A month! I cannot believe that I have not written for a month! Where has the time gone… But to make amends, I had submitted my body to a scientific experiment.

Well, I tried new food, really.

I must admit that when I first heard of one of those delivery services that provide you with a box of fresh ingredients and a recipe, I was not altogether taken by that idea. ‘What,’ I thought, ‘people are now too lazy to even reach into their own fridges and take out a pepper and a bit of butter?’

And then a friend, who freely admits that she is no chef, texted. She sent me a picture of a dinner she had just cooked. I was amazed. Where did this talent come from?

Turns out that ingredients boxes are made for people who struggle to create a healthy dinner. They are for desperadoes who have nothing edible in their cupboards. They are for cooks who want a midweek supper inspiration. And they are for enthusiasts who love discovering new ways of cooking.

I count myself into the last two categories. Did you know that there are more than two ways of cooking rice? And that tabbuleh is a thing?

Yes, you guessed it. We have succumbed. Admittedly, the first week my husband ordered a veggie option by mistake. But even without meat we had a feast on each of the nights we cooked ‘from the box’. What’s more, his mistake came in handy when a vegetarian guest arrived at the weekend and I had a new (and tried, during the week) recipe that was not a quiche. She was impressed.

‘Any disadvantages,’ I hear you ask. Well, there are a couple. We have a hell of a lot of recycling material all of a sudden (boxes, little pots containing exactly measured spices and sauces, little bags with sprigs of coriander); and… no leftovers (as I said, everything is carefully measured for the recipe) – unlike our vegetarian and environmentally conscious friends, Fred the dog and the chickens are NOT IMPRESSED.