Coasting

Getting a good night's sleep has always been a challenge. Even on holiday it was difficult, as the heat made it difficult for Funsize, which in turn made it difficult for LC and I. Our first night back in the UK was good (thanks, Premier Inn!), but after that it was a matter of struggling through to the weekend, and then beyond. It wasn't until Monday night that I finally got what felt like enough sleep.

As a consequence of that, dinner for the past week has basically been a matter of digging something out of the freezer, letting it defrost, and then reheating it. Pretty much the low-effort approach to keeping people fed.

But, of course, that's exactly the purpose of having a freezer stocked up with pre-cooked (or easy-cook) meals ready for this use. We'd carefully built up a bank of foods for later use and then, when there was a need to take things a bit more easily for a while, you just dip into those reserves and call it good.

That, of course, isn't new, and even if it was would barely qualify as a revelation. Still, it's worth noting the benefits when they pay off, as a reminder that good practices are indeed good.

Of course, the upshot of this is that our reserves are rather less extensive than they might normally be. (Although, awkwardly, we're also short on space in the freezer - there is a lot of food left over from the birthday BBQ and quite a lot of dead space due to poor organisation. So there will need to be some correction there.) The upshot is that over the next few weeks I'll have to cook up some new meals: various curries, chilli, bolognese sauce, maybe a lasagne... oh, and I'll want to make up a couple of batches of burgers for later use. But that's okay - I'll do it in all my free time.

#38: "Prince Caspian" by C.S. Lewis
#39: "The Falcon of Sparta", by Conn Iggulden (probably the new candidate for book of the year)