As soon as you walk into one your heart sinks and you become a grumpy trolley shuffler, unless you're one of those crazy basket people that goes to the supermarket at 6am after a brisk jog (in which case you should go away and eat a carrot now and leave us all alone), or you're 2 years old, in which case it is your god given right to chuck a giant tantrum.

photo credit: jumer

The traffic inside most supermarkets is just as bad as roads in any modern city.  The same women who can't manage to reverse without an oops or two are let loose here on far more dangerous vehicles without a licence.

You'll find those horrid perky athletic types in the supermarket too - jogging on the spot while contemplating whether they want 5 packets of lean cuisine spaghetti low-fat extra-goo or the smooshed up packets of tofu burgers with added tar that are on special this week.

There's always at least one newlywed couple - arms around each other, romantically deciding whether they should have a bright yellow packet of tacos or frozen lasagne for dinner tonight.

The aisles are set up like one of those awful hedge mazes that landscape architects think are "charming" and "quaint" but there is nothing at all quaint about an entire aisle of noodles served with varying kinds of sludge in styrofoam cups.  This aisle is a particularly dangerous one and must be avoided at all costs, lest you accidentally tarnish your ears with the existential rubbish that can only be emitted from first year arts students.

When you run away to safer ground you find yourself surrounded by last year's apples, floury and tasteless. Or maybe they're the potatoes? It is hard to tell.

photo credit: Lab2112

A fact about supermarkets that you should know:

• 'Fresh' fruit and vegetables on supermarket shelves can actually be around a year old when you buy them. The Sydney Morning Herald bought apples from Australia's major supermarkets and sent them to the Sydney Postharvest Laboratory for testing.  The tests revealed that the apples were up to ten months old.

Despite common misconception, apples are not grown year round in Australia.  In order to meet the year-round demand, supermarkets purchase apples from growers during the short season and then keep them in cold storage.  While the cool temperatures can help the apples last longer, it has a negative effect on the quality and flavour of the apple.

So what can you do if you want to eat produce that is actually fresh, full of flavour and nutrients?

photo credit: tanguero (BLOCK, rinse, repeat)

The answer is simple.  You need to embrace the slow food movement and buy nearly everything from organic happylands where everyone wears hemp, talks about ecosystems and sustainability and smiles a lot.

The hippies have got it right.  The birds sing and frolic as you stroll along at farmers markets or at those wonderful greengrocers that actually source fresh produce.  I promise you will taste the difference.  Nobody will smack you in the shins with a trolley.  You will be able to identify everything on the stands and if you can't, a friendly person over the age of 12 will be able to explain it to you.

So how much extra should you pay for fresh?  Almost nothing at all.   Sure, the prices look more per kilo but somehow my basket, laden with fresh goodies, costs less than the equivalent from the supermarket.

photo credit: Indiana shutterbug

Fresh lasts longer too, so you won't need to resort to stringy lettuce or frozen peas at the end of the week.  Is it any wonder that most kids don't like vegies?  Get them to choose the fresh veg from the stands and see what happens next.  You can thank me later.

If you can find a quality butcher, fishmonger, greengrocer or farmers market and wholefoods store you will come out ahead financially and have the knowledge that you're supporting your community, your own health and the environment too.

How can neon lights and plastic wrapped in more plastic compete with that?

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3. Fast Food: Pantry Edition

Well you aren't so awesome when it's 9:00pm on a Tuesday night, you're starving and you end up in a drive-thru deciding whether chicken nuggets or a fillet-o-fish will go better with a half-empty bottle of sauvignon blanc.

Being crazy perfectionist when planning your meals defeats the entire purpose.  Sure you could plan a week of amazing tantalizing gourmet treats from scratch but unless cooking the evening meal is your only job and you have no other responsibilities whatsoever and you are a superhero or energiser bunny you are just flat out lying to yourself.

The reality is there WILL be days when everything goes wrong, you come home late, a friend calls you in tears because the moron you never liked is treating her like crap again, the power goes off or you just plain can't be bothered.  If you don't have days like that then we are probably living in different universes.  You need to build stuffups into your planning.

A well stocked pantry (and spaces on your meal plan) can help out in times of crisis or laziness.  I'm a big fan of carbs in a crisis but go with what works for you.

Some of my pantry basics:

Rice/Pasta/grains:

• basmati rice (to serve with curries etc - and its low GI - bonus!)
• jasmine rice (short grain)
• carnaroli or arborio rice (for risotto - I prefer carnaroli but arborio can be easier to get)
• spaghetti (I like the Barilla Spaghetti Rigate - the ridges hold the sauce better)
• macaroni or short pasta
• thai style flat rice noodles
• polenta
• couscous

Tinned stuff/Sauces

• Tomato pasta sauce or passata
• Tinned crushed tomatoes
• Tinned diced tomatoes
• Tomato paste
• Tinned red salmon
• Tinned mixed beans
• Tobasco
• Woucestershire sauce
• mustards (wholegrain, Dijon, English etc)
• coconut milk
• coconut cream
• curry pastes (madras, vindaloo, thai red curry etc)
• soy sauce
• fish sauce

Oils/vinegars:

• Extra virgin olive oil
• Grapeseed oil (great for frying)
• Nut oil (unless you're allergic like I am)
• White wine vinegar
• Rice wine vinegar
• Balsamic vinegar
• Red wine vinegar

Vegetables:

• Potatoes
• Onions (keep potatoes and onions well separate)
• Sweet potato
• Carrots
• Garlic
• Fresh herbs (in the garden or a window box)

Basics:

• Plain flour
• Self raising flour
• Caster sugar
• Icing sugar
• Quality salt flakes
• Whole peppercorns
• Bicarb soda
• baking powder
• cocoa
• stock (chicken, vegetable)
• breadcrumbs

Alcohol:

• beer
• brandy/cognac
• plenty of wine

The most important thing in my pantry: a folder filled with menus from fabulous local takeaway restaurants.  Why grab a whopper when you can get a pad thai instead?

Some quick and easy ideas:

Yes it would be great to only eat fabulous slow-cooked tomato pasta sauces made from your own organically grown heirloom tomatoes with fresh picked basil and garlic but it isn't possible on a daily basis for many of us.  (Grendel, you can stop gloating now.)

A jar of Barilla pasta sauce for $2.50 can be bulked up in a few minutes with a tin of 79c tomatoes, some fried onion and garlic and a liberal amount of quality salt and freshly ground pepper.  Add fresh herbs if you've got them.  A tiny splash of balsamic vinegar or red wine will give the sauce depth with minimal effort.

You can even buy garlic in a jar now if you don't have access to garlic straight out of the ground or you don't add it to everything like I do.  Serve over decent quality (egg) pasta with a liberal amount of grated parmesan/reggiano and a generous glass of wine and you'll be a quasi-Italian Mama in minutes.

A couple of potatoes (I like ruby lou or royal blue but whatever you have is fine) brushed, not washed or peeled and some onion chucked into a food processor with a grating attachment can become potato rosti in a flash.

My grandmother likes to fry the onion first but I often forget.Mix the potato and onion with egg and a bit of flour.  Season well and form into flat cakes with your hands.  Pop them in the fridge for a few minutes if you remember, then into a small amount of oil over medium heat and flip when the bottom goes crispy and golden.

Drain the rosti on paper towel while you wilt some baby spinach in the frypan (off the heat will usually work) and poach or fry an egg or two.  Stack up the plate with the spinach, rosti and then top with the egg.  No harm in adding some proscuitto if you have it.  Serve with beer.

If you've got time to scoot past an open butcher or fishmonger (lucky you!) on the way home your stocked pantry will convert a piece of protein into a meal, stat.

Fridge and Freezer essentials to follow!

UPDATE: While I'm finishing up my fridge and freezer posts, you might want to head over to Summer Tomato.  Darya has written a great post about stocking your pantry for healthy eating.

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This is my speedy, healthy-ish, completely not-Indian, not-curry version.

Mix a couple of tablespoons of good quality curry paste (if you're in Perth and haven't already, check out Prime Products) with roughly the same amount of plain yoghurt. Low fat yoghurt works perfectly.

Smear the curry paste mixture over a couple of chicken breasts (beef or lamb works too) and marinate in the fridge for at least 5 minutes. Chargrill until just cooked through (chicken breasts take 4 minutes on my Breville electric chargrill thingamy) and serve with basmati rice, vegetables of your choice and pickle or chutney.

If you cook double the chicken, you can serve it cold the next day wrapped in roti bread with salad, pickle and a bit of yoghurt.

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3. Quick and easy weeknight “roast”

This is my "cheat's roast" which will be tonight's dinner.

Smoosh a couple of cloves of chopped or pressed garlic into a couple of beef fillets. Massage some balsamic vinegar (or red wine) into the meat, cover, and put into the fridge to marinate for 15 minutes or more.

raw beef

While that is happening, chop up some veg. Tonight I used some kipfler potatoes, skin on, chopped into rough chips. Sweet potato, carrots, red onions, pumpkin etc would be great too - whatever you have on hand. I tossed the potatoes in a generous amount of extra-virgin olive oil, flaked salt (I used Murray River pink salt but you can use Maldon or whatever takes your fancy), heaps of cracked pepper and some fresh thyme and spread them out onto a baking dish.

chips

I also put some tiny roma tomatoes into a mix of eevo and balsamic vinegar, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper in a small oven dish. You can also use cherry or grape tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes in halves or quarters depending on how much time you have to cook them.

tomatoes (I realised i needed to chop these after the photo)

I had some large flat field mushrooms so I topped those with eevo, salt and pepper and some breadcrumbs and put them onto a tray.

Slide the veg into a hot oven, pour yourself a glass of red and tidy up the kitchen. Once that's done it will be time to cook the meat. Drain and then massage some oil into the meat. Chuck the beef onto a hot pan and cook to your liking. The balsamic will make the beef rather dark so don't worry.

Rest the beef while you set the table and pour more wine. Top the tomatoes with some crumbled fetta and pile the potatoes, tomatoes, mushrooms and beef onto some warmed plates, maybe with a bit of just wilted spinach. Deglaze the pan and pour on top of everything else.

I didn't have a lot of time to present this nicely because my husband was about to knock me out to get to dinner. So here it is.

dinner

Please forgive the awful photos, I am just learning. Feedback is more than welcome!

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