The ultimate in lockdown dining has transformed mealtimes – Stephen Jardine

A portable pizza oven has transformed the home-eating experience of Stephen Jardine and family.

Pizza is a verstatile dish that can keep you going throughout the lockdown

I really don’t have time to write this column. In fact, three weeks into the lockdown, I have no idea how I ever manged to combine work and home life in the time before the coronavirus outbreak.

Every day nowadays is crammed full of cooking, washing up, cooking, washing up, cooking and washing up. In fact, I’ve grown a beard and have been wearing the same t-shirt and jeans for three days now just in an effort to free up more time for lockdown kitchen duties.

I like cooking. In fact, I’ve always wanted an opportunity to cook more but the pandemic is stretching things a bit far. That’s mostly because my son and his girlfriend have moved in for the duration of the lockdown and they eat like people possessed.

I don’t blame them, they are young and full of energy and busy working from home. I’m happy they are here and I’ve got the time to cook for them but across the country, never have so few people made so many meals to keep this nation marching.

Breakfasts and dinners are fine but lunch also seems to be required. In fact as soon as one meal is done another is coming over the horizon at breakneck speed.

In our house, the fridge has been opened and closed so many times the internal light has actually stopped working due to overuse. And as for the dishwasher, my wife says the hinges are rusting but I think the groaning noise is just how it feels.

That said, there has been an upside to being stuck at home. We’ve had some great family meals together but monotony is beginning to set in.

I reckon the reference to my ‘famous’ pasta Bolognese was just a veiled dig at how many times it has appeared on the menu recently.

Here lies the problem. For a younger generation used to eating out frequently, eating in all the time is dull. To tackle that I’m thinking of introducing a restaurant vibe to mealtime by calling everyone at the table ‘mate’ and elaborately explaining the concept on the plate before every meal.

I’ve also tried to raise my game. The Breville toastie machine was brought out from under the sink but was quickly put back after using up all the bread in the house.

An Imperia pasta machine from this distant past also re-emerged from the attic. Thankfully it is minus the handle required to roll the pasta so it is now merely ornamental. Unlike the outdoor homemade pizza oven.

Made by a company called Ooni in West Lothian, it arrived last week and has totally transformed the home-eating experience. Until the lockdown started, I’d assumed only Jamie Oliver had such a thing. Now I have no idea how I lived before without one.

Portable and easy to use, it has reduced meal planning to a matter of toppings. More to the point, it has replaced the Playstation as the device of choice for my son who tends it carefully and is constantly searching online for the ultimate dough mixture.

Perhaps at some point the novelty will wear off but at the moment we are enjoying pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner and with minimal ingredients and even less washing up, like the lockdown, I don’t see that changing any time soon.