While I haven’t ever really loved cooking, I do enjoy it. I am not a very creative cook. My Mom can create amazing meals out of the most mundane ingredients. I am not that kind of cook. I need a recipe and clear instructions. Before we came to London I never had trouble with meal planning. I looked in my recipe box or online, chose a few meals, made a shopping list and that was that. In trying to plan ahead for our move I chose some of my family’s favorite recipes and scanned them so I would have a good supply of resources to draw from when cooking meals. That was a great idea, in theory. In practice it is not turning out to be very helpful.

Take today as an example. This morning I spent some time looking through my scanned recipes, and some online and chose 3 meals to make. I made my grocery list and set off for the store. 45 minutes later I arrived home frustrated as I was only able to find the necessary ingredients for one of my meals. I have bits of the other two meals, but not enough to actually make it. Now I have to figure out if I attempt to find the missing ingredients somewhere else, substitute, or come up with an entirely new meal based on the ingredients I was able to find.

Meal times never felt stressful before. They do now. I never know if I will be able to make what I have planned or if I will have to try again. I would love to know what other families here make for dinner. There are a lot of already prepared meals in the store. Do families eat those often? We found a great Indian food family pack that we have enjoyed several times. There are also lots of “meal deals” at the store; any 3 items for £7, stir fry veggie pack, protein pack (chicken or beef strips), noodles – I have done this several times.

My root beer pulled pork will have to wait as I couldn’t find root beer anywhere. Split pea soup will also have to wait for another time as the green split peas were nowhere to be seen. However we will be able to enjoy creamy mustard chicken and veggies.

Bon appétit.