Father's Day

Bear was very insistent that we had to do a good father's day for DH, especially as he had been away for a week. We had many discussions about this in the last few months, as DH is awful to buy for. He doesn't really collect stuff, he doesn't drink much and he doesn't have many wants.

DH is a huge fan of the Yes Minister series, and has the books (which are soooo much better than the tv series) and they are ragged. They are one stage away from shedding pages. The stiff paperback covers are more like felt. So bear and I agreed that DH's father's day present would be new copies of these books, before his current copies fell to compost. We got it right - DH was thrilled!

DH went out on his usual Sunday morning routine and came back with a 'Game of Thrones' themed Monopoly set. I sat and listened while bear and DH bickered and joked through the game and had an amazing time. Then poor DH, he had to make his own dinner. I can't cook steak to save my life, but I had the gently fried onions and mushrooms and new potatoes sorted, and a nice cheesecake in the fridge, but he had to do the steak. I don't think he minded.

I have been looking at the recipes on the Tesco site and I mentioned to DH that one recipe came out at £4.29 per serving before sides! DH didn't understand why I was surprised. It's cod with lemon and olives, if you are interested, and I haven't tried it, but if you assume parsley from the garden, a dash of oil from an existing bottle, olives from an already bought jar and used frozen cod instead of fresh, you could get it down to say £4.51 for two, or around £2.25 each (remember - original recipe is £4.29 each but includes the cost of a whole bottle of olive oil). If you used the generic frozen white fish fillets, which would tempt me as they were being cooked with strong flavours, then the price would go to @ £1.45 each (I think - bear hasn't checked the numbers).

So the very nice rump steak which fed bear and DH tonight and DH will have tomorrow as well, managed three meals for £7.50, is a lot cheaper than the fancy fish dish!

I was thinking of playing around with Tesco's meal planner on their site, but I think I should have to do a lot of very careful checking before I press 'add to shopping basket'. I suppose it's a great way for them to sell groceries, but I shall have to proceed with caution!