A Community of Pantries
A long time ago I chose to embrace a lifestyle known as Voluntary Simplicity which is based on valuing things other than the acquisition of personal wealth and the earn/spend/buy cycle. I feel a bit dismayed that the existence of food banks has become so normalised and for lots of people their usage is not a matter of choice. Food banks are a sign of a breaking or broken economic and social structure but – thankfully – also a testament to the generosity and community spirit that comes about when so many are failed by so few. Here in South Wales, a CIC called Baobab Bach has spotted that it’s not so much food poverty which is the issue but food security. During the pandemic and its consequent lockdowns some people who lived in the valleys found that they couldn’t buy anything other than basics at their local stores and without public transport, they couldn’t travel the five or six miles to the nearest supermarket. Bridgend Community Pantries was born as a result. Members join for a pound and then, once a week, have the option to buy a bag of foodstuff worth about £15 for £5. The only conditions are that none of the contents can be exchanged and that the recipient is responsible for redistributing anything that they don’t want or think they won’t use. The food comes from local supermarkets, warehouses and charities like FareShare – all of whom want to avoid perfectly good but unsold items heading to landfill. This is what we got in our bag last week. We re-homed the Pringles to a neighbour who thought that Christmas had come early and took the tins of Green Beans, Chicken Meatballs and Minced Beef to a food bank collection point. As for the rest …
Meal One – Home-made Sandwich Spread
Did I ever mention that I wasn’t the sharpest pencil in the box in school? Mostly my reports said things like “C – Tries Hard” or “C – Average” but for all that, I wasn’t a terrible pupil. I was never sent out for talking and I always handed my homework in on time. In fact, as far as my teachers were concerned, I was something of a non-event. Until that is I did Cookery with Mrs Morgan and I found that not only was I doing everything wrong but that I would never be able to do anything right either. My mum had fostered my love of baking and I’d learnt how to make bread at home. On the day that we were making bread rolls in Cookery, Mrs Morgan told everyone to stop what they were doing and to gather around my table. “Look Class D,” she said loudly. “We have found something that Maria isn’t useless at.” And my end of term report? “E – Maria will never make a success of this subject.” So this meal is for Mrs Morgan. Who it turned out knew nothing.
I mixed some left-over cooked vegetables from the fridge with some finely chopped onion and a tablespoon of Vegan Mayonnaise. There was probably enough for sandwiches for the next three days but it didn’t come to that (see Meal Three below). Served with some cherry tomatoes (10 days old and still fine) and one of the tangerines.
Meal Two – Leek and Mushroom Pasta
Luckily O level Cookery was taken by Mrs Campbell not Mrs Morgan. She was Scottish and hated waste of any kind. We spent four weeks on something she called “recherché meal planning” which she said was French for using up scraps of food. Just as well she was teaching Cookery and not French or I wouldn’t have ended up passing my exam with a grade good enough to get me into her A level class. Mind you, in the end I chose to do Geography instead and look where that got me.
I fried the chopped leek and some chestnut mushrooms that were lurking in the back of the fridge in one half of my favourite utensil – a split saucepan. If you haven’t got one of these, keep your eyes open at the local charity shops. Mine cost £3. In the other half I put some pasta in boiling water. Both halves cooked in 10 minutes on the same hob ring. I mixed everything together with a tablespoon of the Vegan Mayonnaise which melted in to form a sauce.
Meal Three – Fishcakes and Oven Baked Chips
It wasn’t my fault that I didn’t end up specialising in Food & Nutrition when I was studying for a B.Ed degree in Home Economics. I know this sounds like Domestic Science Cluedo but that was down to Miss Hinds in the kitchen with a two hour long lecture on how to slice an onion that ended with me falling into a deep sleep and sliding off my chair onto the floor then taking the girl sitting next to me in the same direction. Shortly afterwards it was decided I might be better suited to Textile Art which led to a whole new lot of tales being added to my life story.
Remember the unused sandwich spread? I mixed it with a well-drained tin of tuna and formed it into little patties. These were placed on some scraps of baking paper. I peeled the potatoes because they were old and the skin was thick and cut them into finger sized chips. I tossed them in a bowl containing 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil and 1 tablespoon of brown sauce then put them on a baking tray. Both the fishcakes and the chips were cooked after 30 minutes in the oven at 180C/Gas 4.
And finally,
Growing up in the 70s and 80s with a mum who had grown up in the 30s and 40s meant that there were always rules around food in our house. Firstly you never had a choice of what to eat. If it was on your plate, you ate it. Unless you were my little sister Annie who had a free pass to avoid eggs and peas because she “was the baby” and got away with a lot more than either Nell or me on those grounds. Secondly fish, my mum always insisted, if undercooked by just one minute would lead to an agonising death from food poisoning therefore only tinned sardines are safe although salmon is ok in sandwiches at Christmas but not any other time of year. I have expanded this rule to include tuna because I like to live dangerously. Thirdly under no circumstances is only one shelf in the oven to be used so while the fishcakes and chips were sizzling on the top shelf, I put a Coffee and Walnut tray bake in the cooker at the same time. Tray bakes take less time to cook than a loaf cake. I usually make nutty cakes because we eat very little meat so a whack of protein every time we have a cup of tea adds to the nutritional balance. Also Coffee and Walnut cake is my favourite and as I do the cooking, it seems only right that I decide what we eat.
