Food and Drink #53

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Lazarus said:
i've been toying with a mob subscription as i really like a lot of their content, but this is making me think twice. thank you!
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I've just gone in and had a play around (I've paid for a year, I might as well try and use it). The only customisations they offer for meal plans are vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, so if you're trying to plan for allergies and intolerances, or you want to avoid alcohol, you will have to amend any suggested meal plans.

There doesn't seem to be any thought put into the way the meal planner is designed. No back-end filtering has been set up, which means you can end up with overly complicated meals on weekdays and in my example below, in two evening meals you just get bread. On my first go with the meal planner it suggested a negroni for lunch and nothing else. 🤪

I've just hit "create sample meal plan" and this is what it's suggested. I'm assuming that Day 1 is today, Wednesday, and so Saturday and Sunday are days 4 and 5.

These breakfasts are just absurdly complicated for a weekday. I dunno who has the time to faff about making cheesy scones on a Wednesday, but it's not me. Mate, I can barely remember my own name at breakfast, and you want me to dick about making scones? The strawberry thing on day 6 requires macerating strawberries for an hour and having the oven on for 20 minutes. On a Monday.

Lunches, fine, I would just remove those and have leftovers of the night before's dinner, but they all assume that you're at home and have cooking facilities available, and the time to cook.

The dinners - two different types of bread and nothing to go with them? This makes no sense. Day 6 is Monday, and the beef and orzo thing takes an hour and a half. Just what I want after a day at work and either a public transport commute or ten mile bike ride home.

There's not much crossover of ingredients so you're going to end up with food waste.

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151 ingredients for a week's shopping? Go away. (Yes, there's duplicates like olive oil and it includes the tap water you need for the bread, but still).

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They can't decide if olive oil is a solid (for one of the breads), or a liquid (for everything else). The i in a circle tells you which recipes you need it for.

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They have some good recipes, and the planner could be useful with some tweaking, but if you're looking for something which will give you easy meals, with ingredient crossover, I don't think it's quite there yet.
 
Lazarus said:
that's really useful insight, thanks so much for sharing.
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I've also just opened a ticket to get a subscription refund, I'll report back either way, but I note it's quite difficult to get the help chatbot to give you a dialogue box where you can type things, rather than choosing from pre-existing options, none of which are "refund". I need to wait for the team to get back to me, apparently.
 
ChocolateTeapot said:
@Wooh I’ve loved hearing about your time at retreat of watermelon! I have fancies sometimes of pivoting to a creative career that’ll probably make me all of 50p a year, and it’s just lovely to hear about a career break becoming a passion!
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Thanks very much, and you've inspired me to take lots of non-watermeloning photos of my last two months.

I'm off to yoga there at 7am tomorrow. Having taken my mask off recently [this is a reference to Young Offenders TV heh] I can see how lovely it's been.

A word of wisdom, though: any change like this will only show you who you are. It won't change everything. They asked me ages ago if I'd like to be a cook because that's the "natural progression" and I said no, because my best work is with the logistics and chaos and team and client facing. Sorry should have put in a #wanker #alert before typing!
 
Witchfinder Sargeant said:
I've also just opened a ticket to get a subscription refund, I'll report back either way, but I note it's quite difficult to get the help chatbot to give you a dialogue box where you can type things, rather than choosing from pre-existing options, none of which are "refund". I need to wait for the team to get back to me, apparently.
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Thank you so much for the insight, that’s really helpful! Might just stick to the old cookbooks then. Good luck with the refund.
 
Given the camping gear chat on the main thread, I need some advice.

My waterproof jackets always make me sweat buckets. So, if I'm exerting myself, I end up drenched and uncomfortable, potentially wet with sweat inside and wet from rain outside too. What am I doing wrong?

I'm not going hiking at present due to ill health but I want to get back into it at some point. I'll have to get new gear as my size has changed so just wondering about how to go about getting a good jacket and/or bodywarmer that does what I need.
 
MurielSnark said:
Given the camping gear chat on the main thread, I need some advice.

My waterproof jackets always make me sweat buckets. So, if I'm exerting myself, I end up drenched and uncomfortable, potentially wet with sweat inside and wet from rain outside too. What am I doing wrong?

I'm not going hiking at present due to ill health but I want to get back into it at some point. I'll have to get new gear as my size has changed so just wondering about how to go about getting a good jacket and/or bodywarmer that does what I need.
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What is your normal waterproof jacket made of? is it goretex or similarly breathable? do you wear wicking baselayers underneath?
 
Wooh said:
Thanks very much, and you've inspired me to take lots of non-watermeloning photos of my last two months.

I'm off to yoga there at 7am tomorrow. Having taken my mask off recently [this is a reference to Young Offenders TV heh] I can see how lovely it's been.

A word of wisdom, though: any change like this will only show you who you are. It won't change everything. They asked me ages ago if I'd like to be a cook because that's the "natural progression" and I said no, because my best work is with the logistics and chaos and team and client facing. Sorry should have put in a #wanker #alert before typing!
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Wisdom gratefully received here! ❤️ I hope you really enjoy your last couple of months.

(I think I know creativity will only ever be a side hustle, and that I am more corporate than I’ll let myself believe, but a girl can dream!).
 
Witchfinder Sargeant said:
What is your normal waterproof jacket made of? is it goretex or similarly breathable? do you wear wicking baselayers underneath?
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I always wear cotton (or maybe polycotton) teeshirts as the first layer. Then a fleece if needed but this usually comes off pretty quickly as I get very hot very quickly, even if it's a cold day.
Not sure if jacket is goretex.
 
Goretex and its successors is the go. I also have a "puffer jacket" (horsey people, like) that has a filling of - crazy - coffee fibres and down. It has served me (a hot person) well for about seven years. The brand is Mountain Design, but I think that's Australian. But: here I go with the deep dive... Not recycled plastic polar fleece for you @MurielSnark : something with alternative breathing inserts and short sleeves
 
Wooh said:
Thanks very much, and you've inspired me to take lots of non-watermeloning photos of my last two months.

I'm off to yoga there at 7am tomorrow. Having taken my mask off recently [this is a reference to Young Offenders TV heh] I can see how lovely it's been.

A word of wisdom, though: any change like this will only show you who you are. It won't change everything. They asked me ages ago if I'd like to be a cook because that's the "natural progression" and I said no, because my best work is with the logistics and chaos and team and client facing. Sorry should have put in a #wanker #alert before typing!
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Billy? Or the princess?
 
MurielSnark said:
I always wear cotton (or maybe polycotton) teeshirts as the first layer. Then a fleece if needed but this usually comes off pretty quickly as I get very hot very quickly, even if it's a cold day.
Not sure if jacket is goretex.
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cotton/polycotton aren't recommended as base layers as they trap sweat next to your body and make you feel clammy and damp quite quickly.

I wear a wicking baselayer, usually something with long sleeves as that also gives some sun protection (Marks and Spencer's activewear is quite good for this), then a breathable midlayer, something like this, and a water-and-windproof outer layer.
 
Witchfinder Sargeant said:
cotton/polycotton aren't recommended as base layers as they trap sweat next to your body and make you feel clammy and damp quite quickly.

I wear a wicking baselayer, usually something with long sleeves as that also gives some sun protection (Marks and Spencer's activewear is quite good for this), then a breathable midlayer, something like this, and a water-and-windproof outer layer.
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Thanks @Witchfinder Sargeant and @Wooh for the advice. Clearly need to research materials carefully before purchasing and need to anticipate spending a fair chunk of money. I also need a plus size so that limits options. Thanks, though, very helpful.
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Wooh said:
Oh, mate! God love you for expressing it! [I HEAR YOU!]
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Not the Billy bus episode, but the beautiful next season when the mam takes the boys to a psychologist. Do you know it? I don't want to spoil it
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Love the Young Offenders. Wish there were more episodes.
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mchops said:
My 21 year old daughter has just messaged me to inform me of her engagement.
* Bangs head on desk
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Congrats father-of-the-bride!
 
MurielSnark said:
Thanks @Witchfinder Sargeant and @Wooh for the advice. Clearly need to research materials carefully before purchasing and need to anticipate spending a fair chunk of money. I also need a plus size so that limits options. Thanks, though, very helpful.
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It's not cheap but it does last, and if you're spending all day on a hike it's worth spending the money to be comfortable, dry in a rainstorm you can't get out of, and not risking injury from poor-quality footwear. Cotswold has some plus size women's gear, eg this xxl women's jacket.

if you join an organisation like the Long Distance Walker's Association you'll get discounts on gear in a lot of places (including Cotswold). but yeah, even with the discount, it's going to involve a fair chunk as an initial outlay.
 
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