I’ve already written about how my cooking is almost non-existent, but there are still lots of meals that need to cater for, so here’s a run-down of how I cope, we’ll start with:

• BREAKFAST – like this, almost without exception:
• A half glass of Orange or Apple Juice (‘no added sugar’)
• A (small serve) bowl of non-toasted muesli mixed with some other mixed cereal like Uncle Toby’s Plus or a Kelloggs lookalike
• One slice of toast, buttered (not one of those margarine/spreads), half with a generous dollop of Vegemite, half with marmalade (or Apricot jam for a treat)
• A cup of white (or black, I’m easy) tea (definitely no sugar)
• Once in a blue moon, I poach or fry or scramble an egg, served on a Vegemite toast!

At this point, let me tell you I make my own bread – in a ‘Breadmaker’ (sorry to disillusion you, no kneading!). We have been making our own bread for years, it’s really cheap, too. I buy a 26Kg bag of ‘Baker’s Flour’ and use powdered yeast from the supermarket. Both last me for months.

When cooled, I slice it and divide into three portions, freeze two and use one.

When I forget to bake (you do have to plan at least 3 hours ahead!), I buy a nice crusty style from a bakery, and that’s a treat (again, I slice it and freeze half). But ‘ordinary sliced bread’, from almost anywhere, just doesn’t rate against home-baked!

• LUNCH is next:

Easypeasy: Two Cruskits with cheese and or jam, and a piece of fruit. My staple fruits are Bananas, Apples, Oranges, Mandarins, and an Avocado sometimes as a treat….. And a cup of tea.

• AFTERNOON TEA

Usually none, unless I’m out, and then I might have a cup of coffee, maybe sneak a little cake….

• DINNER AT NIGHT

Well, (confession), I usually have one or two sweet sherries before I think about dinner at night. Only then can I begin the mind exercise of what to have! What emerges as dinner is extremely variable. In summary it’s mostly pre-cooked or packaged. But when I do cook, it is always simple, and will include some of these ingredients, for example:

• Sausage, or half a cooked-chook from Supermarket, or a chop, or a pre-crumbed cut, mince, or a rissole from the butcher (keep unused portions in frig and freeze the rest)
• A small measure of mixed vegetables (frozen pack from supermarket)
• A whole fresh tomato (I buy three or four at a time)
• A small potato (I buy only three or four at a time)
• A piece of pumpkin (buy a small piece, and the rest keeps for ages)
• Spaghetti with cheese (and mince if I have any!)
• Grilled fish, a potato cake and a DimSim (from the local fish shop)
• Half a frozen Pizza (from the supermarket)
• Half a precooked pack, like Lasagne or mince dishes
• Half a precooked pack of various Chicken dishes
• There is an increasingly good range of small pre-prepared meals at the supermarkets!
• And, in reserve, is always two or three of those pre-prepared meals, frozen, for when I can’t be bothered or can’t think of anything better!!

• DESSERT (now you’re talking!)

A slice of Light Fruit or Orange cake (from the supermarket) with a cup of tea is often enough, but, sometimes, I have one of the following:

• A sliced banana with ice-cream and some chocolate, caramel or custard topping (supermarket)
• A cake slices (see above) with ice-cream, toppings or custard (maybe even cream)
• A single-serve Crème-Caramel tub (two-pack, from milk area at supermarket)
• A cone ice-cream like ‘Drumsticks’ as a treat, summer or winter!

In the fridge, always, are the following staples:

• two or three beer stubbies (particularly in the summer),
• two bottles of white wine (Pinot Gris preferred, but almost anything does!)
• Milk (2 litres – keeps well), sometimes I make a milk coffee or Milo
• Orange juice (2 litres)
• Spreadable butter (not Marg!)
• Mayonnaise, Eggs, Cheese and Yoghurt (and I keep my opened jam there, too)
• There are a few other strange items on the frig shelves, must have a clean-out soon….

In-betweens? I will admit only to the odd bit of chocolate and a few cashews….

So now you know why I am always looking well-fed and a little bit overweight, but always hungry. Dorothy, my dear wife, isn’t planning, buying, preparing and serving meals so, if it’s a question of “Are you eating?”, my answer is: “umm……Well……”