**Spoonies – aka “The secret society of the sick”. The Spoon theory – how to explain to the non-disabled what happens when your get up and go simply gets up and buggers off!
Been here before, but it’s a theme always worth revisiting, by which I don’t mean repeating, as I get new readers
Sainsbury’s are running a TV ad claiming it’s possible to feed a family of 4 for under £50 a week. Considering what it costs just to feed me, I feel a tad cynical about that.
Yesterday morning, I spent a whisker over £30 in Sainsbury’s; later in the day I processed an online order at Tesco for about the same amount (mostly food, plus a very few non-food items). The only luxury (i.e., non-essential), item was a 500g tub of Green & Black’s Vanilla ice cream.
OK, I don’t eat rubbish (mostly!), but nor do I buy top-of-the-range stuff, it’s all mid-range, decent-quality food. I figured out quite some time ago that the best value lay in the mid-range, not the bargain basement (except for canned tomatoes, which are brilliant), nor in the Taste the Difference or Finest ranges (Sainsbury’s and Tesco), which all too often simply aren’t worth their price premium.
What pushes my bill up is buying pre-prepped food, pretty much essential for a #spoonie who likes good food. And by the way, fresh pre-prepped veg is infinitely better than frozen abominations, like “casserole veg”, which taste of bugger all! And any surplus can be frozen – you’ll be using it soon, so no need to blanch**. No freezer? Make soup! Though really, for a #spoonie, a freezer is a must-have. I bought myself a giant American-style fridge-freezer about 18 months ago – best thing I ever did, food-wise.
**Tip – mix watery veg, like onions and celery, and herbs like basil and rosemary, with oil before freezing. This will prevent their going mushy.
It’s very difficult – if not impossible – for me to cook conventional meals as, by the day’s end, there’s a severe spoon shortage (pork chop, roasties, greens and gravy, from scratch, for example, would be impossible**), so I devise meals which give me the maximum enjoyment and nutrient for the minimum of preparation.
**Not because I can’t cook – I’m bloody good! I just don’t have the physical resources/spoons.
For, example (serves one), quarter a pack of mini plum vine tomatoes, toss in a pan with a good splash of olive oil, salt and pepper, and put over a brisk heat (garlic is optional – I don’t like it with fish). Put on a pan of pasta to cook – I prefer linguine.
After a few minutes, the tomatoes will have given off a lot of liquid, so stir in as much oregano as you like. Then cut a skinless cod fillet, previously defrosted if necessary (or whatever white fish you happen to have – coley is fine), into bite-size pieces, or smaller if you like, and add to the toms. Stir, cover, and turn the heat down a little. Once the fish has turned opaque, remove from heat. It’ll continue cooking a little. The fish will give off liquid, too – that’s fine.
Drain the pasta, add a splash of olive oil, season with salt and lots of black pepper, and stir through.
Tip pasta into a bowl, pour over the tomatoes and fish, toss lightly, drizzle with more olive oil if you wish, then grate over some Parmigiano Reggiano (genuine Parmesan, not pre-grated crap), and get stuck in.
Total cost, maybe £3, for a very tasty and filling meal, with minimum of time and effort involved.
Sometimes, if I’m feeling more robust than usual (happening less and less since the onset of heart failure), I’ll drag out my slow cooker, and make a casserole for the freezer (foil trays are available in various sizes from Lakeland).
Tonight, for example, I’m having lamb and cannellini beans, flavoured with rosemary, paprika and ground coriander, which I put up last October and is still very well flavoured (food does lose flavour while frozen, but I find this is much reduced by using foil trays rather than plastic bags, which are, in fact, micro-porous, hence the flavour loss). Trays, being a uniform shape and size, are easy to store, too, than randomly knobbly frozen bags.
Over the weekend I cooked and froze 4 portions of braised steak with carrots and onions. With instant mash (or frozen roasties, or chips), and frozen veg, I can have a meal in 15 minutes.
