Then there's your choice of lid …

Your “lid” does not have to be pastry.

Here's an alternative “deliberate” cooking suggestion. I'm fond of saying, “if your oven is in use, fill it!” I bake six jacket potatoes at a time, wrapped in foil – they take up very little space in the oven when I'm cooking other stuff. The baked jackets have so many uses and the best bit – no washing up!

The baked jacket potato could be your new best friend – slice them and use as a potato “pie lid” and sprinkle with grated cheese – just add extra veggies!

If however you prefer pastry it doesn't matter whether you make your own or buy a ready-made sheet - the pastry police are in lockdown too! If you fancy having a go at making your own, there are easy peasy recipes coming up.

The guidance that follows is based on a pie to serve 4 generous portions and so your first decision is to choose your serving dish. I normally use square foil trays ( you can use a casserole dish if you prefer) – measurements for your tray or casserole dish are 24x24x6 cms – 9½x9½x2¼” approximately.

Dealing first of all with a ready-made puff pastry sheet, they normally weigh 320g, more than ample to cover the pie filling as mentioned above. The same applies to the shortcrust ready-made version too.

The ready-made sheets should be taken out of the fridge for 10 minutes before use, to allow to reach room temperature - the pastry will be easier to work with and won't crack when you unroll. The sheets are not designed to be rolled and should be cooked in accordance with your pie recipe. The Jus-Rol brand can be frozen for a month and is also suitable for vegans.

A small tip - if you have leftover offcuts of pastry you can create small bite size miniature pasties, fill with onion, grated cheese – leftover cooked chicken or gammon - have a trawl through the fridge for bits and pieces!

Here's another thought – you could make “pot” pies – you can decant the filling into your pots, cover and freeze. Make your pastry when you have time. You don't have to make lids that are an exact fit for your pots – cut out pastry circles, or hearts or whatever design your cutter collection inspires. Bake the pastry tops on a baking sheet and place on top of your pie filling.

Before we get to the easy peasy pastry recipes a few hints and tips that I hope you'll find useful.