Cooks' Question

I tend to shop each day for food but would love to see a cookbook that gave a list of all the ingredients you would need for the week for a collection of easy-to-prepare, balanced meals. I end up throwing so much food away due to recipes requiring only a small part of the food purchased, eg half a green pepper, a teaspoon of this or that.

Response

Planning meals for the week is one of the areas where Delia Online can be of help. For example, you could click on In Season in Recipes & Ingredients in the top right-hand corner of the Home Page, and use this information to help you decide what ingredients you'd like to buy for the week – it is always worth using seasonal produce for reasons of value and quality. Then click on Recipe Search and enter the ingredients one after the other in the search box. You should then be able to see all the recipes on the site that use your chosen ingredient(s).On the other hand, many ingredients can be kept until the following week in the fridge and you can also freeze herbs until you need them again – most herbs freeze well. They don't need blanching but they should be washed and dried before freezing either whole or chopped. To freeze them whole, pack sprigs of the chosen herb into polythene bags and freeze. (You could tie sprigs of parsley, thyme and a bay leaf together for use where a bouquet garni is called for.) To freeze them chopped, chop herbs finely and pack into ice cube trays, cover with water and freeze. Tip frozen cubes into a polythene bag and store in the freezer. Recommended freezer life is 6 months.You may be able to find a helpful cookbook through Books for Cooks at 4 Blenheim Crescent, London W11 1NN; tel: 020 7221 1992; fax: 020 7221 1517; e-mail: info@booksforcooks.com; website: www.booksforcooks.com. They offer a mail-order service.

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