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

weezl74

yeah feeling a bit overwhelmed about Joel, probably best to ponder him a bit more. Did some nice gardening but now Mr Weezl's in a funny mood so we might go out for a trip to garden centre and costco.

(exciting aren't I?)

shanks77

Well a bit more exciting than me you going to garden centre for something specific or just a look around? Have fun anyway and catch up with you later xx

weezl74

I need to get something to keep the wasps off my little apple tree. I have 46 fruit growing and I don't want any to get prematurely munched!

Allegra

Reading and running here, but before I run, just wanted to say that I for one, when I read Joel's list of ingredients and realised that they have to be used every day in different ways, did not see lack of variety - I saw infinite possibilities for teaching Joel to fish. People who do not cook everything from scratch tend to think in terms of chicken = roast or curry, pasta = bolognese, fish goes with chips - in other words, they see an ingredient and can not necessarily see more than one way of preparing it. This is why "variety" to many people must mean a selection of wildly differing and often expensive ingredients. Now, there is nothing wrong in it per se, but how much more exciting to be able to take a bag of flour from the shelf and think - I have bread, I have pizza, I have pasta and lasagne and gnocchi, I have cake and biscuits and pie and pancakes and yorkshire puddings and... The list is endless.

So give Joel his handful of ingredients and 6-7 wildly different menus made from the same, and what you are changing is not just his diet and finances, but also his whole mindset and the way he views, if not the world, then the storecupboard at least.

Or am I the only one seeing it this way ?

Allegra

weezl74 wrote: »

I need to get something to keep the wasps off my little apple tree. I have 46 fruit growing and I don't want any to get prematurely munched!

Not that you counted I am dead jealous of your tree, btw - none of my fruit trees are mature enough to bear fruit as yet ! I gotta go foraging soon though - I think I missed the elderflowers for this year already

System

Allegra wrote: »

So give Joel his handful of ingredients and 6-7 wildly different menus made from the same, and what you are changing is not just his diet and finances, but also his whole mindset and the way he views, if not the world, then the storecupboard at least.

Or am I the only one seeing it this way ?

That's exactly how I see it. And that is what I thought was meant by "teaching to fish". But I'm feeling terribly bad about inundating Weezl with variety when she was obviously hoping for something else :-(

weezl74

I'm sorry avocet, I didn't mean to make you feel bad! I did want and like very much the variety in your suggested days. Then I got a bit more realistic (with myself) and realised that since I am not superwoman, I had set the bar a bit high for myself and panicked. I'm sorry I didn't make that clearer because people were obviously trying to help and I must've sounded very ungrateful!

Allegra

Avocet wrote: »

That's exactly how I see it. And that is what I thought was meant by "teaching to fish". But I'm feeling terribly bad about inundating Weezl with variety when she was obviously hoping for something else :-(

I'm dead confused now That'll teach me not to run when I was supposed to.... For some reason, I read the last few pages as people thinking that the same ingredients every day will mean insufficient variety regardless of the way that are served (even though I disagree, I think you and a couple of others already provided oodles of variety, and I think I could add to that if I ever get time). Is the issue now that there is too much variety ?

I'm gonna have to re-read everything with brain switched on, it appears

Weezlie, any chance of clarifying to the muddle-headed exactly what the issues with Joel are now, once your li'l applies are taken care of ?

ETA: Forgged id, Weezlie, cross posted - I get it now

Allegra

I think I'm properly focused now (although the rest of the post might well expose this as a lie), and here's what I think, in order of importance:

1. You should NOT take on anything that will detract from the quality of your family life
2. For the Joel's planner to work in fishing terms, you would have to provide a fair number of examples as to how to work the variety angle with unvarying ingredients
3. Ergo, if that is too much work for you, you ought to scrap Joel's planner

HOWEVER - and I realise that at first glance I might be contradicting my own words - I do think there is some value in not scrapping Joel altogether; that is to say, provide just a skeleton (text only) article that introduces the idea to people who for whatever reason would like to shave a bit off the 80p a day but are keen not to harm their health. So perhaps just the shopping list with the nutritional breakdown (liver is for this nutrient, lemons are for the other, etc.), with a quick sketch of how to turn this into recipes.

The reason being is that I firmly believe that there will be some people (Joels) who will grasp the idea behind the Shirl and Kitty's plans and will be, Weezl-like, interested in rock-bottom-subsistence. Of course, they can then go off and do their own research on how to achieve this... But as you've done it already, why not share the findings with them and save them the work ?

So, scrap the planner, and just do another article on how to take it further - as you did with growing your own and the like. Text only, no pictures and pretty wrapping. Whaddaya reckon ?

shanks77

Hi donht want to sound too naggy but have we decided on a date for meeting up yet as i will need to book hols ASAP from work as if i leave it too late i wont get? TIA xxx