Surviving lockdown, one meal at a time

 Pic: Maarten van den Heuvel from Pexels 

Just a few months ago, I wrote enthusiastically about how food was ‘fuel’. All too often, I argued, food was something we regarded as a pastime, or something we mindlessly consumed without much regard for our own wellbeing.

Then the Covid-19 lockdown overtook us all. 

Thankfully, apart from curtailing my movements, the virus has had little impact on my life. But it has meant that socialising with friends and family is no longer an option. Even something as  simple as a trip to the local cinema is simply out of the question. So food has assumed a much greater role in my life, as the elasticated waistband on these cotton trousers can attest to.

Unfortunately, I’m not the woman to approach for diet tips. I can gain a little weight if I eat too much, and I seem to lose weight when I eat a little less and step up my levels of exercise. That’s the extent of my insight.

But I’m willing to forego the self-criticism for this extraordinary period in our history, particularly as I’ve been rediscovering the joy of making nutritional, yet uncomplicated, meals for myself.

Now that meals in restaurants and coffee dates in city centre cafes are off the menu, I’ve had to fall back on recipes that I mastered years ago and which fell off my weeknight rota.

So, the other night I made bean burger patties according to a recipe I found on a vegan blog about a decade ago.

At lunchtime, I made a vegetarian quesadilla from ingredients I have in the freezer and pantry. It was delicious and filling – easily as tasty as anything I would have ordered off a brunch menu in a smart venue just a few weeks ago.

Pic: Pexels

One of my favourite evening dishes is broccoli cooked in a little oil that’s soaked up the flavours of garlic, chilli and fresh ginger, before the whole pan is doused in soy sauce and allowed to bubble up for a minute or two. Served with egg noodles, the dish is the perfect way to end the day.

As the restrictions have gone on, we’ve seen people come in for gentle ribbing as they’ve used the time to bake sourdough bread. What a cliché!

But there’s a form of comfort from preparing food from scratch. It can tap into our creativity in a way that’s fulfilling. At the very least, you achieve the goal of creating a satisfying meal from unprepossessing ingredients.

I know that I’m not very skilled in the kitchen but when I enter the kitchen, pull out pots and pans, and then prep the raw ingredients for my tea, I'm taken to a place where the stresses and strains of lockdown feel about a million miles away.

So, if baking a clutch of scones gives you some respite from the world, forget the miserable begrudgers and grab that baking powder. 

Go back to a few classic dishes that you mastered over the years – or turn to new voices and new influences. Personally, I love Beth at BudgetBytes.com, Chef John at the Food Wishes YouTube channel and Jack Monroe of Cooking On A Bootstrap. Just the other day the Irish Times published this helpful list of recipes that require just three ingredients.

What foods do you find yourself drawn to at the moment? Have you noticed your tastes changing as the lockdown goes on? More importantly, have you come up with a recipe for low-calorie microwavable mug cake??