An antidote to Christmas
I bought too much food for the Christmas period. I’m sure I’m not alone. We feasted well but packets of ham and turkey had to be put in the freezer and there was a big cheese plate, extra milk and all the goodies like cake and chocolates that needed to be finished up. The family came and went and I found myself continuing to feast days after the festivities were really over. I wondered whether I could avoid wasting anything, and coast along on left-overs until the end of January.
On 9th January I made lunch for nine guests and used up some milk, butter, cheese and smoked salmon in quiches, as my hens are laying well. Salad and soup came from the garden. A day or two later four friends came to supper and we demolished some meat, with fruit and vegetables from the garden and storage. I still hadn’t been to a shop. The organic milk, dated 26 December, was still sweet, and stores of butter and cheese were holding out. I decided I really would not buy any food items until the end of the month.
I have gone on happily since then. The cheese has dwindled to a small block that might, at a pinch, do two more meals: cheese on toast and a sauce for leeks. I looked through my dry stores. Chick peas and beans were elderly, if not ancient. Hummus makes a good change from cheese and the beans will do plenty of meals, as there are at least three varieties of them which need to be eaten and replaced before the weevils find them.
So far this experience has not been one of austerity. I continue to entertain people regularly and happily eat my porridge with grated apple rather than milk. My stores of oatmeal are fit for a winter siege. But the chocolate has gone, thank goodness. I love it but it is addictive and somehow distorts my sense of what I need.
Maybe I will keep the experiment going until Easter, perhaps allowing myself to buy some dairy products. It certainly encourages me in the canny use of resources.
Fi Martynoga
January 2012