*Enters panic and crisis mode*
2014 Christmas had seen me indifferent, and I'm no feeling Chinese New Year either :( it's just 10 days away and I'm starting to panic a few days ago. It has largely to do with food.
While days off from work is always, always good, I can't stomach the thought of having the same food (puddings and turnip cakes and etc) for more than 2 days. The holiday coincided with weekend so that's a great 5 day long thing this year. More shops open on New Year than before but - you guessed it - people will flock there and they'll charge more than usual - pretty much the type of food you have on V Day when you dine out - much more pricey and quality had gone downhill.
After some thought I decided to tell my family the biggest source of panic is food. Supermarkets hardly gets a restock on the first two days...it's no surprise. And I'm super, duper panic if we run out of fresh food / food of variety. With that in mind, I've decided to keep a few things in the house to keep things interesting...I'd have instant oatmeal for a change, just to have a switch in palate, if things get desperate. I'd eat tinned food or granola bars, or plain boiled eggs with bread (if there is) if I need to. There will need to be a few things around the house to spice things up - atm I'm thinking more along the lines of dumplings with soup, instant noodles (there's enough stock for 3 persons...but 5 days? hmmm), frozen processed food (how sad), lots of greens and fruits.
Ideally I want to have lots of different food in the freezer but our small freezer just doesn't cut it, there's no way to get a bigger one giving the size of the house vs the size of most folks' house in this city. When I have my freezer one day (instead of mom being in charge...), I'd do a deep clean of that and toss out every unused thing. Now everything's in there and you just can't "see" the potential space that can be freed up to do lots of other things, yet she kept telling me there's no space for more food when I try to bring in some!
If you're reading this, I'd like to know how do you cope with the fear of not having enough food?
You know PJ, I never think about not having enough food. I have a few tins in the cupboards, some cartons of milk and some vegetables in the freezer but my fridge is constantly empty. Our local supermarkets have very long hours and even at Chritmas and Easter they only close for 1 day. Is it just you who worries about not having enough food or do other members of your family worry too?
ReplyDeleteHi PJ. Supermarkets near me tend to be open on holidays even just for a couple of hours so I never really fear not having food. However, when we have a snowstorm, I used to get panicky. It was more like "what happens if I want something else?!" so then I'd buy a ton of *crap* just to have it in the house. I've gradually come to the realization that I eat the same things and one or two days won't kill me. But Ilike your ideas for what to have on hand for variety. ~ Pru
ReplyDeleteDear January and Pru, most of the fear had to do with the lack of choice/variety around the house I think, and the reason being that I'm not in charge of the kitchen / fridge / stockpile, so there are definitely thoughts that can't be executed and put into action. This isn't going to change soon. So in a way, I should better phrase it as a fear having repetitive foods (hence perceived lack of food).
ReplyDeleteI don't fear repetitive food but I am very unadventurous at the moment regarding food. I seem to eat the same kind of foods all the time. Sometimes, like today, I get bored and wander around the supermarket for a while trying to find something to please my taste buds whilst remaining within my healthy eating plan. I understand why you don't want to eat the same foods over and over again!
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