Weezl and friends Phase 2 -giving it a whirl for Shirl! Testing meal plan for a month

shanks77

The only thing that doesnt have someone working on it already is to trawl back through the thread for some positive feedback that you can use on the website. Apart from that all the jobs are assigned.
If the forum could just hurry up and fix how slow things load i would be a happy bunny.
PS love the "young slip of a thing referral" been a long time since i was that but until we meet up and you can tell for yourself i will stick with that.

Allegra

Thanks for the hugs, guys, and right back atcha

I've still no idea when I'll get the finished article back to you though. Weezl - now I can see the wood for the trees, it's half an hour's job, but it has to be a half hour with no distractions, not when DD is tearing about like a gremlin on amphetamines :eek:

Going back to the question of pace - my feeling is that, as the driving force of the project, you need to look after number one first and foremost, and take things as you find them - tear off into the distance when you feel able to, and slow right down when real life takes over. You have achieved so much already that there is no need to feel you are holding anyone up - if not another second is devoted to the project by you, still all the countless Shirleys can go right ahead and save loadsamoney whilst staying healthy !

When it comes to delegating and help from others, though, I think that all you need to do is indicate how urgent or otherwise the task is. As you already know, I - and many, many others, I'm sure - am desperate to contribute whatever I can to this, but my time is not my own, and I will never volunteer for something even if it's right up my alley if I am no sure I will be able to deliver in time. So if you say - it would be nice to have this done, but I am really not fussed as to when - then you may get lot more helpers who can diddle along in their own sweet time.

On the other hand, when something needs to be done RIGHT NOW, then only those of us who happen to have some time off or something will know to volunteer for it

We had onion tarte tatin tonight, btw - more about it in my next post

weezl74

artybear wrote: »

p.s what is nodethirtythreedesign, they dont have a website any more? Is it you or another company??

yes, It's frustrating isn't it! He is responsible for the code that makes the menu bar work, so we must ackowledge him. But his site is down

We decided to acknowledge but not link on the fromt page, and remove the linkie elsewhere ae and when we republish other edits, as it's a laborious change on over 100 pages.

We've sent the author a note to explain all that

Liligan is me, I have a site but I suspended it whilst on maternity leave

poohbear59

weezl74 wrote: »

Awww you are surrounded by your menfolk, and Facebook helps bring even the far away ones near

I hope I'm as good a mum as you so Kezzie and fergie will want to facebook me when they're big

How funny that so many of us are still eating these meals through choice!:rotfl:

I am sure your sons will be facebooking you, or whatever is the method of communication at that time, when they are older.:D

Allegra wrote: »

I feel like a half-knitted jumper that's had the needles slip out and is now, unnoticed, coming half unravelled. No one worry about me though, please, that's been default state for me for many a long year yet I'm still diddling

Weezl, I am glad you posted re the batch cooking, cos having seen your sexy new feature on site, I was worrying that I've just held you up so much that me coming up with the new version would just cause a lot of unnecessary work doubling up for you. If you still want me to do what I'd said I'd do, though, no worries, I know what I'm doing now, just haven't had time to do it yet

Just to run the bare bones of it past you - my aim is not only to give cooking advice to those who want it, but also to explain the reasons why it's a good idea to those who have not needed it yet. So my rough draft is hung on these hooks:

save time - save energy - save money

in the oven once (explain why the oven should be as full as possible every time it's used, and how to make batch cooking work for you there)

on the hob once (pasta sauces, curries, etc that can be batch cooked; potatoes and veg in the steamer)

in the kitchen once (how to wash up the food processor the least number of times, ie make the spreads all in one go; how to muck up the work surface the least number of times by batch-cooking pastry based stuff etc.)

All our dishes can be hung on one of these hooks and things like storage, freezing, and fitting in a quickly-prepared dish like scones into the dead time when, say, bread is proving, explained in between.

Then when I have explained the principles, link to the big-batch-cooking-timed sheet as an example of the theory put into practice

Does it appeal ?

It sounds amazing. You are doing a fantastic job. :A

Please give me jobs to do if you need the help, later this week would be good for me. I need to confess I used to teach batch cooking to teenagers. We made amazing burgers, bread etc and sold them in school.

shanks77 wrote: »

**Pokes head nervously round door with pad and pen at the ready**

"You wanted to see me boss?"
Your shoes are polished, all your appointments are up-to-date notes all typed and on your desk and flowers in your polished car for you to take home to Mr Weezl. Anything else for you ma-am?

If you need the list of the metric measurements of equipment I will send them to weezl as I need to go to bed:o

weezl74

sleep tight PB, it's fine for that list to come to me, thanks

shanks77

Think Allegra hit the nail on the head with her post. If something is urgent you should say "i need this by Wed pm latest" and whoever has the time and knowledge can volunteer. If there is no urgency then say so and if a few people volunteer maybe we can break it down so they do a little each or can collaborate on it together. With the different skill sets we all have we should have a fantastic finished product that you can be very proud of. Not that you shouldnt be proud already cause you have done a marvellous job in a very short space of time xx

weezl74

shanks77 wrote: »

Think Allegra hit the nail on the head with her post. If something is urgent you should say "i need this by Wed pm latest" and whoever has the time and knowledge can volunteer. If there is no urgency then say so and if a few people volunteer maybe we can break it down so they do a little each or can collaborate on it together. With the different skill sets we all have we should have a fantastic finished product that you can be very proud of. Not that you shouldnt be proud already cause you have done a marvellous job in a very short space of time xx

right ho! People perhaps think it's very urgent, and that's not easy to fit in a normal working, busy life.... I'm with you all on that

Murrell

weezl74 wrote: »

sandra that's fab! Thank you I love that you still made it even tho you didn't fancy it!

Erm, no bookie came, rather than that I'm being an ungrateful wretch! I thought I'd mention in case you had plopped it in the mail and they had been rubbish!

Ah! Ms. Shankletons! marvelous, can you please add sandra's edits to my do list and is there anything we can give the lovely pinkhayley to do?

Yes, not the first time I have tried something I didn't think I would like and liked it. The porridge was another I can think of. But with this one, it will be made over and over again. I tried to link the picture from my blog, but it didn't like it. I shall let you know when I make it again with yellow onions and right amount of oil and see if its as good.

Or perhaps, do you want me to up the instant oats or try yeast extract instead of mustard in the pastry?

I haven't sent the book yet. I was full of cold and then I've forgotten since getting better. I will let you know when I post it and then you know to expect it.

As anyone got any suggestions to what to use instead of olives in the steamed pudding. I think lentils and tomatoes on its own will be boring, but I could be wrong!!

Yes mse is slow for me too, so I think I will call it a night.

Sandra
x

SusanC_2

weezl74 wrote: »

Thanks, that's useful feedback susan.

I was told before that sometimes when I feel I am running to keep up with something, others around me actually feel I am tearing off into the distance ahead at some breakneck pace. They then either try to accelerate, or panic and stop. I then experience the speed of others as impetus for me to run even harder, or the stopping as meaning I must then run or everything will stop!

Ahem, anyway... Is there a way I can better use others skills and willingness? I am trying to learn more about good delegating, and my sense is (and lesley also said this to me) that there are folk who want to help with this madcap scheme.

I'm just not sure if I can see what's getting in the way of that!

Susan-help? You have a gift of making things clear

Perhaps when you are asking for people to do things if you gave an indication of critical path analysis on jobs i.e. time scale and whether other things depend on them.

So for example some jobs are just a stand alone job which need to be done at some point but don't particularly have other jobs waiting on them (e.g. what to do with left overs or the batch cooking list) whereas other jobs might need to be done before another is done (e.g. you need to know calcium figures in the beans before you can calculate how much is in the planner overall).

I think it is just that the project has moved so quickly and there isn't any indication of timescales on jobs which can make people feel afraid to take on a job in case they hold things up - I don't think it is anyone's fault, it's just how things have panned out.

artybear

What is DEFRA??

(I know I could google it just trying to think along the lines of shirley)

I didnt know till a min ago they were a government body, maybe we could have some info on it??

Also why are the costings not all done?? (not complaining, just wondering)

dO WE NEED AN EXPLANANTION WHY WE HAVE RANDOM VEgan RECIPES ?

(oopss I am not angry lol)

I dont understand what recipes in order of diet means?

Sorry not picking just things to bear in mindxxx