It’s Budget Week at the city—five nights of meetings, starting at six, and running for at least an hour and a half. Even though it can be grueling, there is no better way to learn about how the city works; each department makes a presentation on what they have done, where they are going, and how it is all funded. It is fascinating—if you are bit of a geek, especially. That being said, Budget Week requires serious food planning. There is nothing as grim as a PB on stale bread for three days in a row for lunch. I've done it, too often.
We did the monthly big shop at the co-op this morning. Years ago, I made a master list of everything we usually buy from the co-op and I use that to inventory our shelves. All of our bulk, all of the canned goods, all of the soap and shampoo… After the inventory and the food plan for the week, I make the list, organized by different areas of the store. My mother taught me this system, although she never used it. Then we round up all of the bulk containers and canvas bags, and head out on our bikes with the cart tugging along behind Mark. It takes a little longer than the old weekly shop, but not that much. And we save ten percent once a month, which adds up. After a Big Shop, we can stroll over in the evening for milk or the few things we need to round out a week. The Big Shop, plus buying some key items in bulk (flour, rice, oats, mac and cheese….), means that I can always rustle something up for dinner.
This afternoon, I spent about two hours in the kitchen. I turned on the big oven—first for a batch of granola and some muffins made with left over ricotta cheese, then for pizza and an old head of cauliflower, roasted, for dinner. I also cooked a bunch of rice for Tuesday night’s casserole and made soup from the black beans I cooked in the crockpot yesterday, as well as setting up the next batch of sourdough bread to rise overnight. It was satisfying. We now have several nights of dinner prepped, as well as breakfast and lunch for the week. There is salad in the fridge and lettuce (if the rat does not find it!) in the garden. We will not starve, nor will we eat a stale sandwich.
I started cooking in batches on Saturday mornings when I was a senior in college. I lived alone, so I made soup one week, baked beans the next, and a casserole the third week. I’d eat a third and freeze the rest so I always had lunch or dinner. I made my own bread every week as well, working rises in between walks to the laundry to wash my clothes, which I hung around the tiny apartment to dry. It saved time and money once I had the rhythm down. It still does.
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