Eating habits fascinate me. Not just what people consume, but how, why and with whom.

I can’t help browsing cookery book collections in other people’s kitchens. I like to peer at grocery lists and peek inside pantries filled with store cupboard staples. The bit in MTV Cribs where they show you the inside of their fridge? That’s my idea of heaven.Butternut Squash and Pak Choi Curry

After almost six years of documenting the food we eat on Love Audrey, I thought I’d go into a little more detail regarding our diet. My hope is you’ll return the favour and satisfy my innate curiosity by sharing similar information about yourselves in the comments below.

Jamie Oliver Fish Pie

For us, food is an integral part of family life. The four of us eat together twice a day, every day, and mealtimes tend to be the focal point of our weekends too. Food is definitely my love language. Few things make me happier than watching people enjoy a meal I’ve prepared.

I do most of the cooking, but Mr L.A. makes a marvellous sous chef. I plan our meals on a weekly basis, poring over my extensive collection of recipe books before ordering groceries online via Ocado. We spend roughly £100 a week, but I’m more than capable of tightening the proverbial belt when freelance life is a little more famine than feast. When we’re feeling flush, we probably eat out a couple of times a month.

Jamie Oliver Pulled Pork

Here are a few basic principles I follow when feeding my brood. They’re not hard and fast rules, just habits we’ve fallen into as a family.

  • As Little Processed Food as Possible

I’ve always enjoyed being in the kitchen, so cooking from scratch is no big deal. I’m not a complete saint. I don’t bake my own bread and I wouldn’t dream of denying the children the odd fish finger, but you’re unlikely to find a ready meal in my fridge.

  • Meat is a Treat

Our diet is predominantly a pescatarian one. We often go weeks without eating any meat at all, but on average it probably features once or twice a month. At the risk of sounding preachy, I believe limiting the amount of meat you consume is one of the best things you can do for your health, your wallet, and the environment.

  • Something Raw with Every Meal

I adopted this idea when the children were little, but I quickly realised it could benefit the whole family. It’s a great way to increase your intake of fruit and veg without worrying about loss of nutrients due to cooking. Treating salad as a main event rather than a hurried afterthought has revolutionised the way I eat. Another good rule of thumb is to think about how colourful a meal is. Generally speaking, the brighter and more vibrant it is, the better.

  • The 80/20 Rule

Much of The Londoner’s Anti Diet resonated with me, but the 80/20 rule in particular reminded me of my own attitude to food. 80% of what we eat is healthy, nutritious and incredibly good for us. The other 20% is made up of ‘naughty’ food like Salted Caramel Marble Cake, Lemon Drizzle and those huge weekend breakfasts you know we love.

  • If We Have to Have ‘Junk’, I’d Rather it was Homemade

I rarely buy cakes and biscuits. Not only do I enjoy making my own, I feel better about the children eating a simple mix of sugar, butter, flour and eggs over something shop-bought that’s also pumped full of preservatives and flavour enhancers. Friday is our designated ‘treat day’ when the children are allowed to buy penny sweets from the corner shop. They look forward to it all week and it stops them from trying their luck every day!

  • Variety is the Spice of Life

We all know it’s vital we eat a varied diet. I’ve found it’s also important for me to mix things up in order to enjoy the daily grind of feeding a family of four. I like to try at least one new recipe a week. I endeavour to maintain a balance between food I know the children love {and will eat with little or no fuss} and more mature meals that might mean we have a fight on our hands.

What can you tell me about your eating habits? Do you follow any of my principles?

Love Audrey xxx

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Love Audrey
How We Eat
Butternut Squash and Pak Choi Curry
Jamie Oliver Fish Pie
Jamie Oliver Pulled Pork
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May in photos 🤳

1. Finally, some Franky weather. One of the best things about this month has been dusting off my summer dresses and being able to wear sandals ☀️

2+3. Coronation weekend. So many thoughts 💭 But the food was good! I made a vegan version of my mum’s famous coronation chicken and it was delicious.

4. Jesse staying upbeat during yet another trip to hospital. That steroid buzz though. IYKYK.

5. Some of the food served at the first meeting of Bristol Cook Book Club since 2020. It felt so good to get this going again. I can’t wait for our next feast!

6. Me among the cow parsley, snapped by Jesse.

7. I’ve been thinking about creativity a lot this month while working through the ‘The Artist’s Way’. 

8. Breakfast outside.

9. {Still} scrapbooking December. Fingers crossed I can finally wrap up this project in June 🤞🏻

10. Izzy’s final show at The Tobacco Factory. After tonight, she’ll be done with college {and compulsory education} forever 🤯

We packed a lot into this month. Enough to fill two carousels! This might explain why I’m so tired! I’m looking forward to June though. Everything’s better when the sun shines ✨
@_charlieswift has been raving about ‘The Artist’s Way’ by Julia Cameron for years. I finally caved, ordered the book and agreed to work through the course with her and some other artists. 

The book focuses on ‘guiding you through the process of recovering your creative self’ to ‘help you unleash your inner artist’. It’s early days {I’ve only read as far as week two and I haven’t even started my morning pages yet - IYKYK}, but I’m enjoying the process so far. 

Today I took myself on my first Artist Date - ‘a block of time… especially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner artist’. I decided to treat myself to a solo cinema trip to see ‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.’ The film was brilliant and taking time out midweek to do something just for me felt… kind of naughty? And fun! It definitely filled my creative well {again, IYKYK}.

Have you read ‘The Artist’s Way?’ Where would you go on a date with your inner artist?!
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Franky weather ☀️🌅🔆🌻✨

That’s it, that’s the caption.
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April in photos 🤳

1. Our trip to London over Easter was a definite highlight this month. Here’s the obligatory ‘flowers outside Liberty’ shot.

2. Finally! Some sunshine! More of the same please, Mr. Weatherman ☀️

3. Dressed for a day of sightseeing in my new favourite pink jacket. It’s Boden and I bought it in the sale 💖

4 + 5. Scenes from a trip to the big Waterstones in Piccadilly. This poem by @charlycox1 floored me. Crying in a bookshop. Not awkward at all.

6. I was proud of these steps, so I’m posting them here for posterity 🚶🏼‍♀️🥄

7. The Easter holidays also featured lots of lazy days 🎮😴

8. We bought a nutribullet and I’m officially in my smoothie era.

9 + 10. Dinner and drinks at @thecoconuttreeuk with our IzzyBee. Taking your daughter out for cocktails is a season of parenting I’m very much enjoying.

Not pictured: a family funeral and the chest infection I’m still getting over 🤒 How was April for you?
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Easter weekend in my hometown 💃🏼

No trip to London is long enough for me to see all the people and do all the things I want to do while I’m there, but we always manage to pack a lot in. It’s 17 years since I moved away, but somehow it still feels like coming home. Here’s some of what we got up to…

1. Being tourists.

2. Shopping at Westfield.

3 + 4. Hanging out and eating at Southbank.

5. Refuelling in Chinatown.

6. Enjoying the big Waterstones in Piccadilly.

7. Admiring the spring flowers outside Liberty.

8. Visiting the Imperial War Museum for the first time since I was a child.

9 + 10. Seeing Elton John at the O2 with my mama 👓🎹🎤🪩✨

I hope you’ve managed to enjoy the long weekend, whatever you’ve been up to! That sunshine though!☀️🤩
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March in Photos 🤳

1. How it’s going…

2. How it started.

3. My in-laws were involved in a terrible car crash earlier this month. They’re very, very lucky to be alive. It was a horrible time, so I’m grateful there was a happy ending.

4. My husband sent me this photo of a photo from our wedding day while he was visiting his parents. Turns out his mum carries it in her purse ❤️

5. While I was waiting for news from Derby, I took myself out on a walk and ended up in @thesmallcitybookshop. It was like my feet knew books would bring me comfort.

6 + 7. Just spring things.

8. Vegan lemon and almond loaf and a green smoothie from @theorchardcoffeeco 🍰🌱

9. I bought it 🌸

10. Other music? I don’t know her. 

How’s March been treating you? Personally, I’m ready for April and spring PROPER!
There is a past version of me who cannot believe I get to do this every day 💭📝💻

She’s around 12yrs old, working on her first novel in a little ring-bound notebook, dreaming up stories, devouring books and trying to imagine a life filled with words. Everything that makes my business possible now barely existed then, so even she’d struggle to conjure up  an image of what my life looks like now.

I’m grateful that I get to do this, for the clients who trust me to find the right words, and I’m grateful to that past version of me too. Without her, I wouldn’t be here now. Sure, she’d probably want me to hurry up and get back to that novel, but I think she’d be proud of the business I’ve built and the way I’ve managed to create a life filled with words.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
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Lockdown memories, three years on 🦠⏳

Very little of my life made it on to the grid in 2020, so this is the first time I’ve shared these images. They’re all from the first lockdown and most were taken between March and May. I think the arrival of spring will always remind me of this strange time.

When Boris made his announcement on the 23rd, our children had already been out of school for a week. Jesse, who was initially deemed clinically vulnerable, spent the next 6m shielding. He left primary school one day not realising he’d never go back. He did not see another child his age until the summer. Like many kids and adults in the same situation, the experience had a deep impact on his mental health. 

Izzy was in Year 10. As the pandemic raged on, she did most of her GCSEs online, celebrated her 16th birthday via Netflix Party, finished secondary school with minimal fanfare and missed out on prom completely. When she finally had a normal night out with friends in the winter of 2021, I cried quietly in the kitchen when she got home. Seeing her so happy and animated after a simple ‘cheeky Nando’s’ only highlighted everything she’d missed out on in the previous 18 months.

It’s easy to forget how little we knew about the virus in the beginning and how frightening that was for everyone involved. We had it easy in comparison to some, but I still marvel at the way we coped with it all. The way we isolated, home schooled and kept our businesses ticking over. My goodness it was hard! As my children often joke, I hope we’re done living through major historical events for a while.