Wednesday 7 January 2015

My Capsule Kitchen

The Capsule Kitchen Challenge: 3 months 33 ingredients

I had to think long and hard about the foods I wanted in my capsule kitchen, although nothing is set in stone and you are able to bend, break or even disregard some of the rules if you want to .... I didn't want to be messing about.  In my mind if you set yourself a Challenge or join in with one you should give it your all if it is possible to do so.

There is a Facebook page with lots of the participants listing their foods and linking back to blog posts they have done, and this is also being used for ideas and to ask questions and is a very useful resource if you need to dip into it.  Courtney Carver of course also has her own blog 'Be More With Less' which is well worth a visit to read up on the 'rules' of the Challenge which are on this link.

But basically it is along the same lines as P333 for clothes in which you pick thirty three of your clothes and wear them for three months.  In the Capsule Kitchen you pick thirty three foodstuffs and use them for three months, simplifying your shopping and your kitchen cupboards in the process.  It makes life simple and hopefully will help you to understand just what you eat, what you get tempted by and then ends up in the back of your cupboards never to be seen again and what foodstuffs you would eat seasonally.

By using the same thirty three foods it should mean that there will be less waste, you will be able to think up recipes and meal ideas that really suit you and that you will be happy to eat on a regular basis.  For quite a while now I've wanted to simplify our meal plans and eat the same sort of foods in different ways, meaning we can buy less, store less, think less about food and yet get maximum meal ideas from the foods we buy and grow, so when I stumbled across this capsule kitchen idea I was intrigued.

I have listed my foods on a stand alone page  at the top of the blog, but I will also list them here so you can see just what choices I have made.  The only thing I have not put on my list, as I do not eat it, is meat and I will continue to look out for meat bargains and pop them into the freezer for Lovely Hubby to go with the rest of each meal that we will share as we usually do.

My 33 Foods

Vegetables
  Onions
 Potatoes
Carrots
Peppers
Cucumber
Lettuces
Courgettes
Beetroot
Spinach
Kale
Celery

Carbs
Rice
Penne Pasta
Spaghetti
Cous Cous
Bread (or Bread Flour & Yeast)

Protein Rich
Cheese
Eggs
Nuts
Salmon
Cod
Lentils

Lazy Foods
Frozen Mixed Veg
Frozen Peas
Frozen Chips
Gravy Mixes
Tinned Tomatoes
Ready Made Quiche Bases

Miscellaneous
Coffee
Jams
Peanut Butter
Yogurt 

Fruit

*** *** *** *** *** 

Any item that you use less or around one tablespoon of or are using for flavour or seasoning do not have to be counted, in my case these are :

Salt, Pepper, Oils, Herbs, Spices, Mayonnaise, Curry Pastes, Butter, Garlic, Lemon Juice, Tomato Puree, Stock Powder or cubes, Salad Dressings.

Also not counted is water and I am including Sparkling Water in this.

Some people have counted 'vegetables' and 'fruit' as one item each to enable them to add lots of other foods, but I think (and it is in the rules) that individual items amongst these should really be listed.  However,  as I eat so little fruit, usually just one type a week, ie a bag of apples one week, pears the next, berries from the freezer off our own bushes occasionally etc  I have decided that I will just list 'fruit' as a single thing.

For now we are eating our way through the fridge, freezers and cupboards in our bid to make our Sealed Pot money of £61.21 last as long as possible.  We will only use this money to replace things that are on the list as they run out and eventually I will be into this Challenge properly.

Is there anything you think I have missed out that should be there, or have I, with much tinkering, finally got it right?

Sue xx



19 comments:

  1. It will be sooo lovely for you when you are able to freeze your own 'home grown' for next winter.

    We do eat only seasonal British food on the farm all year round, a lost art these days one finds; we DO have the very best butchers' though, Geo. Burtons of Retford. Magnificent meat! There is always a queue.

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  2. We are only eating seasonal veg, I love the idea we wait for our favorite's to come into season, plus they taste better home grown or purchased local. Good luck if anybody can do this it's you.

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  3. I will be watching your progress with interest. Hopefully I can pick up some tips :)

    This is my year for living with "less". Big changes are coming in my household, I will be living a minimalist life by the end of this year!


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  5. Shhhh don't say I said anything but DH thought he would cook last night and in the spirit of using what was in the cupboards he made a lasagna. I've been ill all night and still felt queezy this morning...........I think I will keep him out of the kitchen while we use everything up as heaven knows what he'll do to us all next time!

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    1. Gosh, I hope you are feeling okay now :-(

      The things men will do to try and get out of cooking again .... but I do think attempted poisoning is going a bit too far ... Lol !!

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  6. Not sure where the magic number of 33 has come from, but it all sounds like a gimmick that someone is using to make money! I think just using common sense is a lot better!

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    1. Agree with Lynda.

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    2. The 'magic' number 33, comes because the initial challenge was 33 items for 3 months for the clothes and it is neat to continue it for our food.

      It costs NO money to join in and some people tweak the rules to have greater or less numbers of food (or clothes) in their challenge.

      It's just a bit of fun to try and get away from this rampant consumer age we are in. I mean who needs the array of foods in the supermarkets, the likes of Aldi and Lidl have shown less choice means lower prices!!

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  7. Sue, where's the beef and venison.....I would have to include these in the protein category. Also not sure about "frozen chips"? Good luck!

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    1. I don't eat any meat, only fish occasionally.

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    2. Linda,
      We call them 'chips' you call them fries!
      Over here, what you call 'chips' are crisps!
      So, frozen chips......frozen french fries!

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  8. eek, no fresh tomatoes ? Teresa

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    1. They will be brought in next time when I have homegrown available. At present the ones in the shops have no taste as they are picked far too early to fly round the world. So tinned will be fine once we run out of home made sauces.

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  9. No milk or dried pulses?

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    1. I am intolerant to milk so don't use it in anything. I will buy some for Lovely Hubby's tea and coffee though, but as only he drinks it I'm not including it in the list.

      I do have lentils listed, but I've not been using any pulses recently.

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  10. Tinned chickpeas are useful for veggie curries, hummus, tagine etc

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    1. They are, but unfortunately I don't like them :-(

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  11. Good luck with then challenge Sue. I'm not taking part but I am simplifying our kitchen/cupboards etc. xx

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