A No Supermarket Week in Instagram

It has been a crazy busy few weeks, busy at work, some great swims at the beach, sickness, a certain male member of the household moaning about his impending death, and the purchase of a label maker.  Have managed to capture the last week in instagram photos.

I have got back in touch with the humble omelette. As a massive Gavin and Stacey fan Gwen put me off for a little while, but back on the horse. Eggs were a playgroup fundraiser.

Some amazing cheese! Bought at the Tamar Valley Festival, had great Halumi Sausages as well. He's also usually at Harvest. The Buffalo Mozzarella was also amazing

One child took a break from eating to get his face painted as a "beautiful butterfly."'

The other child invites all her friends come for breakfast.

Got some great apples and onions today at Sidmouth. They were delicious and at $4 a bag, you can't go wrong. 

 So that was my week, basically lots of food bought from the side of the road and from round our local area. 

Guest Blog from the wonderful Helen of Ethiopia

I have no great pearls of wisdom like the fine author of this site, merely some experience of going supermarket cold turkey.  From having absolutely everything on my doorstep and passing 1 supermarket, 3 mini supermarket and a garage owned by a supermarket in my 5 minute journey home from work, I now find that the closest thing to a supermarket is 500km west of my current abode.  As you can see, my commitment to avoiding supermarkets has been rather more down to circumstance than choice. 

However, what I lack in ample, brightly lit aisles, festooned with whatever your heart desires I have more than made up for in a broadening repertoire of home cooked goods and a mild sense of smugness that I am making healthier food choices on a daily basis, and whilst my waistline is yet to see the benefits I’m sure that is soon to follow!

In place of veg aisles I have a daily market at the bottom of my road.  The colours and sounds of the women selling their freshly picked vegetables and haggling over prices is a much welcomed change (once you’ve got used to it!) to the bland concrete setting back home,  the whining children and wonky trollies.  At first I was going to say it takes a lot more thinking about but that is not so.  You can’t think too much about what you are going to buy because there is no guarantee what will be there.  Instead, I head down with an open mind and an empty bag and hope to return with it full to the brim.  Yesterday I managed to get some of the most magnificent chillies, onions, carrot, enormous sweet potatoes, large potatoes, garlic, tomatoes, oranges, freshly baked bread and quite excitingly cabbage!  I never knew I would be quite so excited about cabbage either!  (Some of the tomatoes turned out to be a little grotty but I should have checked them a little more carefully.)

So for tea, a delicious thai-style coconut broth.  Hadn’t seen that on the cards when I went to the market that evening!

Most things seem to be bought at least by the kilo.  Being used to my little jars of herbs and spices conveniently packaged I am reluctant to go for a full kilo of ginger!  On one of our shopping trips we asked the lady if we could buy one root and she looked at us as though we were crazy.  Handed it to us and then waved us, and our money, away.  Clearly, we were not worth her time or effort with such small amounts!  Nevertheless, should anyone wish to buy in bulk, I would recommend her quality produce!

For more cupboard staples, it generally involves a trip to Harar or Dire Dawa where you can get pretty much everything but is at least 40mins on a busy line taxi. 

When it comes to shopping here very little is convenient, even quick food such as rice, pasta and lentils need to be picked through before cooking - for fear of breaking a tooth on a rogue stone or the added roughage of a bug.  The ease at which I formerly went into the supermarket and picked up a ready meal, pizza or pasta and sauce had forced me into a little food rut.  Now I’m being shoved out of this rut and into a growing range of vegetarian dishes.  I myself am not a vegetarian.  This is possibly one of the major drawbacks to life without supermarkets.  I miss the wide variety of meat and the ease at which you can select it.  I’m gradually building up my confidence to head to the meat shack and get them to hack off a slab for me but I am not there yet.  

I am forgetting of course all the other bits and pieces offered in supermarkets that are not food related.   There are many options for this and part of the enjoyment is finding these items in the most unlikely of places.  Toiletries can be bought from a little girl who has a shop in a wall, artificial apple trees can be bought from the local market, sunglasses and curtain ties are sold side by side from street vendors.  The supermarket on campus – which I don’t really think counts as it’s more like a corner shop and certainly doesn’t carry the name of any of the trading giants you will be used to - seems to go into party goods in a big way!  I’m very much looking forward to the next occasion where I can buy a glittery top hat or birthday visor.  Alternatively, decorate a cake with giant candles and sparklers in every shade and hue.  Most of all I’m looking forward to buying their supply of snow spray and decorating every available surface for Christmas.  It’s amazing the things you can find that you didn’t even know you needed until they were offered to you!  Maybe it is more like a regular supermarket than I thought!

Helen has her own website about her life in Ethiopia. 
http://heleninharamaya.wordpress.com/

False Economy

Things that are a false economy- remember I have had 30 years now to ruminate on these things.  I am now on a tight budget, we want to buy a new house and there is no money for frivolous things or junk.

-Cheap garbage bags. Great twenty cents/pence/yen (insert the currency of your choosing) and spend twenty minutes clearing up bin juice. It is the grossest of all juice.  I have two kids under two, I know a lot about gross.

-Cheap nail polish. When it chips before it even dries, maybe don’t get your nail polish at the op shop.

-Shoes that cost under $10, they will look good for a day, ok for a week and let’s hope there are no puddles after that. I am very guilty of buying cheap shoes, I was a shocker for a getting a pair downstairs at Primark on my way out. (Obv Manchester Piccadilly Primark as it is the best).  

-Clothes from the op shop, not in your size (extend to the rest of the family and the kids will never fit into them) will never be of any value. As it is great to buy stuff there, since you will never use and will eventually give it back to the opshop, just give them a smile and donation on the way out. I like to buy a drink, if I get nothing. But that’s me, charitable and always thirsty.  

-Shoes for children who can’t walk. Reiterating-  they can’t walk- just pop some socks on if it’s cold and try not to cry when they have outgrown the shoes and never worn them.

- The library. I think this one is just for our family, as we are so lame at getting books back on time. We often get quite large fines, to the point where the lady said last time “Here’s my favourite donors”. Getting books out is nice and great on a rainy day, but returning and often trying to find them is not on.

Must go and darn some socks, to save a dollar. x

Cultivating

This week I discovered that even the Amish go to the supermarket. So it looks like there is me and that tribe who have yet to be discovered in Southern Borneo who are not going to one. I was further surprised to learn that some Amish sects are even allowed to go to Pizza Hut- yes in a horse and buggy and can not get deliveries, but pizza particularly from Pizza Hut is allowed by the Bishops. This I can totally understand, Pizza Hut is great. Although I can totally recommend Crusty’s Pizzas in Beaky and several others in the greater northern region of Tassie. But surely their ethos and way of life is more akin to small scale shopping and growing their own.

During the week, on one of my many weekly discussions (or rants) on why I don’t go to the supermarket it was suggested that I do not need to go to the supermarket as I am growing my own food.

Sorry it took a second for me to pick myself back up off the floor. In no manner have I ever produced something from the garden fit for consumption. Presently our garden produces two things poo and a nice view.

There is a photo of the nice view, you may need to trust me on the poo. We are country folk and the garden is full of native visitors, birds, possums, wombats, wallabys and the occasion kangaroo. They all pop in (the possums screech across the roof), chew on a bit of grass, leave a deposit and go.

I, like every other Australian, have notions about growing my own veggies and having some chooks, but may leave that till retirement, only another 35 years to go

 

Vegan's For Lunch

Last week fortune shined and we had a public holiday- I say we and as in the kids and I, Mark works in town where the show is celebrated in November. It is truly a point of cultural difference. So on our day of days we had Vegans over for lunch. 

How did I meet Vegans?  Well… as the kids are just a little stir crazy at home, when I’m not at work and they are not at child care- we are at playgroup. We have made some great friends and play mates that are different to my other friends.  I started going when we lived in England and I realised- wow I have no friends with kids and a tiny lounge room with a busy little lad. When I had a new born and a 14 month old toddler playgroup was my saving grace. We do a local playgroup and when I’m off we do Steiner playgroup in town.

I must admit that despite my family being 25% vegetarian having a family of vegans over was a little daunting. The vegetarian diet at ours is full of cheese, eggs, pasta and milk. So finding something fit all tastes- including 3 toddlers. So I made Vegan Spanakopita- taking out ricotta with vegan cheese (surprisingly sold at the Beaky IGA) and vegan filo. 

It was good- (the photo does not make it look great), even the kids ate it. Although it was a bit awkward when my kids wanted a yogurt and hadn’t planned on a vegan toddler who would be left out. Turns out the answer to this dilemma are sultanas.

I say bring on more holidays and summer!

Down, Down, Prices are Down

It has been a month since I have heard the “down, down prices are down,” ringing in my head. It has been more time consuming and marginally more expensive, but an exciting consequence is eating more fruit and vegetables.  

In some dramatic periods of reflection (alternatively called the drive to work) I was thinking about how when we lived in Japan and rarely went to the supermarket. Although it was a diet largely based on copious amounts of alcoholic beverages, it was local veg shop (which was under the highway), the occasional food hall, small local shop, convenience stores and fish mongers that I made all purchases.  So I have dived into the archives and found some photos of some of the greatest food in the world. 

Tako :)

I see an egg, some pink and maybe a potato cake.

Nabae- or as we call it stew

Yakiniku

Last one is my favourite, takoyaki. 

Arm and a Leg

We have had a massive week here.  A birthday, a new job, holidays, and my two year old has started asking to go to the “Big banana shop,” (translated as the Legana supermarket) and getting upset when we drive right past.  

Unsurprisingly, not shopping at the supermarket is expensive. Mark came back from the IGA with what seemed like half a bag of shopping and was $170 lighter for the experience.  I have no idea how much we normally spend on food, nappies and red frogs in a week. The word "budget" gets bandied about occasionally around here and is greeted like a bad smell. Now I’m not going to the supermarket and I am really not well organised, the little small trips add up.

So this week I made a shopping list and a menu planner. I was really pleased with myself, to the point where I was telling one of the mums at playgroup, to which I was simply told 'everyone does this.' Well great, I am just like everyone and they should also be very proud.  So proud I took a photo.  

Armed with my list I went to the Veggie Shed, Beaky Butcher, Baker and IGA and for less than $100 have everything for the week - including nappies and Diet Coke. Whether or not everyone enjoys it, is another story - possibly next week’s.