Shaping Up to Ship Out

We find ourselves surrounded by boxes and packing tape as we prepare to leave the apartment, in one of my last posts, I mentioned that our landlord had served us notice at the start of the year, he’s intending to sell the apartment. I never thought moving home was as stressful until now. We’re moving in with my husband’s 99 year old WW2 Veteran Grandfather until August, he’s a widower bless him and I adore him, so that’s ok. However, I never was one to be able to live out of a suitcase for a while, I like to be able to spread out and be comfortable.

In the meantime, we’ve been trying to use up everything in our larder, being foodies, we have a couple hundred spice jars, spice mixes, herbs, berries, relishes..you name it, we have it, not to mention about 40 bags of pulses and grains. I need to get VERY creative!

As soon as we get settled and moved into our new build, we want to start a family, so I need to get my body nourished and up to scratch…not to mention shed a few pounds. I’ve become a little depressed at the thought that I have gained just under 2 stone in the decade I am with Ryan, so I sat down with him a fortnight ago & opened my heart to him, told him about my situation and asked if he realised how much crap we were eating every week. We both work full time, I’m up at 6:30 every morning and I am exhausted when I get home, the last thing I want is to be stuck in a shoe box nook of a kitchen, standing over a laboursome meal. He agreed, bless him, he’s do anything for me and I would never abuse that, my mission was to plan some low carb, low starch meals that were really delicious at the same time. I discovered that planning ahead and preparation was the key.

So here’s me, walking around Aldi with a trolley, wishing I had horse blinkers on, because everything I looked at was almost willing itself into the trolley, I could do this! I stood in the vegetable isle, feeling like mad scientist, thinking up concoctions and dishes, but this was reality. Get your stuff and get out, Sarah!

On the first night, I was like a stubborn horse being forced into a stable, I just wasn’t being shoved in that kitchen, so I grabbed a chopping board, a few bowls and bits and I sat at the dining table, watching a movie on Netflix as I peeled the veg for the week. I made the most delicious Asian style salad, plenty of red cabbage and carrot. I was getting cocky and made a few more and thrilled that Ryan’s response was “If this is healthy eating, sign me up!” RESULT!

I’m not going to harp on and on, a salad is a salad and we’ve come a long way since hard boiled egg, Iceberg lettuce and ham with a bit of salad cream.. it’s so easy to make something delicious now, toasted nuts, infused oils, pomegranate, with a little imagination you can work wonders.

Another great tip is ‘pimping-up’ bags of frozen veg. I bought a bag of frozen giant couscous that had soya beans, pomegranate seeds and loads of healthy stuff, I just defrosted it in the microwave, drained off the water, added chopped de-seeded cucumber and feta cheese and made a Dijon dressing. Oh it was gorgeous, served that with a kale and quinoa burger (also in the freezer section) & served that with some tomato relish, you should have heard the noises coming from himself! 10 days later we both feel great, Ryan’s jeans are falling down, he hasn’t touched a bottle of beer and the only piece of chocolate I had was a tiny crispy chocolate heart that came in one of my Easter eggs. WINNER! ?

My next couple of posts will be recipes from those salads… so get your shopping bags ready!