The discovery of the year.

How boring does one's local supermarket get?  And how much more boring is cooking for oneself, since one is a bachelor!? (Single by choice.)

(Not because I'm "undatable".)

(Like that one person once said...)

Anyway:

I live in an older part of town where space is limited and shops are small.  Not like those sprawling upmarket uptown malls built on what was still a quarry or a mine dump a month ago.

That means my local supermarket, too, is tiny and has unbelievably limited stock. I find myself wandering around the aisles going: "In how many different ways can I doll up that pre-cooked chicken?" I'll tell you what: That chicken has often gone from 

- deboned by hand and grilled in my oven (skin facing up so it gets extra crispy and lets all its fat seep thru the dry breasts underneath, Mmmm!), to

- today on a salad (if the leaves haven't wilted yet coz no bachelor can go to the supermarket more than twice a week) to

- tomorrow in a pasta to

- by the end of the week on a dry old sandwich.

(Once, only once, I ventured beyond one week with one chicken.  I can most certainly not recommend it.)

As I was having one of these food-recycling brainstorming sessions by myself between aisle 4 and 3 about 2 months ago, I found myself in the fresh vegetable section.  To discover the find of the year!

Minestrone soup mix is always sitting there, staring me in the face. I'm not much of a soup eater, but then it hit me: Chopped carrots, leeks, onions, beans, celery and spinach make the most awesome salad-in-a-bag!  Ready to eat. Fresh as morning dew (and stays that way much longer than a leafy salad).  Flavourful as the famous soup itself.

Just delicious.  Try it - I've converted my whole family to this trick.

Fresh Minestrone Soup Mix, R24,99 (Or R10 off for 2 if you're lucky)

Woolworths Supermarkets everywhere. 

www.woolworths.co.za