Vegetables are an essential part of our diet, but in our situation, it’s all too easy to bypass them altogether. I’ve found that a good way to ensure that I get enough vegetables in my diet is to have at least one all-vegetable meal every day. I also try to include vegetables in or with my meat dishes.
However, shopping for fresh vegetables presents us with a problem. Our supermarkets are packed with a great variety of fresh vegetables culled from all the world’s cuisines. With so much to choose from, we would love to use a wide range of fresh vegetables, but all too often we buy them with every intention of using them, only to throw them out two or three weeks later.
Apart from the waste, this is one of the problems that can make cooking for a single person – especially one that can only eat in small portions – more expensive on a per person basis than cooking for a family. My approach will help you keep costs down and avoid waste.
For our purposes, I’ve placed vegetables into three categories: the ‘Hero Vegetable’, ‘Crisper Essentials’ and ‘Standby Vegetables’.
The ‘Hero’ vegetable – a term I’ve commandeered from Masterchef – is a special fresh vegetable which is central to the recipe. It’s the sort of vegetable that you like to have occasionally but not every day. For more, see:
‘Crisper Essentials’ are a limited range of fresh vegetables I like to always have in the fridge. They’re affordable, readily available, can be purchased in small quantities, keep well, and can be used in a variety of ways. They’re generally used in combination with each other, or to supplement the ‘hero’ ingredient. For more, see:
‘Standby Vegetables’ are kept in the freezer or the pantry cupboard and can be used when there are no fresh vegetables on hand, or to supplement fresh vegetables. For more, see:
» Essential Standby Vegetables
To find vegetable recipes, just follow the links given above, or use ‘Search’ to find all the recipes that use the ingredients you have on hand.