Wednesday 7 April 2021

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!


16 comments:

  1. As long as there's wine, right?

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  2. The finish at home meals seem like such a great idea! And the pictures definitely look like it was delicious!

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    1. It was delicious and the finishing was all relatively easy

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  3. We didn't have trouble getting food all last year and into this year. Our restaurants are all open now for full capacity. Many added outdoor seating which is lovely in nice weather. I have often wondered about the meals delivered but haven't tried them yet. Our local grocery has their own that you just grab a bag and take it home to prepare, with everything you need included. The prices aren't bad so I may try one soon. xo

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    1. Our open outdoors only next week but I think we'll be waiting a bit before we venture too far.

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  4. Food hasn’t been a problem here either, but in the first weeks of the pandemic, hand sanitizer, toilette paper, Clorox products, masks etc were in very short supply. But supply has caught up with demand.

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    1. Oh yes forgot about the hand sanitizer - shoppers were limited on how many of these items they could buy for a while

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  5. I cooked my way through the pandemic. We would get brave and get take out once on a while, but a few weeks ago, we had a real date. We had to wear masks, but it was just nice to get out and get dressed up a little. My husband get his second vaccination next week and I get my first. We’ve missed our dinner dates! Your plates look yummy 😋

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    1. Thanks. How lovely to out on a date. We'll get there.

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  6. I was really surprised at some of the items that were not on the shelves. I've had a hard time finding canned spinach!

    Janet’s Smiles

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    1. Oh there was definitely a spell of panic buying but thankfully that is over

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  7. I felt like the panic buying lasted a long time here. We use Home Chef, not every week but a couple of weeks a month. I was so glad I had one scheduled this week as we arrived home late Monday night but had two meal kits delivered Tuesday which meant I didn't have to shop until today. A nice break and we've enjoyed the food.

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    1. Not having to think too much about meals definitely makes life easier at times.

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  8. It was interesting to see how many people wanted to make bread. Like you, I suspect a great deal of it went wasted. We're making more bread now, but then I've been making it all along. We're just making it more often now. The toilet roll binge buying didn't affect us as we have bidets installed in our place. Looking back, it was a really wise decision.

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  9. I have a bread making machine which sadly is standing idle. Bidets sounds a good investment.

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