No Rice Meals

 Rice is getting more and more expensive.

Last year 5kg was about 2000 yen (about 10 pounds), beginning of this year just under 3000 yen, now even the cheapest brand is over 3000 yen, 3300 t0 3500 yen (17 pounds to 18 pounds). 

If it was just rice that has gone expensive we could manage, but everything has gone up, not just by 10 to 50 yen but a few 100 yen on most basic things. 

I really try not to buy a lot but we have to eat! 

One problem is that the cheapest Japanese meat doesn't work for western meals.  You can get cheap pork and beef sliced, very thin. There are very few roast cuts, and the ones that I've seen are expensive. Pork chops are good and chicken breast is getting cheaper again.

Japanese pork slices

Christopher pulling faces!!

So I'm trying to figure out what to do with this kind of meat. 

Today I fried it up with onions and mushrooms, used basil, salt and pepper to taste and added starch to thicken the juices up a bit. I served it with mashed potatoes and a green salad.  

Another idea is to make patties with the meat. I added some green peppers chopped small, starch to bind it together. Again either potatoes or chips, and salad!

I want to make some kind of flat breads to go with curry or stews! 

I need to get creative, find a way to make things stretch.  At the moment it's easy as soups, stews and curry go a long way. A pot of stew will last for at least 3 meals!  But what to do in the summer?  I hope by then we will have a few vegetables from our own land.  

This week the temperature should be a bit higher, still very cold but we can get out and do a bit. I want to get some potatoes started!