Now that Elizabeth is more or less out of danger and we don't need to spend quite so much time at the hospital, I've decided to get back into the routine of cooking every day, rather than relying on hospital canteen meals, takeaways and the kindness of friends. It's going to be a marathon rather than a sprint, so we need to establish some sort of routine.
The supply of fruit and vegetables we brought over from Spain is now exhausted - as are we, in fact - so yesterday I went shopping for the ingredients for my legendary vegetable soup, and a chicken casserole for Sunday lunch. One of the many things I love about Spain is that fruit and vegetables are always sold in season, and are therefore very tasty and very cheap. I knew I was going to have to pay more for my 5 a Day here in Devon, but I didn't realise just how much more expensive it would be.
500 grams of peppers - an ingredient I can't manage without since moving to Spain - cost me £1.68, yet the last lot of peppers I bought at my favourite Spanish market worked out at less than 1 Euro a kilo. Maths isn't my strong point, but that's about half the price for double the quantity, so my feeble brain has calculated that I'm paying around 4 times the price for peppers here. To add insult to injury, they're very bland tasting and quite small - my bag of 500 grams contains five peppers, whereas the ones I buy in Spain are large enough to feed a family of 27, and have a wonderful flavour. Well, maybe 27's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the picture.
We live among the orange groves on the Costa Blanca, so freshly squeezed orange juice each morning is a particular treat. We're so used to it that I was even prepared to buy oranges over here to continue the tradition, when our bargain bag of 6 kilos for 1.50 Euro ran out after ten days or so. I paid £1 for a bag of Valencian oranges on special offer, only to find that there was just enough juice for a glass each. Not only that, the exquisite signature flavour of the Valencian orange was missing completely.
I was telling this to a Spanish friend who sells her father's oranges on the markets, and asking her why Valencian oranges lose their flavour when they cross the English Channel. She said it's because they are kept in cold storage on the journey - oranges and lemons give up most juice and flavour at room temperature. Talking of lemons, I've had to pay 50p for 3. I can buy a kilo for less than that in Spain, but this was a real emergency. I can't drink my vodka and lemonade without ice and a slice, so needs must.
Basically, all the fruits and vegetables we know and love are far more expensive in the UK, and I really can't see why that should be. When things quieten down on the hospital front, I'll go in search of bargains. A friend told me that Aldi and Lidl have the best value fruit and vegetables of all, but there isn't one on the route into hospital, so for now, it looks like taking out a mortgage to ensure we get our 5 a Day. Rip Off Britain strikes again!
