Managing meals in Cyprus

We invariably eat all 3 meals at home

Hey Popcorn Tours,

Thank you for taking the time to reply. 😀

Tell us more about your routine...are your meals freshly cooked, or do you rely more on meal prep based on your work schedule?

Do you stick to your traditional foods from back home, or do you try some new dishes from your host country?

We would love to hear more from you!

Cheers,

Cheryl

Hi Cheryl,

not a problem !

Our 3 daily meals we prepare at home using our tried and trusted "home" receipes, using the best local ingredients we can get our hands on. Lots of fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, dates, rice pasta, organic chicken, good bread.

We don't experiment with "local" recipies as such .   

We make a meal plan for the whole week and then prepare a shopping list on google keep. We then shop twice a week in supermarkets and a local farmer shop. Meals are prepared in a batch cooking method and frozen. We then eat a selection of the frozen meals and freshly prepared meals. This is the same method we used in the UK. It cuts down on waste, makes shopping easy and means we know what to eat each day without having to decide and make rushed decisions. If the meal is from the freezer it is quick to prepare rather than from scratch.

We use local ingredients like fresh veg and fruit from the farm shop.

We were surprised to find cauliflower, parsnips, brussels and cabbage red and green in abundance and better tasting than the UK. Apart from being giant size!  We do not eat out often as we find the portion sizes too big. If we eat out we use local restaurants and grill houses.

We do eat a mix of UK traditional meals but also Cypriot dishes like giant beans with tomatoes, green lentils. Pitta and various dips as well. Olives are a big favourite. 

Since arriving we have increased our fruit and veg intake trying to stick to what should be a more Mediterranean diet.

@phildraper

How does that cut down waste?

I have never wasted food in my life. We have a Sunday roast, then in the evening we will have a couple of beef sandwiches. Monday, we will have a shepherd's Pie from the meat on Sunday, we will mince the meat. We grow most of our vegetables, and we will make sauces out of the tomatoes and freeze them.

No waste as we only buy what we need for the week at the 2 shops visits and eat it all in the timescales of the meal plan

@phildraper

Oh, right, I thought, you meant by your cooking practice. The same with us, we buy weekly. We might buy in bulk things that won't perish, like Coffee beans when they are on special offer or olive oil.

@phildraper

No waste by us either, though I have thought for years what I could do with beetroot, carrot peel after peeling, potatoes skins, chicken skins  etc ? Since we are currently europe based snow -birds, only visiting over winter, buying a donkey is out of the question :-)

@phildraper
No waste by us either, though I have thought for years what I could do with beetroot, carrot peel after peeling, potatoes skins, chicken skins etc ? Since we are currently europe based snow -birds, only visiting over winter, buying a donkey is out of the question :-) - @Popcorn Tours

Peelings, Chicken bones, they get used to make chicken stock, or a clear soup. Any left meat also just falls off the bones, and that can be mixed with some veg and rice.

Eat out for main meals -

cereals/yoghurts for breakfast

sandwich for lunch