2 crab cakes and drizzle over the sauce, garnish with flat leaf parsley.

Masterchef winner, Lisa Faulkner with Chef Tony Tobin

This week I was lucky enough to be invited along to the launch of Hotpoint’s Campaign for Cooking Confidence with Lisa Faulkner, which aims to encourage UK households to be more adventurous in the kitchen.

According to research carried out by Hotpoint, 90% of us stick to cooking the same meals over and over again because we lack confidence in the kitchen. Afraid to experiment and short of time, 1 in 4 of us cook what’s on offer in the supermarket and on average we spend only 1.6 hours in the kitchen every day.

Our busy lifestyles and great number of work commitments have lead to nine out of ten people being surveyed saying that they are thoroughly stuck in a creative rut, only cooking the same few meals over and over again. So, what are the top ten most cooked meals in the UK, well according to the survey, they include Jacket Potatoes, Roast Dinner and our number one favourite is Spaghetti Bolognaise.

But what can we do to get out of these culinary ‘ground-hog day’ scenarios? Well Lisa Faulkner, Hotpoint’s Campaign for Cooking Confidence Ambassador and Masterchef 2010 Champion, with her panel of experts, including top chef Tony Tobin, aim to equip us with all of the culinary skills and inspiration to be more confident in the kitchen and adventurous with ingredient and meal ideas.

Lisa said, “I’ve teamed up with Hotpoint and their Campaign for Cooking Confidence, to help give others a helping hand. I learnt the importance of planning ahead and have a grasp on what on flavour combinations work well. This has enabled me to take pride in my cooking and I feel much more at ease in the kitchen – it’s opened up a new world to me!”

Although many of us enjoy spending time in the kitchen, we sometimes struggle when deciding what meals to make and opt for the safest, easiest options – subsequently falling into a rut of repeatedly making the same dishes. At the event Tony showed how by mastering a few skills, going with (and trusting) our own taste combinations, not being afraid to try out new flavours and ingredients, we could open up a whole new world of taste sensations.

Talking leftovers with Chef Tony Tobin

During the demonstration, I asked Tony how practical the skills and recipes where for busy mums. To my delight, he confirmed that everything he was making could be made in batches and frozen, as well as being adaptable to be able to create several diverse dishes – from glitzy dinner party, to weekday family meals.

It was also great to learn that the red pepper sauces and garnishes he’d made could be made from mottled peppers and limp basil, then frozen ready for use whenever required. As both he and Lisa pointed out, absolutely everything in a professional kitchen is used up in stocks, soups and sauces, ensuring no food goes to waste unnecessarily and this was of equal importance to them in the home. Getting the most value from their food and minimizing food waste wherever possible.

As many people already know, not only does lack of confidence in the kitchen hinder our culinary repartee, it also has an adverse on the amount of edible food waste that goes in our bins. Unsure of what to do with leftovers, many people throw them away instead of making another meal from them. But as Lisa, who ‘absolutely hates’ throwing food away, has now found out, just by adding a little bit of creative flair you can rustle up another tasty, nutritious meal – saving not only time, but money and waste.

Tony sharing his passion for food

Tony Tobin, renowned restauranteur and Hotpoint Ambassador, summed it up by saying,

“By following a few simple mantras … planning, a bit of experimentation and a few effortless styling tricks we can all create restaurant quality food at home”

and at just a fraction of the price!

To find out more about the campaign and for more cooking tips from Lisa Faulkner and Hotpoint’s panel of experts, visit www.hotpoint.co.uk/vitalingredient.

With the summer gone (boo hoo!) and Autumn definitely upon us, Stewed! ’s cookbook couldn’t have come through my door at a better time. This beautiful book, by entrepreneur and passionate foodie Alan Rosenthal, gives a modern twist to my all-time favourite dish, stew. The 80 pages of one-pot recipes are from all over the world, categorised into the Americas, British Isles, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. These economical, tasty, comforting and simple to make at home recipes are perfect for all the family and what makes them even more fantastic is that they use less expensive cuts of meat and, as we found, make enough for two family meals (we’ve yet to enjoy our second serving which is labelled up  in our freezer as I type).

We decided to opt for the classic Beef in Ale recipe and we wasn’t disappointed. All the family got involved, 5yo ‘chopped’ the carrots, 8yo fried the onions and OH sampled the Guinness! What I loved about it was that it introduced our family to beef chuck steak, which I must admit, I don’t normally buy. As Alan points out, stews and one-pot dishes are perfect for using cheaper cuts of meat as the slow cooking tenderises them beautifully and brings out their flavour.

What I also love about stews, is that they’re your classic ‘use up your leftovers’ kind of meals, those wrinkly carrots, bendy parsnips and mottled peppers (if only I could get some knobbly apples in, I’d be delighted – private joke!)

Alan has not only been busy working on this fabulous book, he has also launched Stewed! pots, ready to eat stews, which are available at Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Budgens, John Lewis’ food hall and Ocado.

I love the book and can’t wait to impress my foodie friend with the Pot Roast Pheasant with sausage, cabbage and ale – I am a Lincolnshire Lass after all and your can’t get more Lincolnshire than that – though possibly you could by adding a turnip!

So, if fancy some fabulous, wholesome, family dishes to serve up through our winter (ouch!), you’ll love Stewed! book, so what are you waiting for! (p.s. it’s on sale over there  ➜)

Cheers Alan and good luck with your fabulous ‘Circle Line’ inspired idea!

Thanks, Lyndsey

Today I went along to BBC Radio Nottingham to talk about easy ways to get more for your money with food and save time too.

As you will know there’s been a lot in the press lately about food waste, the price of food going up and how supermarket packaging isn’t decreasing. We’ve seen programmes on the BBC, ‘Great British Waste Menu’ and Channel 4 ‘Food’ highlighting the issues surrounding food production, preparation, storage and wastage – and this is all fantastic to know, but  not all of us have got the time or skills to make radical changes, so my mission was to give people some down-to-earth, practical tips to help us get more for our money, without having to completely overhaul how we shop, prepare our food and what we eat.

In case you didn’t catch the programme, here’s my top tip to give you more for your money and more time for you (and no, there isn’t any convenience food to be seen – so it’s healthier too)

Budget food swaps where the only difference is the cost
• use long grain rice instead of basmati; dried beans and chickpeas instead of canned
• swap large, perfect peppers for bags of mixed peppers when cooking chillies, curries
• use canned tomatoes instead of fresh when making soups, stews or sauces
• buy frozen peas instead of fresh, you can have them all year round and use only what you need
• go shopping at the end of the day, when supermarkets and markets are reducing the price of their perishable produce
The hidden hero in your kitchen, – your freezer
• frozen food keeps longer than fresh, is more convenient, frozen vegetables and fruit can be more nutritious and tastier than fresh as it’s flash-frozen within hours of harvest, they are also in season all year round.
• Frozen food can help you with portion control, only cook what you need – the rest goes back in the freezer.
• any foods that are nearing their use-by dates which you won’t get chance to eat, stick them in your freezer and have them when you’re ready
• Don’t buy pre-grated cheese, grate your own and pop it in the freezer, you’ll always have some at hand to go onto of lasagnes and shepherds pies.
• Buy frozen fish, it’s fresher than fresh as it’s flash-frozen on board the boat within 4 hours of catch, unlike fresh fish which can take up to 48 hours to get to your local shop.
• TheNewIceAge.com has some great ideas and tips for getting the most out of your freezer
How to get a night off cooking every week
• When cooking something like chilli, bolognase, stew – double up the portions, eat one that night and freezer the other for another night the following week – don’t forget to label when you made it
• Invite friends/neighbours round for one night and cook for them, then them for you

Enjoy your own personal breakfast blend at half the price
• Save money on expensive boxes of muesli by buying big bags of your favourite oats, flakes, nuts, seeds and dried fruit, then mixing them together in a big jar or cereal dispenser
• To add an extra boost, sprinkle on frozen fresh fruit, like blackberries, they’re fabulously juicy and you can taste the summer all year round.

How to get a free lunch
• Use leftover cooked pasta and mixed with the French dressing, pesto, cucumber and tomatoes for a packed lunch
• Use leftover chicken or beef from Sunday lunch, shred and mix with beansprouts, salad vegetables, sweet chilli sauce and French dressing
• Or just mix chicken with leftover stuffing and mayonnaise and pop in some crusty bread.

Finally…
• Keep safe by storing food correctly,
• be aware of the ‘use-by’ labels,
• labeling how long food has been opened or stored in the fridge and freezer,
• keep yourself, your work surfaces and equipment clean

‘More for my money’ MMM (not for profit) campaign

Waste is growing problem in the UK and not only does it affect the environment, it affects our pockets too.

According the WRAP the average family with children throw up to £610 worth of edible food away each year.

Unfortunately, most of this waste occurs because people have lost touch with food, a lot of families today are used to eating pre-prepared food, perfect vegetables vac-packed and mass abundance.

The days of hunting and gathering are long gone, we don’t even need to forage at the supermarket ourselves these days, we can ‘virtually select’ our goods and they come delivered to our door.

As a consequence of this mass convenience, food is seen as a disposal resource, most people do not know, or even care, where our food has been grown, what’s in it and how much of an impact it’s production, transportation and packaging costs the environment – we just want it perfect, available and cheap and if we don’t use it all, or can’t be bothered to eat it, so what – there’s more where that came from.

This situation cannot go on forever and unfortunately one of the main reasons people are carrying on like this, is because they aren’t aware there is an alternative.

Fortunately there are people out there who do care and who have a long term view of what’s happening with our food and environment.

There are schemes, businesses, producers, manufacturers that are all doing their bit to help us get more value from our food – and that’s great. But, and it’s a big but, they are all ‘out there’, like buried treasure in the ground, without making a conscious effort to dig around and find them, they are buried from the mass.

That’s where MMM comes in. The idea for ‘More for our Money’ is to unearth all of these amazing businesses and put them in one, easy to find place – our MMM website.

So, wherever you sit within the fresh food and produce supply chain, grower, retailer, producer, household, if you want to find out how you can reduce your waste and save money, you can pop along to MMM click on the appropriate section and voila, a list of resources, tips, advice is there to help you.

Here’s an example, a busy mum wants to find out how she can reduce her weekly shopping trips

1 – she can click on retailers, and find out if there are local producers who can deliver to her door,
2 – click on kitchen gadgets to find out who provide tools to help you her get more out of her food, e.g. Count On It labels
3 – click on services and find Menu Planners who can devise her own personal shopping lists and email them across to her
4 – she wants to find out where she can buy British-grown, knobbly apples click on growers to find out if there any local to her

We want to help people get more for their money, reduce unnecessary waste, buy British whenever possible and help support local businesses and schemes.

If you’d like to find out more about MMM ‘More for My Money’ please drop me an email and we’ll put you on the mailing list and let you know when our site is live.

To hear the programme again it’s here Frances Finn’s programme

Thanks Lyndsey