The typical operations is that the volunteers go out to ask vendors for fruits and vegetables which they do not want anymore or are going to discard. Then we bring all the stuff back to a meeting point as and when we collect sufficient quantities. Then when the lorry looks like it can't take the load, then we stop the collection.
Next, the volunteers get to take whatever produce they want. Then any excess will be sent to other beneficiaries. Today, the lorry was too full so we needed to load the excess onto the car which was going to transport the volunteers to unload the lorry.
Anyway, I got back quite early today, I think it was around 2pm. I'm not too sure... But I've spent the past few hours processing my fruits and vegetables. So that they can be stored longer.
Here's what I collected for today.
The soup can be kept for a couple of days and the onion looks like it will survive another 2-3 days.
But as you can see the rocket is turning yellow.
These will be stir fried today for my dinner, cos these can't be kept for much longer.
This is likely 4-6 servings, but I'm pretty ok to eat more of these veges.
The florets of the broccolini were starting to turn yellow. Nothing really wrong with the baby corn.
These 2, I cut them up and blanched them in hot water for about a minute to "kill" them. So that they can keep for the next few days.
I cut the beets up and boiled them in lightly salted water. So now they can keep for sometime and I can snack on them when I feel like it.
The sweet potatoes will likely be steamed for a snack whenever I feel hungry.
1 capsicum was cut and thrown into the same soup as the onion. The other 2 will be kept for a day or two.
The 3 dragon fruits were pretty ripe, so they were all cut and are ready for a snack.
So I spent the past couple of hours cleaning all these up and for you folks who cook, you know how much time and effort it takes to process food.
Gotta cut them up, wash, put in fridge, repeat for other products.
Then I boiled the beetroots and blanched the broccolinis and baby corn... Well, I don't have a big pot so it's pretty troublesome to blanch them efficiently.
Ok, the pictures don't do justice to the quantity I have. It's likely going to last me WAY more than til next Wed. And not to mention, I still have around 70% of my cabbage which I collected the last time.
This is no ordinary cabbage. It's a super huge kind. I cut off 30% cos I thought I could handle it, but after washing and slicing it up, I realized that it was too much. I had enough for 4 servings.
And since I only cook for dinners, that means I needed to eat this for 4 days. Ok that's impossible so I kept 2 servings for myself and passed the other 2 servings to my neighbour. He said he's likely going to eat it for 2 days.
Not to mention... that's ONLY 30% of the cabbage. I still have 70% in the fridge.
So today, once again, I over collected. The cabbage was from my previous collection so for me to still have 70% left even after 1 week, means I over collected last week as well. And I still have braised mushrooms which are still stored in the fridge also from my collection last week.
Today I took almost half of what I took last week, and it was still too much for 1 week worth of cooking.
So I'm going to manage it better next week. Take less by a bit... and keep trying til I get my portions right.
The thing is, I like having a bit more, cos my objective is NOT to go grocery shopping anymore. So I MUST have enough to last me for a whole week til the next collection.
I'm also hoping to cut down meat intake except for weekends when I dine out with my wife, or during other occasions. For our daily dinner, I'm trying to keep it purely vegetables and fruits.
Hey, we eat lots of meat, buffets, Korean barbecues, etc... So I think on normal weekdays, we just stick to the "free" stuff from Pasir Panjang. I think it's a good balance and likely healthier for us as well.
Anyway, that's it for today, I need to prepare my dinner. I've been really busy in the kitchen for the whole day ever since I got back from PP.
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