Thrifty is cool again

Lockdown has inspired some creative jugaads

A recent forward on WhatsApp groups caught everyone’s attention. It described the trials of cooking during lockdown. How someone made idli-sambar one day and the idlis got over while the sambar remained. So, the next day, they made vadas to go with the sambar and the sambar got over, so the vadas were then turned into dahi vadas. Then the curd was left over and that was turned into kadhi... And the day they had no leftovers, the lady would make gulab jamuns to celebrate. But what would become of the sugar syrup that would ostensibly be left over?

Soon it was trending all over and people were making their own lists of how they would treat kitchen leftovers — all of which made for some ROFL moments. Got you thinking about the the infamous jugaad, didn’t it?

It seems thrifty is the new cool, thanks in great measure to the lockdown. The forced purse-tightening has also led to a flurry of nostalgic forwards on, yes, jugaad. Like how we squeeze toothpaste till the very end and then cut up the tube to squeeze some more! Or how new clothes become ‘homewear’ first, then comfy nightdresses and then end up becoming a scarf or a mop or even a strainer for curd.

Lockdown, of course, has inspired more such creativity. The back of the supermarket bill becomes the slip of paper to write down the next list; grocery bags (which are mostly paper these days) promptly line garbage cans; even vegetables are now being used in parts — half for a dish today and the other half to go into a mixed curry another day; a teaspoon of curd or milk cream that’s left over becomes the base for a homemade face-pack!

What’s next? Vegetable bits to do block painting? Well, why not? Don’t spare them vegetable peels either — you could make yummy chutneys out of a good many variety — just what you need to chase away those lockdown blues.