Apparently people’s shopping habits have changed dramatically and supermarkets are becoming obsolete – so claims the boss of Waitrose. The guy quotes research results proving that we no longer want to do a weekly shop and that most of us don’t know by 4 pm what we’ll be eating for dinner that night.
I am horrified. Two depressing conclusions here.
First, if this is true, that could be the reason why we chuck out 80% or a similarly staggering amount of food because we overshop. Not through weekly shops. Why – you don’t know what you’ll eat tonight so you pop into the store, hungry like anything so you plonk into your basket whatever comes the way of your fancy: ‘Ooooh I’ll have the fish tonight. And pasta. And I’ll manage a few spuds too, yes please. And rice – oh, I’ve got pasta already – no matter, I could eat a horse. Where’s the horse aisle?’
Second – that means relying on ready-made or pre-prepared meals in a bag. Because if you still don’t know what to eat by that time you’re not going to be bothered to actually cook from scratch, are you?
There’s me hoping you still will, given a right idea.I thought I'd suggest simplicity itself: steak dinner which of course is one of the best dinners. If you’re really shopping for food on the night you eat it then a challenge of bringing the meat to room temperature. Solution: if it’s summer, take a scenic route home, so the steak travels about a bit. If it’s winter, put it on a radiator for a bit. I'm not entirely pulling your leg here.
Veg are a doddle – grab whatever green stuff you fancy, stemmy, beany things, not spinach. Plus blue cheese. Nothing else. Don’t go looking for the horse aisle. And if you really, really need a carb filler, grab some crusty bread.