My Capsule Kitchen

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

The Sealed Pot Money

Since opening the Sealed Pot on the 10th December the money has been sat waiting to hear of it's fate.  We were going to spend it on Christmas treats, but with our gift of a lovely hamper. lots of foodie goodies off visiting family and a couple of bags of chopped kindling off my eldest son, which has been very appreciated ...... they've saved me a couple of chopping sessions in the rain this week ...
we've been thoroughly spoilt.

  We think it's lovely that our family know just what to get us,  but between all these gifts and the things I had been buying week by week ready for our couple of relaxing weeks off work we simply did not need to spend any more money on things for Christmas.

So all that lovely cash is available for spending elsewhere, and in time honoured tradition it has spawned a Challenge for the next few weeks.  I think it will be a mini Challenge this time as there is only £61.21 (I don't know where the one pound coin is in the top picture but we definitely had one!!).

This Challenge fits in nicely as well with our new 'needs not wants' way of life, as we are going to spend the money on food for as long as it lasts.  As is my usual (but not for much longer) way there is foodstuff galore in the fridge, freezers and cupboards so before we spend any money on food we will be eating up what we already have in store.

I will only be buying what we need, ie.  milk, bread or any fresh foods that we require.  I will also only be buying the foods on my Capsule Kitchen list as this is something I have decided to go ahead with.  Things not on the list will not be replaced once they are used up.

Using up the foods in the fridge has been no hardship, in fact the other morning we had some freshly baked croissants, made using one of these 'ready to go' packs.  How easy and yummy was that, it made for a very special new years breakfast :-)

There is still some Christmas foods left in the fridge, a couple of large wedges of Stilton for example and all of these will be cut into usable sized smaller wedges and frozen for future use.  Many, many times as I'm sure a lot of you will remember I have made an effort to eat our way through the cupboards and always after a few weeks or months of serious effort things go back to how they were before, when bargains are spotted or mass baking sessions happen.  

Not that there's any harm in that it's just that this time I intend to get right back to basics, evaluate what we have and what we need and only keep in store in future a core stock of the real base commodities that will supplement and enhance our own home grown fruit and vegetables.

Back with more about my Capsule Kitchen tomorrow.

Sue xx

P333 for the Kitchen

I don't know about you but I love it when something captures my imagination and plays on my mind.  The other day I spotted this, a P333 for the kitchen.  Once again Courtney Carver has come up with something, so simple and yet that has the potential to be life changing.

See her posts HERE and HERE on her Project 333 Blog for much more inspiring information about this, thank goodness she is always on my sidebar, I would have hated to miss this.  

In a nutshell .... you choose 33 foods that you will eat (in any combination) for 3 months.  Then you can re-evaluate or move on with the seasons and vary your 33 items if you want to.  It means your cupboards will be streamlined, your shopping simplified and  you can get your health or diet on track by only including the foods you feel you should, or want to eat.  Anything that you use a tablespoon or less of ie. salt, pepper herbs, spices and oil you do not have to include in the 33 chosen items.  I can't wait to read about her thirty three ingredients.  I have yet to make a list, I've been dashing here there and everywhere today,  but in a quiet moment I will sit down pen and paper in hand and see for myself if this would work for me.

Maybe it's the cupboard being full of Christmas treats for us, our family and friends, maybe it's the fact that my freezers are both full to capacity ... well there have been so many meaty yellow stickered bargains to be had recently in the supermarkets I would have been mad not to buy them, as they'll last Lovely Hubby well into the new year and save us a fortune in the long run .... or maybe it's just that I am still on my quest for simplicity, but whatever the reason this really appeals to me.

Our Christmas starts tonight. 

 Lovely Hubby will be on his way home for the Christmas holidays in a few hours.  We still have things to do but we have already decided that we are going to make the most of these dark, cosy evenings to down tools at dusk, stop the household chores and once the chickens are tucked up for the night and the dogs have had a final walk around the paddock, the lamps will be lit, the games will be out and Christmas films will be on the television.  For now there is wine chilling in the fridge and nibbles waiting alongside it ... we might as well start as we mean to go on :-)

Advent Challenge - Day 19

A few bits and pieces that were in the cutlery drawer.  Maybe they will be of more use to someone else, I hope so.

Sue xx