Mining Meals - Pickaxe Not Included

CantCookStillTry · January 17, 2021

Sorry for the silence. There was a rebellion in the camp I had to calm 😂. Photos are resuming.

Todays lunch. A repeat of the lamb and sweet potato casserole.

And a pasta salad with olives and parmesan that ended in the bin.

As for portion sizes. You can take as much or as little as you wish. There are desserts available and theres nothing to stop you having for example: curry, veg, chips, salad and a piece of fish - apart from your own sense of moderation I guess.

And yes! Pumpkin. The Aussies love pumpkin. When I came here I knew of Butternuts and the giant ones you carve at halloween.

Now there's blue ones, japanese ones, turkish ones, golden ones and the usual suspects. And they are allllll gross (to me) 😂.

Edit to add: I have just found out the lamb casserole is literally the one from the other day. They freeze the leftovers and put it in the lunch selection section (yey for no waste!).

With further info also on portion sizes - apparently my husband is reserved, the rest of his crew turn up with full eskies of boxes and biccies and cereal and sandwiches - and a lot end up in the bin (boo wasteful again).

Edited January 17, 2021 by CantCookStillTry (log)

CantCookStillTry · January 18, 2021

I'm sad to say the food has not been getting great reviews 😥.

Last night for dinner we had a Pork Vindaloo - it was apparently the best yet and actually had spice to it. The potato was a bit crunchy - and not in the good way.

Lunch was a coleslaw.

A bland vegge quiche.

And for Smoko/Breakfast a beef and hot mustard sandwich (Sambo 😂).

Tomorrow is the last day of his swing and I may then revisit some of you on the cooking forum!

CantCookStillTry · January 19, 2021

And for the last shift meals of the swing.

For dinner was Asian Style lamb... apparently 🤔 with garlic pizza bread.

The last lunch/smoko was made up of pasta salad.

A Sambo - Beef, cheese and Tomato I think.

And this is apparently a Burrito.

He also had fruit every day and said that by the end of it the fruit salad consisted of just two types of melon, not very ripe ones at that.

I shall be back here in a week or so. Let me know if you have any questions for our dear eater - or any tips for his food photography 😂 I can't help him there.

Kim Shook · January 21, 2021

I'm with everyone else - I'm finding this really interesting, @CantCookStillTry! It is like a food blog once removed. And bless his heart for indulging you and, therefore, us! I confess to being such a picky eater (no spicy, no Indian) that I'd probably be going for those tragic looking sandwiches and picking out the peppers and such from the salads. The lamb and sweet potato thing sounds good, though. I hope he continues to indulge us!

CantCookStillTry · January 26, 2021

Okay. "We" are back in camp 🥺. I let him read some comments on days off and he might be more inclined to try some options other than the Bain Marie "slop" (his words).

For dinner he went for the Roast, it's pork with Broc, Cauli and Pots and a litre of Gravy by the looks. He said it was really good, veg was fresh, but, suprisingly, the gravy could do with some salt. Excuse the thong 😉.

For lunches and smokos and breakfast we picked.

A Chili Beef Noodle Salad.

A Ham & Cheese Toastie

The daily fruit salad (now sadly lacking pineapple and skimpy on the rock melon - more a pot of honey dew).

And what he (and I) thought was a Burrito. I asked what was in the Burrito and he said last time, meat beans and rice. And then! He indulged me with a cross section of said Burrito. And it is not a Burrito. It is a hybrid Pasty / Burrito, with sort of minced beef pie filling in a Tortilla.

I also asked what tools they have in their crib hut, food wise obviously. They have a fridge, a microwave, a pie warmer and a toastie maker.

I'm not glad to be back if you know what I mean, but I am sure glad to chat to you guys and hope there's still interest 😁.

**Smithy** · January 26, 2021

5 hours ago, CantCookStillTry said:

Excuse the thong 😉.

Sorry, I've looked repeatedly and still don't know what you mean here. I suspect another Yank vs. Oz language discrepancy, but it could be my terminal dumbness first thing in the morning. Please explain? That roast thing looked pretty good, actually.

5 hours ago, CantCookStillTry said:

I also asked what tools they have in their crib hut, food wise obviously. They have a fridge, a microwave, a pie warmer and a toastie maker.

It's his own personal crib, right? Or does he have to share?

Anna N · January 26, 2021

8 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Sorry, I've looked repeatedly and still don't know what you mean here. I

I am sure the poster can speak for herself but I believe she is referring to the foot in the lower left-hand corner of the first photo.

**Smithy** · January 26, 2021

1 minute ago, Anna N said:

I am sure the poster can speak for herself but I believe she is referring to the foot in the lower left-hand corner of the first photo.

Ah! Foot in lower left. Aha! I was too mesmerized by the food to spot it. Thanks.

heidih · January 26, 2021

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

Ah! Foot in lower left. Aha! I was too mesmerized by the food to spot it. Thanks.

Ha! I think many were looking for an undergarment

**Shelby** · January 26, 2021

Maybe I'm just hungry, but the food looks better this time....or maybe it's the thong..... 😁

CantCookStillTry · January 27, 2021

17 hours ago, Smithy said:

It's his own personal crib, right? Or does he have to share?

Folks got the thong covered 😂. The "crib hut" is actually like their office / area in the mine itself each crew has one (drillers, pmonkeys, surveyors, geos etc). Where they lunch and hide during storms etc.

Edited January 27, 2021 by CantCookStillTry (log)

CantCookStillTry · January 27, 2021

14 hours ago, Shelby said:

Maybe I'm just hungry, but the food looks better this time....or maybe it's the thong..... 😁

It's the hunger 😂. The food may look better but... it is not. And its about to take a turn for the worse!

So the toasty got canned. It had plastic cheese and that real processed reformed ham. The noodle salad didn't get a rave review either and this week the melon is on the edge of too soft 🥺. It still got eaten, the last thing anyone can call my husband is picky/fussy, I just asked him for an honest account of his meals.

Ok so for tonight, the best looking option was uh, "chick pea ragu" with pumpkin, mash and peas. Uh. Yeh.

Tomorrow will start with sad fruit (featuring back up apple).

Some kind of wrap?

The driest looking slice of beef sausage roll I have ever seen.

And an actually okay looking ceaserish salad. Which is slightly suprising as hub dosent do boiled egg - although seems sparse.

**Shelby** · January 27, 2021

5 hours ago, CantCookStillTry said:

"chick pea ragu" with pumpkin, mash and peas.

That's just....awful. I'm sure after working your butt off all day you'd want like a nice steak or something

weinoo · January 27, 2021

On 1/26/2021 at 4:36 AM, CantCookStillTry said:

Excuse the thong 😉.

20 hours ago, heidih said:

Ha! I think many were looking for an undergarment

I was hoping, but not on him.

What about, @CantCookStillTry him bringing some fresh fruit (e.g. apples, oranges), trail mix, nuts, stuff like that?

CantCookStillTry · January 28, 2021

@weinoo, yes I could send him with stuff if it was truly all awful, but he's not starving and there's people far far worse of in this world. To be honest, I doubt he would take it - the food is a part of his salary after all, he'd think it was like throwing away money 😂.

Pleased to say the days food was better than it looked. Ceaser was good if small, the wrap was ham, tomato and spinach and the sausage roll was ok - with a glass of water.

Edited January 29, 2021 by CantCookStillTry (log)

CantCookStillTry · January 28, 2021

On to dinner. He went for the roast pork tonight. It came with gravy, beans, pots, carrots & parsnips.

Seems light on the Gravy today 😁.

Tomorrows courses include. The daily melons.

A roast beef or pork sando with cheese, pickles and tomato.

A roll with roast beef (?) Mango chutney and spinach or lettuce.

A pizza bread looking thing.

And a noodle salad of some kind.

Seems like we are in for a bready day tomorrow. My favourite 😁.

**Smithy** · January 28, 2021

Thanks so much for posting this, and please thank your husband for being such a good sport about it!

I've gone back to the beginning, found a couple of answers and a new question.

On 1/13/2021 at 7:23 PM, CantCookStillTry said:

The food hasn't really impressed him yet but its early days. The styrofoam is again a result of early days - he's been taking his evening meal back to his hut - hasn't taken to eating in the common area yet.

Unfortunately I dont think all those plastics would be being reused. But I hope at least recycled.

The noodle salad didnt get a good review but the fruit was good 🙂.

I will ask for some mine pictures if they are allowed.

On 1/14/2021 at 2:08 AM, CantCookStillTry said:

His hut is his room, its a semi permanant, prefab, removable thing with a single bed, table, a tv a shower and toilet and a fridge. To be honest its a lot better than I thought. The rest of my husbands crew are amazed its his first "camp" despite being a veteran in his field - he has always picked DIDO (drive in drive out) work before when the kid was smaller.

So now I think I understand the "hut" vs. "crib hut" distinction.

Can you / does he talk about the logistics of this food? Does it all come in at the same time as the new crews, or are there intermediate deliveries? That seems like a staggering amount of planning to me, but it can't be any different than what has to happen aboard a ship.

Have you found out yet what happens to the garbage? That's a lot of plastic waste. If they're like my former mining company, they won't be interested in hauling the waste back. Local landfill? Incinerator?

CantCookStillTry · January 29, 2021

@Smithy I'll get back to you about the rubbish and food deliveries. All he can tell me is the food hall is open from 4am-8am (cater to breakfast for day shift and dinner for night shift) and from 4pm to 8pm for the opposite. I'm not sure he'll be that interested finding out for me but one of my workmates sisters is a chef at a mine camp (not the same one) maybe I can ask her about the logistics when I next see her 🤔. Mining is a massive industry here, and there are multiple camps and mines just in the area hubs at, so its fairly well infrastructured. I will endeavour to get answers.

Breakfast (time for norm hours people - I was certainly still in bed😂) views.

Edited January 29, 2021 by CantCookStillTry (log)

CantCookStillTry · January 29, 2021

Okay. Dinner Time. Bread day was tasty, and the sandwich meat was pork. Noodle salad got 2 bites and a bin visit.

We had mexicanish tonight with Chili Con Carne, rice and some iffy looking veg. He said it was quite good though.

For tomorrow we selected the very gourmet sweet potato, spinach and feta salad.

The vege pasta bake

The mystery "Filo Pastry" (dosen't look like Filo to me but 🤷‍♀️).

And some crackers with vegemite and butter.

He has abandoned the melon. Took an apple to keep the dr away.

Edited January 29, 2021 by CantCookStillTry (log)

CantCookStillTry · January 31, 2021

Lunches today. Things are getting a little samey. I'm not sure if thats hubs fault or a lack of variety being provided 🤔.

Sambo

Sweet potato and feta...

Mystery Filo (last one was filled with leftover Chili).

Leftover Roast I think?

**Smithy** · January 31, 2021

Filo wrapped around leftover chili. Now there's a concept I could have done without. :blink:

CantCookStillTry · February 1, 2021

13 hours ago, Smithy said:

Filo wrapped around leftover chili. Now there's a concept I could have done without.

Waste not want not 😂.

But yeah... nah!

CantCookStillTry · February 1, 2021

Last nights dinner was a spicy pork vindaloo that had an accident. I have to say that these Vindaloos must not be like the ones in the UK or my husband would be having accidents 🤔.