2023 Foodie New Year's Resolutions

1. Stop buying supermarket chicken
   We eat chicken every week in our house and I'm horribly aware how quickly and terribly supermarket birds have been reared. Like our Meadowsweet beef boxes, I'll be looking to buy in bulk to stock the freezer. I think I need to hone my butchery skills so that I can buy whole birds and use every aspect, not just lazily cook up water-pumped breasts.
   
2. Reduce food waste
   It can be tricky with young kids not to be scraping the last 3 baby mouthfuls of some puree or other into the food waste bin multiple times a day. However I do think my husband and I can do much better when it comes to using food before it goes off, most notably bagged spinach going slimy and potatoes starting to sprout. Certainly buying fresher ingredients (see next resolution) should mean they have a longer shelf life in my kitchen, but we can certainly improve the way we store things and how we plan our meals.
   
3. Learn to cook unfamiliar seasonal veg
   I'll admit I've been scared to commit to a local veg box subscription because I am not familiar with all of the ingredients. I don't have time to do much homework to identify and cook new things, so any unfamiliar produce would just be ignored and ultimately go to waste. However I want to make time in 2023 because I fully appreciate the health and environmental benefits of eating seasonally, and I want to broaden the pallet of both me and my family.
   
4. Grow more
   Kids are my excuse on this front again; I gave birth both in 2021 and 2022 and so somehow nurturing plants wasn't top of my agenda. However I do have plans for some small raised beds in our little garden and I'd love to include the whole family in growing even just a handful of different veggies. Carrots are a staple so maybe we'll try some fun coloured ones, but what else? We already have wild strawberries which my son was eating straight from the plant by 18 months, and apple trees, 2 in our garden, one overhanging from the neighbours. My mint hasn't looked too healthy, perhaps because I've confined it to a large pot, but I certainly want to persevere with the various herbs I already have. I have a vague memory of loving watercress soup as a kid. That seems doable. Advice welcome :)
   
5. Preserve more
   The aforementioned apple trees had a bit of a glut this year and so many went to waste as they all ripened at the same time and it was a chore to peal the little things. I did get a good few bags of chopped apples, as well as foraged blackberries, into the freezer perfect for bramble and apple crumbles over the coming winter months, but I'm sure there is more I could have done. I made plenty of apple puree which was frozen into ice-cube trays perfect for adding to baby (or adult!) porridge. I dream of the day that I have a large pantry cupboard full of homemade jams and chutneys and things preserved in ways I don't yet know about. Kimchi! I think I'm in to that now having eaten a jar of Get Pickled Somerset's offering, and so I should learn pickling and fermenting techniques.

You know what? That is far too many resolutions for one year! I also need to get fit post babies, go back to work and nail my new role, build The Tale of a Teaspoon into a trusted brand, eat my way around more of Italy with my family, have more me time, read more books, run community events for my village, and audition for the local amateur dramatics society. Well it's good to be ambitions, right?

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