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As you will recall, in my previous blog post ‘Frozen Fish Fights Waste’ I shared with you the many eco benefits of buying sustainable frozen fish, following growing public interest as a result of Channel 4’s Big Fish Fight week with Hugh Fearnley-Whittinghstall.

Convenient, great value, fresher than fresh, less wastage and with a lower carbon footprint, these are just a few reasons why frozen fish is a busy mum’s naturally perfect, healthy and nutritious ingredient for family meal times.

Now, as promised, I am going to share with you the fantastic frozen fish treats that I’ve made using the wonderful fishy fayre that I’ve been kindly sent by TheNewIceAge.com and The Fish Society. Here is my first ‘new’ fish dish.

Pollack

Pollack is a member of the tasty cod family, but unlike so many native fish, it is in plentiful supply.

My pollack came direct from Cornwall, portioned by the fish guy himself, the Fish Society even guarantee that ‘if you find a bone in them, he (the fish guy) will eat his hat’!

Luckily for him (and his hat) there were absolutely no bones in the fish at all and I prepared my pollack with a simple mixture of lemon zest, juice and mayonnaise, with shallots and thyme and grilled them for about 10 minutes.

The pollack was delicious, served with rice and steamed vegetables this meal was super quick, light and tasty. Our young boys really enjoyed it too, especially with the sweetness of the lemon and mild flavour of the fish. They also loved the fact that there were no bones in it, something that often puts young ones off fish.

As well as being sustainable and less expensive than cod, the other great benefits of pollack is that it is lower in cholestrol, it is lean protein, perfect for building muscles and is lower in calories.

So why not give frozen pollack a try? It is simple to store and cook, is convenient, easy to maintain portion control and is great value – a super-savvy household’s dream ingredient. What’s more, as a special exclusive offer to my readers, The Fish Society have kindly agreed to give a £10 discount on all orders over £65 – just type in the code ICEAGE when you visit their website: www.thefishsociety.co.uk

The next dish I will be cooking will include mussels, this time using the recipe that Jamie Oliver featured as part of the Big Fish Fight – Creamy mussels with smoky bacon and cider.

Until then, what new fish recipes have your tried, have you given frozen fish a try and if so, what did you think? I’d love to hear your recipes and comments.

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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.

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

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

As you may be aware, I have recently become an ambassador for www.thenewiceage.com the British Frozen Food Federation’s consumer campaign and am joining forces with them to spread the message that frozen food is not only convenient and great value, it is nutritious and creates less wastage.

Unfortunately in recent years households have tended to forget about their freezer and have come to view frozen food as unhealthy and lacking in nutrition, however this is not the case. Freezing is a natural way of preserving food and needs no added chemicals. Frozen foods are flash-frozen within hours of harvest too, retaining that ‘just-picked’ taste, for examples peas (no, I’m not obsessed with them – honestly!) and broccoli. Fish is often frozen on board the boat within 4 hours of catch.

Another great advantage of freezing is that you can eat seasonal food any time of year, at home I’m freezing fruit and vegetables that I grow myself – with such a glut at one time, it makes sense to freeze some to enjoy again and again throughout the year, whilst also ensuring I don’t waste any by not being able to eat it in time.

Being a lover of practical, simple solutions freezing makes perfect sense to me, but to make sure I understood the freezing process fully, I thought what better way than the experience being in a freezer myself. So with a trusty friend in tow, I went down to London a couple of  weeks ago (on one of those particularly hot days) and visited the Absolut Icebar London.

What a brilliant experience – given a 40 minute slot we donned our thermo-coats with gloves attached (yes, just like your mum used to do when you were little) and off we popped into the Icebar. It’s fantastic, everything (except the till and floor) was made from ice, the seats, tables, walls and even our personal glasses.

As you can see, I fully immersed myself into the experience and can confirm Icebars are brilliant fun.

So there you have it, my wholly scientific experiment to confirm that freezing is good for you!

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of meeting many ladies that I have spent time knowing ‘virtually’ for a couple of years. The Cybermummy conference 2010 took place at the Ibis Earl’s Court and from the moment I stepped into the building I knew I was in for a fun day.

The first thing which I really enjoyed was the speed networking, being a little nervous on first meetings, it was great that we were all able to mingle around and plonk ourselves down at a table and the conversation immediately took off, no nervous mutterings, just big smiles, introductions and effortless swapping of stories of what we were about and why we had come.

I also learnt so much at the conference, with the fabulous guest speakers sharing proven techniques as well as personal experiences, I feel more equipped to make my blog the kind that I have always wanted it to be. It’s very early days still, so I know I have some way to go.

As well as the speakers, it was also great to meet some of the sponsors, personally I found this so encouraging, I have a passion for helping mums save time, money and waste in the kitchen and it was wonderful to be able to have like-minded conversations with them too.

During lunch, I was able to continue this discussion with Annabel Karmel, who’s ethos is also to help mums cook tasty, nutritious meals without spending hours in the kitchen. As well as discussing our passion and our own products, we also discussed the benefits of cooking with frozen food, which again I am a huge fan of, as well as being a mumbassador for www.thenewiceage.com.

All in all, the Cybermummy conference was a fabulous day, I am now excited about the future of my blog and am also pleased that I got to meet in person so many wonderful people that I’ve made bonds with online.

Thank you Jennifer, Sian and Susanna for organising such a brilliant event.

Lyndsey

As you may have seen on one of my previous tweets, I can now announce that I am a mumbassador (mum/ambassador – in case you weren’t sure ) for the www.thenewiceage.com.

As I am passionate about helping households save time, money and waste through innovative products, food practices and tips/recipes etc., working with thenewiceage.com is a perfect match. By using frozen food, households can not only prepare tasty meals quick and easily, they can also dramatically reduce the amount of edible food that can unnecessarily go to waste. Frozen food is convenient to use, you can stock up in advance so you don’t need to shop daily, the goodness and taste is locked in and you can more easily control your cooking portions, avoiding cooking to much and throwing excess away.

As a mumbassador, I will not only have my own section on their site www.thenewiceage.com, I will also be blogging and tweeting about how I use frozen food to help me save time, money and waste and how you can too. I don’t know about you, but with summer upon us, I’d rather be spending more time in my garden with my family and less time in the kitchen and shops, whilst also enjoying the fact that I’ve got some extra cash in my purse for the summer essentials. Pimms anyone?