The Pennywise Pantry

Welcome to The Pennywise Pantry, a blog for those who have foodie inclinations, a passion for quality ingredients and fine dining, but not necessarily the wallet to match.

In an ideal world I’d love to buy wholly organic produce, enjoy premium quality artisan produce and splash the cash on expensive cuts of meat and fish (let’s be honest, who wouldn’t?), but I live in the real world, have two kids and a mortgage to pay. My passion for food is tempered by the fact that my budget is limited. But does that mean I should miss out?

No way.

Now don’t misunderstand me. I’m not adverse to paying money for the occasional quality ingredient. This isn’t a food blog for you if you’re looking for creative ways of surviving on a couple of quid a day (though those blogs absolutely have their place and are of infinite value for those needing such wisdom). It’s just not an absolute necessity for me.

I’m not keen on the word frugal (just looking it up in the thesaurus made me shudder), and I certainly don’t begrudge supporting local food producers. I just can’t afford to eat how I would like to in my dreams.

So I find thrifty solutions to my foodie complications.

I discover cheaper ways of buying quality produce, create recipes that inject boundless flavour into cheaper ingredients, and find canny ways of cutting down on waste. And it turns out to be pretty fun too.

Over the coming weeks and months I hope to share my favourite recipes, tips, and food stories to encourage you in your own cautious culinary escapades (forgive the indulgent alliteration, I am an English teacher after all) . You can find me on twitter @pennywisepantry, instagram @pennywisepantry and facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pennywisepantry/

I’m excited to start sharing my adventures in thrifty food experimentation and hope you’ll join me on the journey.