Salon Post:

[jenett]

Welcome to our weekly salon post, wherein I managed to remember that it is Wednesday while it is still Wednesday morning.

However, I did not manage to be more organised than that: I have had a week of fighting with computers, was at work for 10.5 hours yesterday, and am now making progress on the thing that's been driving me up a wall for about a month, but that has left little to spare for, y'know. Content.

So, today's question: What stuff do you do when you are out of cope? Or approaching being out of cope? Mine include: music, knitting (I did a bunch this weekend!), and rather more in the way of mindless computer games than I ought to.

I like the knitting because at least I feel like I've done something productive when I'm done, which is not something you can say for endless rounds of Tetris.

The thing I'm trying to better problem solve is dealing with food. (I came home from work last night to realise I'd left the deli turkey for this week's lunches out during the day, so had to toss it, and didn't have anything else immediately convenient for lunches, and I'm going to be *so* glad when we hit soup season again.)

I don't necessarily want suggestions on foods (my body, it is a special snowflake), but I'm curious about the approach other people use, and why it works for them.

(I would have music on, but I'm out in our main computer area, and people might want to talk to me. )

Comments

[alexseanchai]

Not sure if you meant to lock this? Salon post, after all, I thought the point was to have people wander in off the street. (Feel free to delete this comment.)

[jenett]

Thanks! (My posts are default locked, so I have to unlock them manually, and failed on remembering to do that.)

Now fixed.

[alexseanchai]

I have had to be chased off to games of Bejeweled because I was complaining too much about having time to pass and no ability to do anything on the to-do list.

My approach to food is, make a family-sized batch of a thing, or twice a family-sized batch if it's going to be a family meal too, and then put it into individual Ellie-lunch-sized containers and stick them in the fridge, and some of them later in the freezer. This gives me work meals for a week and a half or so. Of course, when I make a thing that tastes horrid (case in point, Sunday's effort), I'm then stuck eating it for a week and a half...

[jenett]

I have issues with freezer meals other than soup - when I'm tired, they're somehow one degree of effort too many. (My brain, it is weird.) Cans of soup are okay, or usually even frozen soup (because I'm not terribly likely to burn it).

(This would probably be improved if I had a microwave, but I don't.)

My current default lunch is a wrap sandwich, some kind of veggie, and some kind of fruit (usually berries) which is fine if I have stuff for the sandwich, but inadequate otherwise. And then in about 2-3 weeks, I'll swap over to hearty soups instead of the sandwich, which is easier to freeze and reheat in the morning.

[branchandroot]

*rueful* Yeah, I think I still have two servings of jambalaya that I made too hot, lurking in the back of the freezer. I'll get to them eventually, just... not on a day when I can't eat slowly with some other starch.

[pj]

And you can rinse the frozen jambalaya in a colander under hot water on the day you are taking it for lunch and repack it to help reduce the hotness. This of course also reduces the other flavours, so trade-off, and not always an even one.

[kyrielle]

Your food approach and mine work similarly, I think. Oh I hate the misfires that I have to keep eating... LOL. And some of the "make a lot and freeze it" recipes on the internet are incredibly picky, or disgusting, or both.

I'm loving the hot pockets recipe I found, although the dough is sticky and thus annoying to me. (Me: not much of a baker.)

[alexseanchai]

Ooh hot pockets?

[kyrielle]

Yep! http://www.abeautifulruckus.com/2013/03/recipe-homemade-hot-pockets.html is what I started from. A commenter noted you could get rid of the dry milk and use 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup water instead, which I do so I can use lactose-free milk.

The dough is VERY sticky and stubborn, but it kinda needs to be sticky to seal well at the end. My mixer is Not Fond of this dough, though it manages.

[alexseanchai]

Ooh thanks!

[kyrielle]

Welcome! Let me add, so far I have done pepperoni pizza (mini pepperonis, cheese, perhaps a teaspoon of pizza sauce - the person who said 1-2 tsp is about right for sauces was spot on) and sausage and cheese. The daiya non-dairy "cheese" works pretty well in these, flavor-wise; I was surprised and pleased. (The rest of the family gets real cheese, though.)

I'm looking forward to trying mixes without any cheese. I'm thinking maybe something salmon-ish; they could also work with pot-pie and pasty type fillings, reducing the liquid levels. I'm debating trying them with extra sugar in the dough and pie type fillings, again as long as they're fairly thick....

[theora]

Sadly, at the moment the thing I do when I'm out of cope is keep going anyway, since the kiddoes still need me whether I can cope or not. There are some lower effort things I can do with them (e.g. music time), which buy me a bit more time before reaching saturation point. I wish I had a better support network (we'd all be better off emotionally), but, well, I don't.

Food: my basic strategy is to have base components on hand and mix-and-match them. Usually these are: beans, rice, pasta, cheese, eggs, tortillas, and veggies in season. So, beans+pasta+pantry herbs, veg on the side. Or fried rice w/veg and eggs. Or beans+rice+cheese in a tortilla, veg on the side. Or cheese in a tortilla (quesadilla) with beans and veg on the side. If the beans, pasta, rice, and any long-cooking veg are already prepared, the assembly of the rest is pretty quick.

[untonuggan]

Your out-of-cope strategies sound pretty much exactly like my-out-of-cope strategies~! Except lately I haven't been able to knit much (thank you, lack of pain meds) so I've been adding in extra doses of epsom salt baths when able and voltaren gel and things like that.

Food is a tough one for me right now because my body is also a special snowflake, I have no spoons, and we do not know the special snowflake's parameters. Oh, and I have no appetite.

Um, I have been playing rather a lot of Animal Crossing: New Leaf. For coping reasons only of course ;)

Lessee...I really, really want to clean for cope today and also for my sanity, but I think body may ban that. But if I do manage to do some, I have no idea where I will start because there is so much to do. Blugh. (I guess pick one thing and go with it is not a bad way to go).

[silveradept]

When out of cope, I tend to want to go places and play single player games where I can grind pixels into pixel dust until cope returns. Or read, or some other activity where I can basically shut the world out and keep it out until I'm ready to return. This is unfeasible when it comes to work, of course, because work requires dealing with people, often the same people who have sucked out my cope. And, to some degree, unfeasible at home, because responsibilities and Significant Other.

Food? Ideally, food is cooked in such a way that there is enough for lunches tomorrow. Also, there is always a quantity of sandwich meats, bread, and various snackables for quick construction of lunches, in case of no leftovers. The good thing about this, is if on my game, one thing can be made that is combinable to make many things, depending on what gets made.

[branchandroot]

When the cope runs out, I kind of reboot in safe mode. I'll do the minimum necessary to get work stuff done, and aside from that I stay quiet at home and read feel-good fic or watch fluffy anime. If I'm out of cope but still have spoons, I may also start cleaning; yay for successful displacement activities. Of course, this is also when I resort to ready-made food or even food-products. There's just something about pre-processed food that appeals to me when I'm in a system-down.

If I spot it coming, though, I'll take a still-coping day to make a big batch of whatever and freeze it. Pasties are good for that, since they're all-in-one. Or, if self-preservation really kicks in, I'll lay in fresh fixings: sliced bread, sliced veggies, crackers and a tub of egg salad. Grapes are good, too. Anything already bit sized or easily scoopable that I can look at and say "that's no effort, I can eat that".

Of course, if I'm really, truly, /flat/ out of cope, well that's what the stash of xanax is for.

[jenett]

I've discovered that when I am out of cope, I have a two-step limit. (Taking can out of cupboard of soup and reheating it is doable. Taking already defrosted soup out of fridge and reheating it is doable. Taking frozen soup out of freezer, getting it into a pot and reheating it is one step too many.)

I did get a new lunchbox (which I like a lot) where I put something like a sandwich in the big compartment, something like a vegetable in the 2 cup compartment, and something like a fruit in the 1 cup compartment.

(Except when I do something else: usually that's wrap sandwich, cherry tomatoes or carrots + dip, and berries right now. Today it's tomato and mozarella salad in the big one, and two hard boiled eggs in the small one, and a thing of fruit in juice separately. Oh. and cheddar popcorn in a separate container.)

[hobbitbabe]

When I'm overwhelmed, I sleep. I use all my uncommitted time to sleep until I feel like I've had enough -- and if I'm getting ready to make a decision or deal with something big and stressful, it takes a lot to feel like I've had enough sleep. Because I've been doing this for a very long time, I know that I have to make arrangements for hydration and fresh air so as not to feel physically worse afterwards.

Also, I send regrets beforehand to all my social things so I don't feel guilty for not going.

[pj]

Let's see. I used to disassociate and while that often screams, "Bad cope!" I sometimes miss it because it is useful. [ETA - I do still use it at rare times.] I nap to get away from physical pain. I immerse myself in a movie, preferably a comedy with a happy ending. I flake and web surf.

If I am >< close to out of cope but not yet there I can use music, incense, back stretches, and even cleaning. And baths, but I have to a ways from cope because the tub is in YoungerBoy's bathroom and I have to clean it first. If I'm too far gone I can't clean it.

What works for me....

[kyrielle]

If I can find time for it, a long hot soak in a bathtub. Either the jetted tub or with fizzy bath bomb. (Often, if I am out of cope, it is because work has run long and kids are everywhere, in which case a long hot soak is not possible, sadly. Love the kids. Will be grateful when Ian is old enough to be trusted by himself with no adult even listening in. AM grateful we're at the point where one need not be eyes-on every minute.)

Comfort Tea. Pick from the tastiest teas I have, the one that sounds best at the moment, and *wallow* in every sip. Bonus if part of the out-of-cope is because my allergies or a cold have hit my sinuses (which happens a lot), because the hot tea helps with that. Heh.

Music. I have new headphones for my iPhone (NOT ear buds, finally) that work with the phone features but are excellent headphones, so this is an even greater indulgence now. I usually indulge in the car (radio) or at work (phone playlist) but not at home (because see kids) except on days they're in day care and I'm not. Um, not at work, I mean. ;)

Quick-and-easy food. Which, in my case, I think is about the opposite of yours - but then again, I have a microwave. Throw frozen thingity in the microwave. Occasionally, put (not throw, lol) bowl of canned soup in for variety.

Pet cats. This does not work if part of the out-of-cope is an allergy flare, however, for obvious reasons and especially as we have two long-hair (officially medium-hair, but they are VERY FLUFFY medium hairs, lol) cats.

Mindless computer games YES. Oh yes.

Re-reading favorite fiction. This soothes me, lets me "hang out" with old friends, and requires very little brain. Just zoned out on a whole chapter? Oh well, I remember it anyway!

*Take a nap*. Sometimes my out of cope is actually out of energy, because my sleep gets shortened and interrupted, my days are long and busy, and my allergies can make this work. It's easy for me to forget that energy is now a Thing for me, because really, it never was. I could sleep when I wanted, rest when I wanted, within the bounds of work. Kids change that, so if I *can* take a nap and I'm tired, I really should. EVEN IF there are other things I want to do and EVEN IF I would be fine after one night's good sleep...'cause I can seriously no longer guarantee the sleep.