Lessons in cooking for the Village

Starting this group I had many more questions than answers...

Would anyone be interested? Seems so...a lovely beginning with a good amount, though not too overwhelming,of interest.

How much food will I need to cook? Still learning on this one.

Then there were lots about the tools. After 3 weeks I am starting to learn more about this and the photo is from a shopping trip to FAL- a bulk warehouse, with some of my new tools of the trade.

Here are a few things we're working out..

What will be the best way to store food? So far we've been using large takeaway containers, cooking two for each family. For our little family that is enough for two nights. If the meal was soup or had pasta/rice/cous cous included we have made 3. The thing I noticed last week was a lunch box style container wasn't quite right for soup, so on a recent trip to the bulk supermarket we invested in 50 round containers which hold 750mL. I think they'll work much better, and will be slightly bigger which is also good as the 3 lunch boxes of soup weren't quite enough for two nights.

I've also invested in different types of baking trays, trying to work out the best, most cost effective way to make lots of lasagne, potato and lentil bake and canelloni etc. I have bought a roasting dish to see if that works as well as some pyrex dishes of different sizes

What about pies? I'd love to cook pies... the pie dishes are often very shallow. I have got two metal pie dishes and 3 cake tins (a bit deeper) and might experiment a little with a pumpkin crusted mushroom pie in coming weeks, Just need to find out where to buy lots of mushrooms.

Then i'll just give them in the dishes and get them back next time, pies wouldn't look as appetising all chopped up in plastic containers I figure.

The other goodies in the pic, some new, some old, are 10kg rice, 4kg lasagne sheets, catering sized cans (2.5kg) of chick peas, tomatoes and kidney beans. a 15L pot, The various cookbooks that I take inspiration from. The best one Wild Morsels, a self published vegan cookbook. Recently picked up by a publisher and renamed Wild Vegan, available at all good book shops.

So, I look forward to more bulk shopping, more discoveries and more cooking. Lasagne next week I think!

What is Village Food?

In this crazy, busy world we live, its becoming increasingly hard to fulfill our roles as parents, children, employees, employers, friends, beings! There is a group in Perth called It takes a Village, which is trying to rebuild the village it takes to raise a child.

This blog is a group in the village who cook big meals every fortnight, meet and give each other nutritious, healthy food to stock the fridge/freezer. It saves money (buying and cooking in bulk and buying less takeaways), saves time (one big cook up and you have one weeks worth of food complete with variety), saves the environment-(less packaging) and creates friendships. The company and conversation on food swap day is a wonderful added bonus.

This blog will be where we keep recipes, discuss if they worked well or anything we learnt in the cooking process and organise dates, times and venues for food swaps.

If you want any more information e-mail Bek bekleds@yahoo.com.au

For more information on It Takes a Village contact ittakesavillage@optusnet.com.au