Category: food and drink

Finding the balance of stubborn and holding my ground that actually serves me

At my last work place, I got quite angry when a senior worker said she’d been leaving a piece of rubbish behind a door to see how long it took for other staff to clean behind that door. I’m all “just tell them they need to pay more attention to that when they mop”. but no, they persisted with things like that.

I’m very much tell me what to do, tell me what I’m missing, it might not be obvious to me. Or, like some things, I might not actually notice that certain thing, at night, when my vision is at its worst.

So, why do I find myself getting stubborn when it comes to my stepkids and them not cleaning things? When Bee was with us they said they weren’t bringing out their rubbish all the time and that it would help to have a bin in their room. So I got a bin, and then they just filled it and left rubbish around it. Because there was the baby involved I really couldn’t leave it, and cracked it a few times and just cleaned everything when they were out of the house. But that was more extenuating circumstances, with child protection hovering around the edges.

How many times do I ask my stepson to bring out his dishes, to clean up after himself, before it’s reasonable to be irritated? Still in post-inspection mode, how did it take a day for there not be enough dishes in the kitchen for me to serve and make dinner how I like? I felt a little bitchy, but since I didn’t have to dishes to plate up for three, I didn’t and only served up for two and he could find his own dinner when he got home from work. That of course then leads to him using more dishes and me having to clean stuff ahead of the next meal I make. It’s not personal on him, it’s how it works with any person you share a space with, I remember in my first share house cracking it at someone who never cleaned up the cutting board.

We all have out own ways, and my ways surely irritate others. But right now I just have to strike the right balance of doing what needs to be done fore cleanliness and my sanity and not letting others walk over me whether that’s their intention or not.

A bit worse for wear. Woke up feeling all refluxy, got up and started gagging and made it to the bathroom for a spew. Ugh. So another day of pottering. I might find some basil for my Sim. I’ve been told it’s in a certain map, so I’ll head there and pick some for her to take to work to make the hot stuff potion. It’s good for what ails ya.

Happy “Indexation Is Not An Increase” Day

Indexation of welfare payments is legislated for, occurs twice a year for most payments on March and September 20, and once a year for youth payments on January 1. It’s not a real increase, and in fact as it’s calculated off already inferior payments that can’t even see the poverty line, people on them get further behind each time, and those on lower payments get less.

It’s the time of year where welfare advocates sigh and try to refute the narrative that this is somehow a cash splash and we’re all grateful and off living it up at the pub this weekend.

It also doesn’t fully come in for a month.

The 10% increase of Commonwealth Rent Assistance (being touted by some pollies as 12% cos indexation also comes in) only applied to the 14% of welfare recipients who do get CRA, and doesn’t help millions of others at all – the ones not on leases, living in cars and on the street, trying to escape violence, people with mortgages trying to keep their homes.

So, in other news, I ventured to the new “NourishEd” food pantry in Toronto today. I got their $10 hamper and some things from the shelves for free. The local member also popped in while I was selecting free sanitary pads – Hi Dan! in his chat with the organisers they said how they’re ineligible for most grants as they’ve not been open a year. They also made me happy when they said that while it’s needed they’d love to NOT be needed ideally. I was a bit overwhelmed at that stage since I’d been out all morning so didn’t chime in, but yeah, I plan to talk to them further about lobbying for actual change and I do also want to talk to them about getting a Smart Recovery group going on site that they mentioned right when they started fundraising.

Got a weekend ahead cleaning – rental inspection Tuesday. Hopefully all will be well. My arms are tired from knocking down spiderwebs yesterday.

New welfare rates are detailed here.

Friday Foodbank Musings

Happy Liptember! The month where I actually wear lipstick and raise funds for women’s mental health projects.

Had a few good conversations this morning about *waves hands around* all of this. Cost of living, Centrelink, gatekeeping and waste from charities, attitudes towards addicts and more. A couple  were in the line for the Ozharvest bag, where the inaccessible nature of the whole process came up because they make us wait outside the gate until 9am, and getting down the driveway or foot or in wheelchairs is hairy at best and they just don’t seem willing to make exceptions. I mean, they don’t even have a designated disabled park on site, and the other parks are up a slope from the doors.

Spams and other tinned meats
Apparently the woolies beef is only 20c cheaper than retail…

I exchanged pleasantries with the volunteers, asking if it was fine to take a fruit and veg bag as well as the pies this week, and yeah there was plenty this week, but I remarked that I didn’t want to get in trouble because if I take one and get told no that was wrong it feels like I’m being told off, and sometimes I think I actually am. Like the time I asked “Hey is it okay is I take a bag of pies” and Sandra was “Please?” ugh. Yes ma’am please mam, I was being pleasant til you got school principal on me. Apparently she also put a guy’s daughter through questioning, which he felt was because “she’s an addict and looks like an addict” and left her feeling like never coming back. He and I talked about playing the meek and grateful role when it’s for ourselves but sometimes getting more than a little protective and defensive of others.

Bread was also in abundance today, which is good because I wound up buying the $8 fancy eggs from Woolies after Aldi was out and Woolies only had the Lake Macquarie local ones left. Good thing it’s pension day!

Two point something percent indexation in not next fortnight’s but the fortnight after. Plus that 10% rent assistance cash splash that Albo was touting that will do SFA, but seems to appease some of the numbers guys.  I’ll be on a whole $1061.60 a fortnight from October 4. I’ll be getting paid for my 3 hours a week work too, let’s see how that affects things!

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Marley Spoon Meals

We got a Marley Spoon meal box last week after trying QuiteLike the week before (back onto Everyplate this week since that’s what my budget allows). A six meal box like this with Marley Spoon is about $125, while the Everyplate I usually get is just below $90 a week. They’re certainly a step though.

Like QuiteLike, the non-chilled ingredients for the meals come bagged by the meal. I said last week that I didn’t really like this, even though it’s good at reducing confusion, I prefer to sort which of the vegetables and dry ingredients go into the cupboard or fridge, while with the bags I end up just putting them into the fridge – taking up more space and chilling items I’d rather work with or store at room temperature. Since it’s winter and my kitchen doesn’t get above 15 degrees, I could have gotten away with keeping them in the cupboard, but there was a cucumber that wasn’t happy when I used it, and it would have been worse without being in the fridge.

Marley Spoon has a mix of their yellow-packet generic items and some branded items, like Birch and Waite aioli and dressing.

“The Cracking Katsu”

The meal cards were easy to understand and there was no inconsistency between stated amounts and the number of items given. They have a thing for sesames seeds it seems to fancy things up a notch.

15-Minute Szechuan Pork Noodles

Five of the six nights I was feeding 3 of us and the meals easily stretched to three for all of those given there was rice and noodles in abundance along with plenty of veges. I’m still happy padding out my Everyplate meals with cheap and free veges to make them stretch to three of us more easily, hoping for some goodies in the $2 Ozharvest bag tomorrow at the local foodbank after they were closed last week.

Garlic-Pepper Beef and Snow pea Stir Fry

The chicken katsu was certainly a favourite – it used mayo instead of an egg to help stick the crumbs on which seemed pretty smart! I also quite liked the pork steaks, but wouldn’t put dressing on the spinach next time, there was already a lot going on with the acidic veges and butter taters.

Teriyaki Pork Mince

“Pickled” veges for a couple of the dishes which worked better than I expected. I’m a fan of salad radishes, but never think to buy them!

South American Beef and Cous Cous  
Sweet and Salty Olive Pork Steads with Caper Potatoes

Which of these would you be most likely to try? I rarely get any of the burgers any more and tacos rarely since they’re really made for two, and we usually have three. Also the boys eat a lot of burgers during the week anyway.

QuiteLike Meal Box

Here’s a food post, which is good because my political advocacy brain went off last week and I’m tired and it was NOT a good week to try a more intense meal box, and change is hard and the meal box was tasty, but out of my budget, so we won’t get it til the next awesome offer comes through.

So, clicked on an offer somewhere which meant I got four QuiteLike meals for less than the price of six EveryPlate ones, when it’d normally be twice as much. The box arrived while I was out so my  partner unpacked it into the fridge – the meats, sauces and yoghurt were in a chill pack, while the rest of the ingredients for the meals were in separate bags for each meal. This is definitely more approachable than them all being together like in the EveryPlate box. It did mean we just put them into the fridge though, whether the ingredients were needing to be chilled or not, as the experience with these boxes is some veges don’t last the week if you don’t. I could have gotten away with them going in the cupboard since it’s winter and my kitchen won’t be above 15 degrees, but no way I’d risk it in summer.

The first meal I made was the Sesame chicken and stir fry veges and rice. The recipe listed two sticks of celery, but as there was one, and it was rather large, I assume that was on purpose. But it threw me a little. Later in the week there was one potato listed but two sent so I used the two. Another thing I ran into was using the wrong sized sachet of sesame oil – probably wouldn’t have done that if I’d unpacked everything, or those had been in the dry ingredients bag since they really didn’t need to be in the fridge?

Look at me prepping ahead! I read and re-read the recipe steps for these, since they were new to me, and I wanted to follow them sat least for the first time. I do take liberties now with the EveryPlate meals as I’ve made some of them so often, or I’m adding in veges to stretch them to three people – These all easily went to three people, which would have annoyed me if I was cooking for two, that’s one of the issues I had with HelloFresh when I was last getting it – most meals were huge servings, easily for three in some cases, good I guess if you want leftovers for lunch the next day, but I have to be expecting that for it to be a good thing for me.

Three white bowls of chicken story fry and rice with forks and spoons
Sesame chicken – yum!

The quality upgrade of the meat was the most noticeable part over the EveryPlate meals. The Chicken Thigh was incredibly juicy and still had bone (though I didn’t cut out all the gristle, sorry Bruce!), and the little vacuum sealed packs were peel open, so less messy. There was paper lining the mince, which I didn’t notice the first pack so fished out of the frypan.

Beef mince biryani with a wedge of lemon and yoghurt in white bowls
Beef mince biryani

The three-hour musamum beef was a novelty, and very tasty. Again, not the week for me to be doing a three hour meal, but I chose it and it was delish. The fresh ginger for a change in the meals was noticeable over the crushed ginger that usually comes packed with my regular boxes. I should have simmered this down more before serving but it is what it is 🙂

Three white bowls of mummamum beef and rice
Mussamum beef

I found it odd to pack a portion of cabbage and then list in the ingredients as “1/2 wedge of green cabbage”. I really wasn’t certain what that meant so I just trimmed it and chopped it and threw most of it in. Since I was dishing up for three, extra cabbage wouldn’t help and what else was I gonna do with any leftover? My reckoning is if you’re going to send a certain cut portion of something why ask for less of that? I also didn’t like that I’d had the onion in the fridge, while I was cutting it up, I’m used to it room temp. I’m sure it doesn’t matter but add.

All very “Asian” meals, they do offer more western options but these are what appealed to me. I haven’t ordered a second week, I’m actually doing a Marley Spoon box this week since they also had a coupon that meant 6 of their meals were the same as an Everyplate box, so I’ll let you know how that goes too. Again, the QuiteLike meals are very nice, better quality than the EveryPlate (and they’d better be at the price), but out of my price range for now.

Do you use meal boxes like these? Which is your favourite or suits your family best?