Life in Lockdown - F is for Food - A-Z Challenge 2021

 

Click here for the A-Z blog to find out more about this challenge. 

Food in lockdown hasn't actually been too much of a problem for us.  As a member of a delivery scheme with one of the big supermarkets (Tesco) I haven't really had any problem getting slots for home delivery.  I also didn't panic when toilet rolls were in short supply because I keep a stash of those (and other vital items) and by the time we needed to order them the panic buying had subsided.

It seemed that suddenly everyone was planning to make bread when we were first locked down, that and all things pasta.  The sad thing is that some things will probably have ended up being wasted.

Fortunately for me, Hubby likes to cook so all I have to worry about is organising the weekly shop.  Of course it's not the same as browsing the supermarket aisles and trying out new products or having a bit of variety.  It tends to be let's repeat last week's orders and add in anything we're getting low on.

To add some variety we've used Hello Fresh, a company that delivers everything you need to make a meal quite a lot.  We opt for 3 meals a week, but not every week so that doesn't get boring.  We've also used Simply Cook, a delivery service that provides spices and sauces for recipes but you have to shop for most of the ordinary ingredients.  Some of their recipes have been a bit hit and miss - the instructions (particularly on timings) are not always as clear as they might be but again it's meant we have tried new things.

During the summer period when lockdown had started to ease for a while and we were encouraged to "eat out to help out" we did manage a meal out at a local pub but it was definitely pub food.  Ok, but definitely not special.

The nicest meals we've probably had during this last year were 2 meals from a restaurant that had branched out into "finish at home" meals.  The components of the meal are delivered, mostly prepared, and you just have to do some finishing of them at home.  We had one on our own at home and another one with my daughter and her wife at their house.  Both were delicious and a real treat.  These photos are from the meal we had on our own.

From April 12th restaurants and pubs can reopen their outdoor spaces.   It will be table service only in the pubs and numbers will be limited to 6 or 2 families.  I think it will take us a while to feel comfortable going out again, particularly before we've had our 2nd vaccines.  But it will be nice to go out for a meal cooked for us and of course a glass or 2 of wine.

We certainly haven't lacked wine during lockdown and our regime of rewarding ourselves with chocolate on days when we walked soon became let's have some chocolate whenever we want.  Which has been often.  The scales do not lie.  I wish they did or that I had more willpower.  The only problem with food during lockdown is that I've eaten too much of it!