Food and Drink | Contemporary Living

Spanish omelette recipe

Eggs are an excellent source of protein and Vitamin D. In this recipe they are used with leftover boiled potatoes for a nutritious family meal on a budget.

This meal costs about €3.20. This is only 80c per portion!

Fish and leek bake recipe

Here is the second in our series of budget family recipes.

It is recommended that we eat fish at least twice a week. However, fish can be expensive, especially on a tight family budget. This recipe uses off-cuts of fish from Fred’s Fish at the Farmers’ Market in Cavan town. This is an inexpensive way of getting the essential nutrients that fish provides on a budget. 1lb of fish cost just €5 and included salmon, monk fish, smoked haddock and cod pieces. In total the meal costs about €7 — that’s just 1.75 per portion!

Buying seasonal veg looks after your pocket and local business

At a glance, supporting local businesses and buying seasonal vegetables don’t seem to go hand in hand – but they do. Yasmin Maassarani finds out more…

Buying seasonal vegetables

The convenience of supermarkets and the plentiful supply of fruit and vegetables all year round means that many of us no longer know what is in season. Early this year Bordbia officially launched its ‘Best in Season’ campaign with the aim to educate us. Its web site has a useful calendar that clearly shows when Irish fruit and vegetables are in season.

What are the benefits of buying seasonal produce?

Did you ever wonder why celebrity TV chefs are always cooking with the seasonal produce? Firstly, it means that you are buying produce when it is at its cheapest, so this means you will get better value for money. Secondly, seasonal produce tastes so much better than fruit and vegetables that have been forced to grow under artificial conditions or that have been imported from overseas and ripened in transit. Finally, by buying Irish produce in season you are supporting Irish producers and therefore supporting Irish jobs.

Reducing food waste could save you money

The Bordbia Stopfood Waste campaign has claimed that the average household could save between €700 and €1,000 per year if they reduced their food waste. At the start of the European Week of Waste Reduction Yasmin Maassarani takes a look at the staggering statistics.

We’ve all done it haven’t we? Thrown out good food that has gone past its sell-by date. How often does a limp lettuce sit in your fridge and then get thrown out without being used? How many of the ‘buy one, get one free’ offers do you throw away because its no longer in date? And what about the pounds of fruit that grow mould in the fruit bowl? - You bought it with all the right intentions, because after all, your kids were going to ‘eat their ‘five a day’ this week, weren’t they?

If you have answered ‘yes’ to some of these questions then some practical tips could help save you up to €1,000 on your annual family shopping bill.

Cottage pie and mince meat and veg pie recipe

It can be difficult to make healthy, family meals on a budget. So Contemporary Living has put together four different menu ideas that use seasonal ingredients to give you a helping hand.

Here is the first in the series.

It is actually two recipes in one. It shows you how you can use 1lb (450g) of mince beef to make two meals — cottage pie and a mince meat and veg pie. The total cost of the two meals is about €8.80. This means each meal only costs €4.40 — thats €1.10 per portion!

The mince meat and veg pie freezes very well. I recommend making the two meals together on a Sunday afternoon and then freezing the pie for a later date. It will actually save you time in the long run.

Fairgreen Community Garden

Yasmin Maassarani talks to Finian McNamara about bringing Fairgreen Community Garden to life.

Finian originally had the idea of setting up a garden in Cavan town which would enable local people to grow their own food, learn new skills and contribute towards developing local community spirit.

He approached County Cavan Community and Voluntary Forum who had recently done a land audit of the county to discover that there was a site in the heart of Cavan town that could be used. It is located on what was traditionally known as the Fairgreen, behind Fairview Terrace, just below ‘Gallow’s Hill’.