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The Real Meal Deal

Great family-friendly recipes to cut your carbon emissions and waste. Enjoy food at its best, eat with the seasons, reduce food waste, and enjoy a sustainable diet. Join over 1000 subscribers to get weekly tips and recipes.

easy quiche recipe perfect for leftovers.
Featured Post

Eat Well, Waste Less this Easter

Hi Reader Easter is a great time for celebrating and coming together. With a little planning and a few simple ideas, you can enjoy fabulous food but cut the waste, which you'll be very happy about next week. If you're hosting family or friends this Easter, the first thing is not to panic and over-cater. We all have a tendency to do this, but have confidence in these tried and tested portion sizes. Calculate how much veg, potatoes etc you need and go with that. Vegetables: 80g per person...

Hi Reader I'm hearing from people that one of their main concerns is the cost of living crisis. As prices on just about everything creep up, it's becoming more important to find ways to save on food. The good news is that you can still eat well on a budget and building in some meat free days really helps keeps the cost of the weekly shop down. This week, I'm making a tuna pasta bake. This is one of my favourite budget meals. Tinned tuna is relatively cheap and you can make this pasta bake go...

lam tagine as leftover idea for using up leftover roast lamb.

Hi Reader This week I'm thinking ahead to Easter so I thought I'd share a few ideas with you to help you get the most out of everything you buy, reduce food waste and of course, save money. I've a great recipe for using up any leftover lamb. Although lamb has a higher carbon footprint than pork or chicken, it is often a traditional dish at Easter time and we're not about perfection here. We're in this sustainable journey for the long-term. A lamb tagine works well as it doesn't matter how...

chicken asparagus risotto

Hi Reader This week's plan is built around one simple idea: use more of what you buy, waste less and eat really well in the process. Instead of 5 completely seperate meals, these recipes are designed to work together. A single shop stretches across the week, cutting waste, saving money and quietly lowering your footprint. A seasonal asparagus and chicken risotto uses a small amount of meat - but is also great for any leftover roast chicken. The asparagus can be used here and also go nicely...

supermarket aisle with trolley to illustrate how to shop sustainably

Hi Reader Most of us want to buy food that’s better for the planet, but once you get into the supermarket the choices can feel confusing. Organic, Fairtrade, seasonal, local, sustainable fish – there are so many labels that it’s hard to know what really makes a difference. The good news is that sustainable food shopping doesn’t need to be complicated. A few simple habits can go a long way: choosing seasonal fruit and vegetables, eating a little less meat, reducing food waste and looking for...

food waste tips for food waste action week and bin showing food waste.

Hi Reader This week is Food Waste Action Week and it's all about helping people reduce their food waste and highlight simple easy ways to save money. The good news is that reducing food waste doesn’t require complicated changes or strict rules. In most cases, it’s about a few simple habits — planning a little better, storing food properly and finding easy ways to use up ingredients that might otherwise be forgotten. Reducing food waste often starts with knowing what to do with the ingredients...

seasonal eating guide how to do it and why it matters for the environment and your wallet.

Hi Reader The beginning of March marks the start of Spring (hurray) and we can look forward to longer days and better weather(!). People always ask me for a list of seasonal vegetables, so here goes for Spring. Asparagus, purple sprouting broccoli, savoy cabbage, spring green cabbage, cauliflower, jersey royal new potatoes (April & May), kale, lettuce, radish, spinach, spring onions, garlic. I also want to share a new Blog post I have about the benefits of Eating in Season. Eating seasonally...

smoked haddock pasta as a february mid-week meal

Hi Reader Good value in the kitchen isn’t just about cheaper ingredients — it’s about choosing meals that work across more than one night, adapt to what’s in the fridge, and make planning easier. This weeks recipes are picked because they’re flexible, use seasonal ingredients and are easy to build into your weekly plan. On the menu are cod mornay, chicken and broccoli pasta bake, smoked haddock pasta, and a hearty Quorn chilli — dinners that work well for mid-week one-pot cooking. Alongside...

red cabbage salad recipe perfect seasonal winter salad.

Hi Reader This week the focus is on meals that stretch ingredients, use what you already have, and don’t cost too much. I've also included a lovely veggie option for Valentines, which you can serve as a starter, or double up as a main. (the halved peppers look a bit like hearts and they are red so tick two boxes). On the menu for the rest of the week, are easy, family-friendly bakes and classics. A tuna pasta bake, Quorn cottage pie, and quick and easy chicken curry — all designed to be...

leftover pork stroganoff easy february meal and great ideas for using up leftovers.

Hi Reader If February cooking is starting to feel a bit samey, this week’s newsletter is here to refresh the midweek rota with comforting, low-fuss meals that make good use of what’s already in your kitchen. These are dinners designed to be filling, flexible and sensible on both cost and waste. On the menu: a hearty veggie cottage pie, leftover pork stroganoff that gives yesterday’s roast a second life, classic Cullen skink for cold evenings, and a creamy cauliflower cheese pasta that’s...