ONE - shopping can be easy and quick

As promised, here I am to share some tips on how to get organized on your kitchen.

IN THE KITCHEN - SHOPPING

Shopping can be easy and quick :

Make a list of all you need and organize your kitchen store-room by sections.

Basic - Check what is missing and make a list. Buy all the essentials such as rice, potatos, onions , garlic, olive oil ,pasta and flours. Make sure you have always all the dry herbs/spices that are more often used on your kitchen, such as bay leaves, oregan, pepper.

If you store these products in correct way, it can last for three months or more.

Special Shopping - I love the adventure of gourmet shopping and am always ready for a visit to a good store in search for new ethnic food. I load my kitchen with all the different spicies, italian pastas and asiatic sauces.

Try to have always - butter, low-fat cream , a good dijon mustard , curry paste - I use a great one from COSTA's called Goa Curry and it is a prepared so you just have to add to your favorite - chicken or prawns.

Buy fresh - I try as much as possible to use fresh products as they will be responsible for half of the sucess of the meal but there are products that are as good frozen, like peas, broad beans, soya, these are very convenient to have always at home.
Vegetables by fresh - the best is to buy your vegetables once a week as they can really last very fresh if you know how to store them. I will speak about it.

Meat and fish are also possible to buy once a week but you have to make sure that the quality is very good and fresh and by doing a correct storage, they can last for the whole week.

One important thing, specially if you have a family, is to always have pre-prepared meals as this are very helpful when kids arrive for lunch without notice.

On my weekly stop at the butcher , I always buy minced meat ,which I then cook into meat Sauce for pastas, meat balls that are great with potato purée, hamburgers , which I freeze for the week.

Cheese - try to buy on a specialist as they can help you about flavours and maturation. You shouls always have a good cheese at home as this can be a great snack or even a full meal.

From all the cheeses , the most important to have in Parmiggiano specially if you cook a lot of pastas and italian food.