Much as kale might be nice to eat, I'll wait until someone else cooks it first before trying it.

New dishes can be nervewracking to try, but sometimes they turn out delicious on the first attempt!

On average, available recipes are standard quantities for four to six people, which is inconvenient for those with smaller families who are not all amenable to trying new foods.

Portions can be scaled using ratios and basic math.

Questionable quantities of exotic ingredients are mainly the problem, especially when one wants to avoid useless left-over items stored indefinitely in the pantry.

Rare ingredients can be hard to use up, that's true, but it also can be a fun challenge to find a creative way to include them in a dish.

Spinach, whether English spinach or our own silverbeet, is a case in point when it has a short use-by date but is not sold in half bunches.

True, dairy and fresh fruits and vegetables can be hard to use up before they go bad, especially if there's only one or two of you.

Usually, thanks to the 4 person recipe rule, we make enough for two days' meals, eating one serving the first day, and refrigerating enough for the following day's main meal.

Vegetables remain the problem food, whether growing them or buying them at reasonable prices, as you have to make the effort to take care of them or search for them.

Watercress is a plant I have never bought, but am a bit curious to try sometime.

Xanthic coloured fruits and vegetables are good sources for vitamins A and C.

Yogurt is a good source of calcium.

Zucchini, known as courgettes elsewhere in the world, is a most useful green vegetable which goes well with other Mediterranean foods like tomatoes, cheese and olives.

And in good growing seasons those zucchini can be incredibly abundant, with some of them growing to huge proportions (more like baseball bats than cucumbers in size ).