Two weeks without my store cupboard...

FairyPrincessk

I'm hoping some of you can help me sort out some low-stress, low cost, but still healthy ideas for two weeks worth of meals.

A couple of days ago the ceiling beneath our bathroom collapsed. This may or may not have happened in the middle of the night the day before OH had a job interview early the next am.:mad: Anyway long story short, what was going to take about 4 days with full bathroom use bar the shower, is now going to take two weeks and require a full rip out, new joists and plumbing plus some new tiling. The man doing the work told me this before he left but I haven't heard from the LL yet. She's usually really nice and good about getting repairs done so not to worried on that front, plus she's offered some compensation for the inconvenience which I figure we can put towards the cost of this. Fortunately a friend of ours is going out of town for two weeks starting next week. We'd already agreed (with LLs permission) to keep her cat and she has said that if we need to we can just move into her house.

So--we have the use of a house and working kitchen but it means we'll need three meals a day. There is an Asda close by, but we don't normally shop there. We'll be on foot and while I can take a few storecupboard items, I can't take many when we get a taxi there as I'll need to work which means I need to transport about 35 books that I'm using for my work right now. I've lost quite a lot of work time to this issue so I need to catch up. OH will be home for his Easter break for two weeks so he can help with cooking but he's best with one pots and not too many instructions. Plus we'll need to carry all shopping without being able to top up from the store cupboard for heavier items For these reasons I'd like to keep it simple.

Help? Anything else I should consider? I may not be able to check in too many times tonight, but I'll definitely get a chance to read between today and tomorrow.

[Deleted User]

Really bad luck FPK I hope the repairs don't take as long as they are predicted to. Make breakfasts really easy and just go for things on toast , buy a jar of some kind of preserve, a couple of tins of baked beans and a few eggs for scrambling, a bit monotonous perhaps but it's only for a while. Lunches again the humble sandwich is quick and convenient and to ring the changes you could make a big pasta salad with basic ingredients and add a different protien every day , maybe cheese cubes and pineapple one day, chopped hard boiled egg another, chopped ham another and so on. Make a big vat of vegetable soup as well and that might give you enough for all your lunches. Suppers, Make a big batch of basic savoury mince and dress it up into chilli, or curry, or shepherds pie or as a topping for a baked potato. Cook a joint of meat and do a reheat sliced in gravy, make a curry, make a pie with some mushrooms added, slice cold for going with salads etc. That would keep the cooking to a minimum and give you variety and if you make a cake for snacking and buy in some canned fruit and ice cream that will give you easy puddings. Good Luck, Cheers Lyn xxx.

FairyPrincessk

Thanks Mrs. LW. You've sparked me out of my panic mode and I'm already thinking that the key item I should take is that reduced mince I've got in the freezer as it will do at least two meals without much topping up money or carrying wise.

I've started a list and will add to it as I get ideas.

Lilyplonk

As the ASDA is quite close by, I'd be popping in there each evening on the way home from work, looking for the best of the whoopsies to cook for the evening meal .

Emm-in-a-pickle

As soon as I read you were near an Asda I was going to say....exactly what Lilyplonk said!

pigpen

My kitchen ceiling came down a few days ago.. it will take 2 weeks to clean the mess never mind the work to repair it!!!! My pipe is still leaking as the plumber can't get here until Monday!

I'd do daily shopping too.. buy just what you need and nothing else.. it is a pain but has to be done.. if you ring council you should get a couple of week reproeve from council tax as the house is unfit for habitation.

FairyPrincessk

Thanks all. I probably will send OH to check the woopsies, particularly as he goes stir crazy working from home. He has also said his dad can probably come with the car to help us "move" so we won't have to get a taxi and can load in a bit more stuff. I think I'll do a meal plan and work out any small bits we need (i.e. I could take a little lock box with flour to do white sauces). Fortunately my friends both love to cook so they have things like an immersion blender, big stock pots etc.

Yesterday when they ripped out the ceiling and discovered how bad it was gave me a little bit of warning about the mess:eek: I've spoken to my dad (lives overseas) who used to be a contractor back when I was tiny and he's given me lots of suggestions for how to keep clean up minimal. We're moving everything out of the affected rooms and I'm going to go to the pound shop today and get dust sheets to cover things in all of the other rooms. He said the dust will be everywhere so if we cluster things together and then cover in dust sheets then it will mean far less wiping.

sonastin

As another tip for the clean up - if there are rooms that they won't need to go into, see if you can seal over the doors so that the dust can't get in there at all. My OH uses a roll of thin polythene sheeting stuck up with masking tape but I'm sure the dust sheets would do the same job. Just make sure that whatever tape you use won't damage what you're sticking it to and remember to tape around all sides - including the floor. When we knocked through from the kitchen to the utility room, we sealed the lounge and bedroom doors and had nothing to clean up in them when we were done.

FairyPrincessk

That is a brilliant tip, Sonastin!