Taking on Tesco

I haven't blogged about food for a while, but don't worry, it's still a prominent part of our lives over here (in case you thought we'd stopped eating or something). This picture of potatoes doesn't have a lot to do with my post, but I like it because it shows just how dirty our farm share vegetables are when they arrive. Also, I was too hungry/lazy to take a picture of our dinner last night.



Anyways, Tesco has this deal where you get a 3 course meal (side, main, and dessert) plus a pretty nice bottle of wine for 9 pounds. We've tried it a few times, mostly when the selections look interesting and are something I'm not likely to cook. It's also a good option when we're too lazy to cook. But generally, the best part about it is getting a coursed meal, and a nice bottle of wine, with just a trip to the grocery store and 30-40 minutes of oven time.

Of course, when I have the time, I'd rather cook my own coursed meal - so yesterday, I tried to challenge Tesco to see if I could do three courses and wine for under £9. (It's okay to be jealous/alarmed that I spend my days plotting challenges with a grocery store.) I gave myself a £1 leeway, since I knew I would end up with leftovers, and I had a few extra things to purchase that pushed me to £12.14, but it was close enough.

My plans for asparagus were dashed when I saw that it was £3 a bundle!!! What a harsh reminder that some of the things I took for granted in the NW will no longer be staples in our diet. But I scored some shitaake mushrooms for a risotto, salmon fillets, and a sweet ingredient box for cheesecake that was on sale for 84p (!) so I felt okay. The cheesecake was a little strange though, more of a mousse over a crust of crushed digestive biscuits (a new favorite, and possibly an entire post in itself) but it tasted fine. As did the cheap bottle of Tesco wine (classy...not so much) that was used more for cooking than drinking. James and Matt decided to drink Tennents anyway (nope, that's not classy either).

After Matt got home from ju jitsu, we enjoyed a lovely meal of shitaake risotto, broiled salmon, mixed greens w/stilton, and a tiny piece of cheesecake. Really, we were too full for dessert anyway, but made a valiant effort to preserve the coursed meal. We just had the leftover risotto for lunch, and we'll have cheesecake for the next week unless I invite people over to take it off our hands.

Final score? Chelsea: 1 Tesco: .3 (mostly because they win on the beverage side)