We Need Supplies

Not only do we need to plug into the grid & empty our tanks but we are running out of supplies too. The last of the bacon, eggs, bread & butter was used at breakfast this morning, the fresh veges ran out 2 days ago (although I have enough spuds left for one more dinner), the wine has gone, so has a bottle of bourbon. There’s enough milk for a cuppa tea in the morning & then that has finished too.

We still have apples, onions, dried & tinned goods left & a little meat in the freezer which would all probably last us another week or so if I wanted to become creative. I’ve also made up some powdered milk but frankly I just can’t stand the smell so I’ll only use that in emergencies.

So after 10 days the time has come to say goodbye to Port Jackson. We have had a wonderful time & have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, so much so that we’ve decided not to head to the DOC camp at Waikawau Bay on the other side, instead we’ll head back to White Star Station for a couple of nights to plug in & catch up on washing etc and then head down to Coromandel, top up with groceries and then across the range to Whangapoua where some friends have offered us their bach (holiday house) driveway to park in for a few days. The break here has been good, we’ve had time to recharge our batteries & we’ve made some great acquaintances & had lots of laughs.

It rained today so while David packed up in between showers I decided to make some focaccia bread (the only recipe I found that didn’t need butter or eggs) & the first time I’ve hand made bread, usually I would have done it in my bread machine. I was pretty pleased with the outcome too. So tonight for dinner we’re having snapper kokoda (that’s raw marinated fish coconut salad) using the last of the snapper fillets from David’s catch yesterday & fresh bread. Pretty good considering I’m out of supplies don’t you think?
 

What I’ve been pleasantly surprised about with this lifestyle is how much thought goes into our food use and how minimal the wastage is. Not that we wasted food at home it was just that because it was easy to use too much & the shops were handy to replenish the pantry & fridge when I needed, I tended to cook bigger quantities & we both snacked more. In the van every scrap of food is used productively, so instead of eating that extra slice of chicken or potato I put them in the fridge and use them for lunch the next day. Instead of eating a whole tin of whatever, I use half and save the rest for another meal. I was very disappointed to have to throw out a quarter packet of lettuce this evening, when usually I would have been annoyed but not worried as I could get another packet tomorrow. I really should have used it before now with the one tomato I was saving with the brown spots on it & the limp carrot! J

We have a reasonably big fridge for a mobile lifestyle but quite a small freezer so it does take some planning to fit everything in, especially at the beginning of a trip or after a stock up at the supermarket. I’m enjoying the challenge & I've used some of my free time to finally sort through the hundreds of recipes I've clipped out & saved over the years. I've thrown the ones I'm never likely to use & carefully indexed & catalogued the ones that appeal to me & the ones that will suit our new lifestyle.