I am getting acclimatised to my new routine. I have figured out the areas that need to be adjusted to suit my new work schedule. They are: cooking, shopping, cleaning and getting decent working wardrobe together.
Last weekend in my goal to be a lean, mean, organizational machine, I started to do some bulk food prep. When I was working from home, I was cooking every night and now that I get home quite late, I need to make sure cooking is as easy as possible. I find that if I can prep before hand, that cooking is quite easy.
I hit the fruit and vegetable market last Saturday, dusted off the food processor got prepping. I chopped up onions, small not too hot chillies and some very hot chillies. In total, I spent £3 on a lot of vegetables. I don’t know the exact weight because I bought them by the bowl full. The onions were over 2lbs worth, and the peppers about a pound of each.
Here are my results, these should keep us going for a bit.
I am also going back to my routine of getting my heavier items delivered on an approximate rota of every three to four weeks. Now that time is more of a consideration, I am going to be seeking out time saving tricks.
Do you have any tricks to share? Please leave me a comment – I am going to need all the help I can get to keep all my balls in the air.
have you got a big-ish freezer? I have pasta sauces and soups prepared in bulk and frozen in single portion tapperware. So when coming back home you just have to pop it in a pan for 10 minutes while doing something else. I also have made a number of preserves (peppers, mushrooms, aubergines) that one can toss in a salad and make it a very very special meal.
Hi Chiara, Thanks for stopping by. I do have a decent sized freezer which is so full that it is difficult to open the drawers.
I love the idea of your preserves – would you care to share the recipe with our readers? I have been getting red peppers about 5 in a bowl for £1 so I would like to take advantage of the cheap price.
sure! In general to preserve something in vinegar the procedure is the same whatever the vegetable. The base is white vinegar and salt, which need to boil (you can add water too if that’s too strong). You can add garlic, bay leaves, cloves to add to the flavour, but that’s to your taste. The vegetables (after washing and slicing) have to be cooked in the boiling liquid for just a couple of minutes, then they must be taken out of the pan and dried. Then you put them in the jar (pre-sterilised by leaving it 10 mins in a hot oven) and cover them with the cooking liquid (it has to be still boiling). Close the jars, turn them upside down for 10 mins and that’s it. I preserved like this onions, cauliflower, celery and it worked very well…I hope it does for you too!
Thanks for the very clear instructions. I will have to give preserving a try.