I’m not gonna try to be a super chef

Laksa...yum yum

Funnily enough, I have an entire bookmarks folder devoted to recipes. I go for the simple, 5 ingredient type meals whenever possible. But you know, you get bored of pasta, stir fries and meat and two veg…sometimes you want something different!

Some of my most favourite foods I would never be able to make though. The labour, time taken and not to mention the insane amount of ingredients is just too offputting.

For example, I really like ethnic foods…Thai, Indian, Malaysian…very spice heavy and full of things I’ve never actually heard of, let alone know where to find. (Not necessarily spicy dishes though,  my constitution isn’t that strong. It’s still stronger than BF’s, who couldn’t even handle this Mexican chicken fiesta salad…. I like a good strong mouthwatering laksa or curry, but only once in awhile. The flushing, sweating and scorched mouth are somewhat of a deterrent).

Basically, they’re foods I love to eat, but reserve for eating out at cheap and cheerful food courts, or slightly nicer restaurants. Luckily we’ve got some really good eats in Auckland, not that our budget has stretched to this lately! I have a list of places I want

to visit, but haven’t checked anything off it in a long time.

I guess I’m just too lazy to actually get around to printing my recipes and putting down stuff on the weekly shopping list. Plus, after a couple, I get discouraged by the sheer amount of things I have to buy. Like FB, we tend to buy a lot of the same items every week – basics – and go from there. It does get repetitive, but it’s easy. I like easy.

So, I’ve decided to try and whittle down my recipes list and try making one new dish a week – that way it doesn’t blow out our grocery bill. As Notes from the Frugal Trenches points out, it’s actually really expensive to be trying new recipes all the time, unless you happen to have all the ingredients on hand (unlikely, unless you’re a huge foodie).