food and drink – phonakins

What we ate last week – Week 3 2026

a doze cupackes with dark blue icing

Started last week with some jeans / cookie monster blue cupcakes. I don’t know what I was aiming for, but obviously used way too much blue. Last week was about running down the meat in the freezer and I think we did well.

Two plates of rissoles, mash and peas. And a plate of leftover rissoles on paper towel

Rissoles is ALWAYS a good fallback. And I did booked enough for two nights, but they got eaten up for lunches so I had to do something else for Tuesday night. As I was getting out the sausages, Bruce informed me that he found them really gristly and would rather not have them, so Tuesday was chicken balls. Well they were called “Kiev” balls with pesto that I got free from the community centre. And i did them in the air frier, and served with the usual Mash and Peas. Or beans for the stepson since he doesn’t eat peas. I personally find frozen beans gross and cannot have them lol.

Three plates of chicken balls and mash and either peas or beans

Three plates of beef Bolognese, penne and garlic bread

Wednesday I defrosted the last of the beef mince and made a jar sauce Bolognese. Added some onion and garlic, and served it with Aldi garlic bread and $1 food pantry pasta – Harris Farm penne this time.

Three plates of marinated chicken, beans, carrot and rice

Thursday I defrosted a tray of “butter chicken” marinated chicken thigh (another freebie) and cooked that up and served with rice and with beans and carrots I got from Coles that morning when I wasn’t intending to leave the house at all but ended up doing the recycling and a few other things. It went down pretty well actually.

One half of my pantry Other half of the pantry

We’ve been getting a lot of ants lately. I think there might be a nest in the ceiling in the lounge room, but who knows. They got into a container of fruit and nut mix so I cracked it and cleaned out the pantries over two days, did a chuck out, wiped them down and Bruce poisoned everything. Good time for a stock take and all too. Updated my Amazon list of some pantry items that’d be treats or really helpful if you’re keen. Probably pushed myself a bit far Friday and ended up tripping over the down and have pulled up sore – knee, foot, elbow, hand still giving my a bit of ow-ness when I use them wrong.

3 plates of post steaks, beans and mashed potato

Had another freebie tray to defrost Friday night – 500g of pork steaks. They were small bois so we had two each with the rest of the beans and some mash.

3 plates of been, mashed potatoes and peas or beans

Saturday was the rest of the beef that I’d served up a couple weeks before after the ozharvest drop. Still not great at cooking it but whatever, was definitely over cooking by then.

Yesterday we got some BBQ chickens from Woolies and Bruce made Caesar salad rolls for us 🙂

two plates with open Caesar Salad rolls.

It was nice to have an easy one.

We got 99.5 mm of rain Saturday night

Spent Saturday and Sunday watching the weather keenly with all that rain we got.

Maxi dog with a cup of ice cream in his bowl

And Maxi tried some Doggo ice cream from Aldi and to say he loved it was an understatement! He even scoffed the pea one and he’s rather picky about greens usually.

box of Doggy Ice cream, carrot and apple and pea flavour

This week I’ve gotten EveryPlate which was a relief when it arrived! Also was able to get some free breads since the local community food pantry reopened today.

What’s on your plate this week?

What we ate last week – Week 2 2026

3 bowls of prawn spaghetti

So last week I got a Marley Spoon box after they gave me a good discount – think it was under $80 total for the 6 meals. So Monday we started with a prawn pasta – I switched out the tinned cherry tomatoes for two punnets of cherry tomatoes I’d gotten free the Friday before and can use the tin down the track. It’s topped with panko crumbs toasted up with garlic and olive oil – part of the recipe.

3 bowls of chicken caesar salad

Tuesday was a chicken caesar salad – fried up a couple of died pieces of bacon to add to it. Shoulda made the croutons crunchier, but we learn. I also swapped out the zucchini they sent that was meant to be char grilled for some fresh cucumbers again from the Friday Ozharvest haul. Lighter for the hot week we were about to have.

3 bowls of rice, crumbled chicken and picked carrot, cucumber and radish

Wednesday was a chicken katsu. Sadly I’m still not great at judging when the chicken is cooked through in the frypan so it had to go back in once I’d started slicing into it. The fast pickled vege (popped into vinegar with sugar and salt while I cook the rest of the meal) was a nice part.

3 bowls of rice topped with chicken satay

This funny little satay dish on Thursday was quite nice and wish I’d had more of it!

three bowls of salad and park rice

A light pork rice and salad for a hot Friday night.

Saturday was the hottest day so we tried the new Char Char Chickens down at the shops ($20 for the chook). Aside from the bag leaking everywhere it was brilliant! Just ate in in sandwiches. Since it was still 34 degrees when I went to bed it’s good I didn’t wait for the kitchen to cool down to cook.

Last night we had the last meal of the meal box – a beef stir-fry. It was mean to be a low carb no rice one, but I added rice and also the zucchini from the other day to make it actually feed the three of us.

Used my multichopper for the first time too, gonna give it a go for the diced onion tonight for rissoles. I didn’t end up getting Ozharvest last Friday since it was stinking hot and I couldn’t drag myself down there, so we got more taters yesterday and will have a lot of mash and greens with the contents of the freezer this week. I have Everyplate coming next week, which I think will be $50 for the box.

What we ate last week – Week 1 2026

Welcome to what we ate last week, a series of blog posts I’m intending to write every Monday in 2026 to document our meals, how I cobble together a healthish menu for three adults from meal kits for two, Aldi runs, food bank discount purchases and food rescue freebies and my lil brain. It’s to rekindle my food blogger ways, reassure myself I can do this, and give me a goal that’s focused on looking after my lil family that still lets me write about the systems.

bags if groceries in my trolley — Ozharvest haul from Friday

Like everything I do, it may peter out quickly, we’ll see.

two bowls of spaghetti Bolognese and a garlic bread

On Monday we had a jar sauce Bolognese. I got a bulk pack of 3 star mince from Aldi and froze 5 portions and because there was only two of us cooked 1 of the garlic breads from Aldi. Sneaky grate of parmesan cos it was in the fridge.

three places of mashed potatoes, beans or peas, silverside and white sauce
in the background ts the rest of the meat and pot of sauce

On Tuesday I slow cooked a silverside. And made white sauce based on this recipe. I didn’t even make it lumpy because I was slow and patient. We had the leftovers the next day.

Cooked portion of silverside and a pot of white sauce on a wooden cutting board

Rissoles for a New Years meal. No, we didn’t see midnight, but that’s okay. The rissoles stretched to the next day. I kept forgetting to get onions but that’s okay because I never chop them small enough for rissoles and my meat cakes fall apart! Perhaps a skill to work on this year.

2 plates of rissoles, mashed potato and peas 3 plates if rissoles and mashed potato and greens

I went to Aldi on Friday morning and bought poatoes, onions and a tray of sausages. But just after I got home, the local charity posted that they were getting an Ozharvest soon, so I went down and they pushed so much food on me, including a tray of porterhouse steaks, so I cooked three of them for dinner (overcooked :/ again out of practice) and froze the other two. We had beans and corn I also got from that delivery, along with mashed potatoes. I could have gotten free potatoes but since I got a bag that morning I didn’t grab any. Should have a chance again this Friday so I’ll hold off on any grocery shopping til after that. Also got some yummy sodas in that haul.

three plates of steak, beans, corn and mash

The sausages I cooked Saturday night and froze the other six. There were two bags of free beans I brought home so extra greens since they were each 4 serves.

three plates of sausages, mash and beans

Punnetts of cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, salt, pepper, oil, herbs, tomato paste, mince, penne, passata, butter, onion, garlic bread and garlic.

Last night I cooked up a Bolognese with mince from the bulk pack, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes from the Ozharvest haul, the other garlic bread from Monday and Harris Farms penne I’d gotten for $1 a pack from the food pantry before Xmas. The tomato pasta and passata were from Everyplate meals I didn’t make or they sent too much for. How cute’s the oil bottle? Someone got it off my wishlist for Xmas and it’s so handy for my oil, and I have olive in that one and a black lidded one for canola.

3 plates of penne Bolognese

So this coming week I have a Marley Spoon box coming, so less planning from my part, and then next week I’ll try to use some things from the freezer and whatever I get from the community centre Friday and supplement with Aldi or Woolies shops as needed. We got a new Woolies in the next suburb just before Xmas which is super convenient, but they don’t have a great bakery so don’t have nice breadrolls *sadface* but there IS a Baker’s Delight opening soon, so will check out their end of day $10 bundles they sell through the Too Good To Go app, plus when everything reopens at the end of the month I’ll be getting plenty of free bread again. Yay!

Hello 2026

A oman at her desk wearing a purple tshirt with the text close prisons fund welfare

Hello 2026, and everyone coming into it with me. Sadly some people were left behind last year, some were also cut off and I’m just going to have to run with that. Fortunately I still have all my favourites around the place – IRL and on this interweb, with few going by the wayside with the SM age restrictions, even if we’ve lost DMs – if you ever want to contact me come here and find my contact form.

bags if groceries in my car boot

Trying to figure out some new routines, around meal planning, getting out of the house each day for mine and Maxi’s walk. I’m going to still get meal boxes some weeks, but also do some more traditional (and cheaper hopefully) “Aussie” home cooking, so expect rissoles and veges at lot, depending on what I can source in my shopping. I’m going to meal plan where I can, and then throw that all out the window when there’s a free load of groceries offered and I make steak for dinner lol

smiling brown dog on the round bit of a swing set that's yet to be assembled

I got what I wanted for my 43rd Birthday (Takoyaki for lunch at Umi in Toronto) but what do I want from the 48th Parliament?

Labor is back with a bigger majority and only really needing to appease the Greens in the upper house to get anything done. But what will they use this for and will it be at all progressive? Or will they still pretend they can’t do things their supposed base want – such as all the local groups calling for sanctions on Israel, or community groups seeking investment in public housing or increased welfare payments – because I’m skeptical as always, and fell sad that I have to wait and see.

Takoyaki in a black moon shaped dish — Takoyaki, $10

But first – I turned 43 yesterday and all I wanted was to have Takoyaki and chill, and that I did!

Restaurant inside. Umi sign on wall, a fish lamp and Japanese script

Bruce and I dropped his car off for new tyres – finally spending the money I got from the selective schools supervision earlier this year – then we went to try Umi, the newer of the two Japanese restaurants in Toronto. It’s a bit less fancy that Mizumi which we’ve gone to for many birthdays since it’s been there, and it was very quiet being only 11am on a Tuesday, but there were a few people coming in for their Bento as we were heading out.

japanese lemonane and a coke — Ramune, $6

I normally get lemon iced tea with my Japanese food, but went the ramune today as a special treat. They were tempting me with grape soda though!

Miso soup in a black bowl — Miso soup, $4

We started with some miso soup, the takoyaki and some kara-age chicken. Bruce has been watching more Japanese and other Asian food tourism videos, such as from Dancing Bacons and making me want to travel and eat and eat and travel. But that’s not anywhere near in my future, so local it is!

Kara-age friend chicken with a side of saces — Kara-age chicken, $13

Obviously being my birthday we had to follow the tasty fried goodies with their Umi Supreme Variety of sashimi: Hamachi (Kingfish), Hotate (Scallop), Salmon, Tuna, Octopus (3 pcs each), and Salmon Roe. Love popping the little roe balls in my mouth lol. Tasty fresh fish!

Variety of sashimi: Hamachi (Kingfish), Hotate (Scallop), Salmon, Tuna, Octopus (3 pcs each), and Salmon Roe — Umi Supreme, $42

We left full and happy and in no mood for dessert, so picked up a tray of cake pieces from Coles to graze on later, and browsed some op shops til I got over it and just wanted to go home (via picking up the car with the fresh tyres and avoiding the traffic chaos that seemed to be everywhere yesterday!)

tray of cake slices - lemon tarts, brownies and berry and passionfruit cheesecake — Coles Cake Variety, $22

My parents got us a new coffee machine which was on special during the prime day sales and we’d had our eyes one. Slowly getting the hang on the manual pour and getting the accessories to help make the tasty morning brews.

I’ve also been spoiled by my internet friends, with some items off my wishlists coming already and a few more to come! (and I few I’ve bought with birthday money from other amazing souls!)

lilac backpack and pridge and coffees — Backpack from Leigh and porridge sachets and mocha sachets from Jave from my Amazon list

Hello kitty mug stack — Hello Kitty Mug Stack from Sally off my Amazon wishlist.

So, back to reality after a food coma Tuesday afternoon – I didn’t miss much from the first sitting day of the parliament – lots of speeches and ceremonies and the like. A rally and vigil for Palestine outside parliament has been ongoing and well attended.

They’re introducing the “20% off HECS” bill today which will help a few but again it’s a drop in the ocean compared to recent indexation amounts and the rapid increase in house prices which is the real reason university graduates can’t afford to buy homes, rather than their HECS stopping them.

Hounding people on low incomes for so-called "overpayments" based on dubious data is petty and cruel.

Labor's Centrelink payments are below the poverty line. The last thing recipients need is the Government pursuing them to disprove a dodgy – and often decades old – debt notice. pic.twitter.com/zaE3jalLqn

— Penny Allman-Payne (@senatorpennyqld) July 18, 2025

Historic welfare debts are back, with court backing to pursue them. Labor should have at least legislated the recommended 6 year limit on debt collection, like applies for ATO debts, but they chose not to. They have no excuse not to this term, with their majority overflowing to the opposition benches of the house, but really, they have no will to. Unfortunately there’s gonna be more ugly deaths they can be accounted for by neglect through state enforced poverty.

The red is the blood of Palestinians https://t.co/FvNEYisbvw

— 💜 phonakins 🍉 (@phonakins) July 22, 2025

Meanwhile we get an economic round table with tech, business and mining representatives, but no one from health or disability, even though “Delivering quality care more efficiently” is one of their “productivity pillars“?

One of our local Labor MPs (and deputy speaker) was boasting about their 25% increase in food relief and “financial wellbeing” support – such as financial counselors and food and petrol vouchers and more money for food banks. This is not something to celebrate. You CANNOT budget your way out of poverty – when welfare is half the poverty line you just cannot find that extra money. More happy snaps and warehouses rented, which people just can’t afford to feed and house themselves and their families? Not a win Sharon.

One of my Antipoverty Centre comrades gave me a great birthday present – a few more FOI requests on food relief charities to go through when I can focus on them. Let’s see how they manage to leverage their gearing this year or whatever business words they use for being a middleman between actual humans and often unsuitable food. GO you guys!