Literal translation
to have bread in the basket
Meaning
to have a lot on one's plate
Explanation
This figurative phrase turns the concrete image of bread already sitting in the basket, ready to be eaten without delay, into a metaphor for work still to be done: to have bread in the basket, in Provençal, amounts to the French to have bread on the board, meaning to have a stock of tasks still to complete. The noun paniero specifically denotes the bread basket kept in a Provençal household for the loaves already baked, which grounds the image in the domestic routine of managing food supplies. The expression belongs to a familiar register, often carrying a note of resignation or of simply acknowledging the scale of the work ahead, though without any strongly negative connotation: it describes an assured workload. It belongs to the imagery-rich fund of rural Provençal speech, woven from images of bread, the table, and the gestures of the household.