Call me crazy but I've decided that in addition to handmade soaps and seedlings that I'd also like to try my hand at selling food items at my farmer's market stall. I love cooking and already make quite a haul of jams, jellies and chutneys throughout the summer so thought what the heck, let's see what's entailed in getting licensed to sell them to the public. Emailing the Manx government, I found that the the first step to this is having an official come out to inspect where I'll be preparing the food: my kitchen. I've booked this inspection to happen tomorrow.
I stress over tests and inspections and though my kitchen is kept tidy I decided I needed to do a full clean of the room today - top to bottom. I can't help it but I'm imagining a tough old bird walking in with white gloves and sharp eyes searching out any place where there could be dust or germs. The cat's out of the bag - I'm neurotic (husband rolls eyes).
While I was wiping down my refrigerator I decided to take a picture to shock my non-European readers. In fact ten years ago I'd probably have been shocked myself to think that there are people out there who have what essentially is a mini-bar (sans booze) in their kitchen. For goodness' sake, I have relatives that that two or three massive American fridges and never seem to find room for everything. Though I don't doubt that there are bottles of ketchup in there from 1987.
What I can say after adjusting to a smaller space is that not only do we assuredly pay less money for electricity but that the food we eat is much fresher. Because there isn't as much space, you're really forced to eat what you have in there in order to make room for more. That's okay with me because the fresher the food the better the flavour and the healthier it is for you - that goes for meat and dairy as much as for fruit and vegetables.
The downside to small fridges includes having to get creative with how to chill large items like picnic sized bowls of slaw or potato salad. It also includes having to go to the shop fairly regularly - I go once or twice a week. I see that as a downside not because I don't like going, I actually enjoy my 'gathering' excursions, but because of the petrol needed to get there and back on a regular basis. When you're paying the equivalent of about $8.89 per gallon of petrol it's prudent to watch how you use it.
Anyhow, back to my afternoon's labour. Everything is as clean as a whistle and the floor is freshly swept - I think I'm ready for that inspection now. If only she'd arrive before my husband manages to mess up my hard work with toast crumbs and wet teaspoons peppered across the work top. Men!
You're never going to believe this but in that little space between this paragraph and the last I had a friend stop by who apparently knows the lady coming to inspect my kitchen tomorrow - that's the Isle of Man for you! He's assured me that she's lovely and won't give me too much hardship, thank goodness for that. I think I can relax now...
Have a great day everyone and I hope my dinky fridge will have given you something to think about or in the very least a good laugh :)
Your fridge looks extremely healthy :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks :)
DeleteWow I am shocked at the size of it!! It does look healthy and very clean!
ReplyDeleteI knew there would be some shock! haha :)
DeleteGood luck Tanya- we managed on a small fridge for 9 years until last year, when we re-organised the kitchen and put the washing machine in the outer porch with the tumble dryer.We have a standard sized one now. We did/do what you do also , buy regularily the fresher items.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I'd like a larger fridge but I think I'll be fine with a small one on a permanent basis. A larger freezer would be nice though!
DeleteGood luck with the inspection but I'm sure you don't really need it. I don't think your fridge is really dinky...it looks to be only a little smaller than mine. I too shop on a weekly basis...but I like my veg fresh too....though I like to get it from my allotment wherever possible and then it really is fresh....oh god I'm rambling so now I'll goo.....fingers crossed for tomorrow!!
ReplyDeleteThank you :) It turned out to be fairly easy...she had a quick look around, said my kitchen was lovely and then spent most of the time discussing proper food handling and batch recording.
Deletei am sure that you inspection will be fine and that before long you will have a thriving business.
ReplyDeleteI have a tiny fridge too in my kitchen - but I have to confess to having freezers in my garage - I cook at freeze the produce from my allotment that we can't eat freah - and we are still 'living off' my roasted veggie mixes and frozen fruits - with sacks of potatoes hanging up in the garage.
Off to read some posts of yours that I have missed
Thanks Lottie and hope you like the other posts :) I'd love to have a larger freezer myself...currently I bottle most of my allotment produce excess but it would be so nice to have more space for frozen veggies.
DeleteHope it goes well for you tomorrow - hope it's not like Aggie & what's'er'name from "How clean is your house" - but would be cool if she had those posh rubber gloves! Let us know how it went & what sort of things she checked...did she have a clipboard? And what's the cleaners version of the tradesman's sucky noise? (the one before they tell you how much is involved)!
ReplyDeleteIt was a breeze Fiona - I think they must come out to inspect kitchens just to make sure you're not producing food in a tip. She didn't really check in any cupboards or anything but just had a quick look around the room and said it was lovely :) Most of the time was spent looking through food safety materials she brought for me and talking about what I intend to sell both now and in the future.
DeleteOMGoodness...I am an American girl with a huge fridge & never seem to have enough room! The Mister cooks alot of huge family sized meals...most of which we send home with guests. What an interesting view... definitely something to ponder!
ReplyDeleteGood Luck with your inspection ;-)
I used to be just like you Gipsy :) A smaller fridge suits us fine right now but I imagine having a bit of difficulty when we start having more mouths in the house!
DeleteI notice that you have goats milk in the door of your fridge. You're the 1st person I've known who buys / drinks that. Due to a milk allergy when I was born, I was unable to keep cows milk down, and my father had to cycle miles each day to buy goats milk for me (ahem -this goes back a few years...LOL).
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the "inspector" :)
What a devoted father :) Hopefully you have better access to it these days? I don't remember you mentioning milking a goat in your past posts so imagine you buy it from the shop?
DeleteWe switched to goats milk due to my hubby's intolerance for cow's milk but found that we liked it better anyway. There's a fairly good selection of goat dairy products in the shops on the island so we're not the only ones enjoying it here.
Lol, your fridge is double the size of mine! But that is what comes of living on a boat. I agree that with a small fridge you have to be more creative. I actually miss the freezer more than my big fridge as I cannot buy things on offer or knocked right down.
ReplyDeleteWow Fran...that is small! But at least you can cool some things in the water? Or is your fridge one that's already being cooled by a water pump system?
DeleteMy freezer is the exact same size as my fridge which I'm glad for but still I wish for more space too. Not like you must though!
Good luck with the inspection, your new venture is going to be very exciting. I have an American style fridge/freezer, but acquired another smaller freezer from my mum and dad when they moved house. I freeze things from the allotment so it's nice to have plenty of freezer space.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could freeze more things from the lottie but we do have a good selection of bottled food. How much are you able to freeze each year? Does it last you through the season?
DeleteThis is the first year I've managed to freeze anything like enough produce from the allotment. The only thing we have left now is French beans, we've eaten plenty right the way through winter, and there's other things still at the allotment which will get frozen very soon, namely parsnips and leeks.
DeleteI hesitate to tell you that we have 3 fridges! Eeek! They're not all on permanently but they come in handy when we're butchering.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your inspection!
WOW MO! Haha :) You use them for a special purpose though and they're not always on. The last time I visited one of my relative's homes they had a large American style fridge in the garage used just to cool soda.
DeleteA lovely well-stocked fridge - good luck with your new venture I am sure all will go well.
ReplyDeleteThanks Elaine :)
DeleteGood Luck with the inspection
ReplyDeleteAll went well, thanks :)
DeleteYour fridge is great! it looks so healthy :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks :)
Delete