frankfurter.

This week, I thought I would look at the way we shop for food. Mainly because my mother is terrible at it so I thought that might be amusing.

Mrs Beeton (yes, her again) highlights the importance of sourcing your food properly and gives direction for selecting the choicest of meats, fish and vegetables as the start of each of her chapters. In the section of "Household Management" entitled "The Mistress," Beeton states that "In marketing, that the best articles are the cheapest, may be laid down as a rule; and it is desirable, unless an experienced and confidential housekeeper be kept, that the mistress should herself purchase all provisions and stores needed for the house. If the mistress be a young wife, and not accustomed to order 'things for the house,' a little practice and experience will soon teach her who are the best tradespeople to deal with, and what are the best provisions to buy. Under each particular head of FISH, MEAT, POULTRY, GAME, &c., will be described the proper means of ascertaining the quality of these comestibles."

For my family, Mrs Beeton unfortunately got it wrong. It was not desirable for the mistress of our household to purchase all provisions as she had no clue what to buy. I will explore the way my mother shops nowadays in my next blog (I am sure you're all on the edge of your seats), but this week I will go back and see how she remembers shopping as a child in the 1950's and whether it is really my nan who should shoulder the blame for me having to suffer with "Yoghurt week" (more of this in my next blog, see, you're getting more and more eager to read it).

Mum dressed more sensibly for this week's video.

She also removed the tea bag from the used tea bag tray by the kettle just in case anyone zoomed in on the video and judged her for the "mess" in her kitchen before she would let me start.

Yes, you did hear right. She doesn't think 10 frankfurters in one sitting is a lot. And yes, I witnessed her enjoy a frankfurter with a cappuccino. That's not even the worst combination she has concocted. 

She forgot to add how upset she was when it closed. 

Although most people don't tend to focus their shopping memories on free frankfurters, Mum does raise the point that people used to have to visit several different stores, or at least several counters in order to collect the food they needed. While watching The Mary Berry Story this evening, she alluded to this notion, stating that she used to "buy olive oil from the chemist." Mum was brought up in the 1950's, when Britain's food industry was returning to normal after rationing in the war. A quick Google search of "food shopping 1950s" produced a few educational videos, giving guides to 50's housewives on how to complete their weekly shop. 

my50syear.blogspot.co.uk is a blog in which an American woman relives food shopping in the 1950's.

Although both of these guides are American, many British cookbooks alluded to the importance of being a thrifty shopper. Dusting off our old yet untouched cookery books, I discovered St Michael's Cookery Library book of "Family Meals" by Elizabeth Seldon. Seldon states that "by planning a week's menus in advance your shopping expeditions can be reduced as well as the time you spend in your kitchen." Seldon goes on to state that "as we spend a quarter to a third of our income on food, it is well worth using time planning meals and shopping economically."

Over the decades, the way we shop for food has drastically changed. Many high streets are without local butchers and fishmongers as supermarkets exploded on to the scene offering everything that a housewife could possibly need, pre-packaged for her convenience. So perhaps it is not my mother or my nan who I need to blame for the random shopping my mother produced, but the supermarkets themselves. Had she had to queue at each counter, she would perhaps not have requested 29 yoghurts in one go (that's right. Twenty nine yoghurts in one shopping trip. I was going to save that gem for next week but as you got to the end, consider it a treat).

Ps, basil's not doing so well.

I think he needs to go to herb hospital.