@Beauty-and-the-beast

The Beginning of a New Composting Journey The concept of Composting is not new to me. A couple of years ago, I did compost my kitchen waste in a regular plastic pot on the balcony of my apartment. Much has happened since then. The virus had taken over much of 2020, and almost all of 2021, I was back home in India. Since there is more space back home to try different composting techniques and person who helps with the garden, composting happens without anyone knowing that the kitchen waste is being composted. Every 15 days, the contents of the composter are dumped into a hole in the ground, until the bin is ready to be emptied again, a second hole in the ground is dug.  And every time the compost bin is being started over, earth worms are introduced in to the bin. The process of composting in the ground is a much faster way of getting the composting to happen. But for those of us who enjoy our balconies, we compost with what we have and where we can find space. After taking a year off from anything related to gardening and composting, due to the fact that I moved to another apartment and one with a smaller balcony, I am giving it a go again. **Why I compost my Kitchen Waste?** I feel guilty throwing all the kitchen peels and scraps into the trash bin. Knowing full well it is going to the incinerator if we are lucky or just filling up a landfill. And living in such a consumeristic society, the amount of trash we create is huge. **How do I compost on a balcony?** I will explain the entire process in a separate article dedicated to different ways of composting. My favorite is using what is already available to you. I have a regular plastic pot, I drilled holes into it for ventilation and I use regular potting mix as my brown matter at the moment, because that is what I have. I do eventually intend to get some coco peat bricks, as it is easier than me finding leaves and paper here. **What will I do with the compost?**   Previously, I shared the compost with friends who had a garden going. But this time around, I think I will sprinkle some for the trees along the roadside in my neighborhood. Or find a government agency / department that accepts compost in its various forms. Another option is the Make Soil Movement. I have registered to be a member of the Make soil movement, but have not used it so far. Maybe I can find someone who will accept compost. **What I have learned from Composting?** It is very rewarding to watch a pot full of kitchen scraps go down by a third in a couple of days. Even with the various textures and such, everything will breakdown eventually. One person’s trash is another person’s treasure. With a little patience, effort and perseverance, we can all reduce the amount of trash that we send out to our landfills. *Composting is a way of life I chose to adopt as it does bring me a tremendous amount of joy.* Thank You for Reading!!!

I prep my meals and why you should too It is time to meal prep again. It’s been over 15 days that I am back from my 45-day vacation at home and yesterday was the first time I went to shop for groceries. It is not that I have eaten out all these days, or that I just ate ready to eat food, well, I sort of did eat ready to eat food but straight from the freezer. I did have pantry food available and the only things I had to get from the store were some fruits, onion, tomatoes, milk, bread and egg, and some fresh herbs. I have a small freezer, the kind that comes with a regular refrigerator. And even after eating many meals from the freezer, it is no where near empty. But it is time to stock up again. **Why I freeze my meals** 1.      It is convenient. 2.      I shop my pantry and freezer before planning my meals for the week. 3.      It avoids wastage of food. 4.      It saves a lot of time over the week. Since Most of my food is already prepped. 5.      I am mindful of what I eat over the week. 6.      It is cost effective. 7.      I have options for what I want to eat. 8.      Since I have to cook anyways, I make an extra potion that can go starting to the freezer.  **What I prepped for the Week.** Fried Rice – Stir fried veggies for fried rice. So, the day I want to eat fried rice, I simply make rice, add protein (chicken, egg, tofu, paneer) and the cooked veggies and my meal is ready in no time. I have a potion for the freezer and one for the week in the fridge. Well, if it doesn’t get consumed in the next couple of days, this goes straight to the freezer. Spinach curry Base – This is so I can make Aloo Palak / Palak Paneer / Palak Tofu / Palak Capsicum. I only need to make some bread or Cumin rice. Freeze Mushrooms and spring onion – I anyways spend time chopping the veggies for the fried rice, so it didn’t take up too much time to clean and prep all that came in the box for the freezer. Boil Lentils – This is something I do on a monthly basis. I boil lentils and freeze them in portions for a single use. I only have to season the lentils the days I want to eat it. Peel Garlic Ginger Garlic Paste Cut Watermelon and clean grapes.  It doesn’t sound like much, but it is almost a couple of meals for the freezer. Do I plan to continue prepping meals this entire week? No. Maybe a vegetable stew. And, I am going to double or triple my recipe so I have some for the freezer. By doubling the recipe or tripling the recipes, over a period of time, I cook only for 15 days in a month. I think this is great motivation for me to stock up my freezer. Thank you for reading :)

Introduction Post *Hello Gorgeous People.* I am new on the space and the first and foremost thing advised to do on read.cash is to make an introduction. And so, here is my introduction: ***Name?*** *Beauty and the Beast.* ***Is this what my friends and family call me?*** *No. This is the name I would like to go by here on Read.cash* ***Why Beauty and the Beast?*** *Because Why Not? and moreover, what is in a name, right.* ***City I currently live in?*** *At present, Dubai is the city I call home* ***Nationality?*** *Indian* ***Hobbies?*** *Well, it depends. Really. Some weeks I am passionate about knitting and the next week I want to go on long runs while listening to music. I enjoy meal prepping and freezing meals.* ***What do I do for a living?*** *I am a freelancer. have a blog. I Create websites, offer SEO services and a digital marketeer.* *I am in the process of starting another blog that shares recipes. Hopefully, I can work on it more than I do now and launch it soon.* ***What will I write about here? How often?*** *I do not want to turn this space into my journal. But I guess I will be sharing random thoughts and my experiences here. I intend to post an article here every second day.* ***Note: Subject to change*** I look forward to being here on Read.cash. If you have made it this far. Thank you for Reading. _________________________________________________