My mama raised me to function well in the kitchen, and it helps that I really love it. She would have also raised me to be a seamstress and gardener, but alas, I wasn't interested in those things. (Love you, Mom!) So I know about whole grains and the benefit of homemade vs. a box at the store or eating out. I know the benefit of drinking lots of water and eating fruits and vegetables. My response, usually, to the need for fruits and vegetables in my diet was to label chocolate a vegetable. I haven't always made eating right a priority, but I've always known the concept.
Last summer I quit working outside the home, and naturally spent more time in the kitchen. I wear ten extra pounds now, thanks to a chocolate cookbook I picked up standing in line at Target and another on cobblers I picked up in line at WalMart. Everyday we were eating delicious desserts. I love sugar.
In the fall, two things happened. Well, three. I had to stop baking so many desserts. (Burp. Excuse me.) Secondly, my middle daughter, who has always had food sensitivities, became interested in addressing them (and I had the time). Finally, some friends introduced me to a wholesale club for fruits and vegetables.
On Monday, I could order a basket and pick it up some ridiculously early time on Saturday. I never knew what I was getting for my $15: just two small laundry baskets, one filled with fruit and one with veggies. It was like winning a door prize, and then figuring out what you were going to do with it. When I got a basket, I would plan the week around that food, listing out what I had to use and scheming a way to do so without throwing anything away. Some of it fit into our regular meal plans: apples, grapes, bananas, or broccoli. Other things I found recipes for or learned to throw into things I already made (radishes can be sliced up and sent in my husband's lunch; leeks can be used in pasta skillets; spinach can be added to ANYTHING; cucumbers you should just give to your best friend).
These inexpensive baskets began to dominate my life. Initially, as I tried to use asparagus in a new quiche recipe, I was buying ingredients to fill out the recipe. Then I discovered the bread I could buy at the co-op for a great price, and started freezing it. We discovered my daughter was sensitive to MSG, and wanted to eliminate malted barley flour from our diet, which required a certain kind of flour that I could only get one place. I started buying several flours at a time and freezing it.
I began to notice I was going to the grocery store less...and I LIKED that. We made fewer impulse buys and were more likely to choose homemade over easy and enticing store-bought products. In the quest to use all the produce, I was too tired to make as many desserts. I still haven't lost those ten pounds, but this blog entry isn't about exercise.
Today, at breakfast, my husband finished off the last of the sourdough bread. Normally, my husband eats an oatmeal packet, which I make up in small snack-sized baggies about every two weeks. I made biscuits for me and my middle girl, which we tend to keep on hand for breakfast all the time. Usually my youngest has toast and homemade strawberry preserves, but today she had honeydew melon and a cookie (she slept until noon; a cookie seemed reasonable). My eldest daughter takes care of herself; I'm not sure if she even ate breakfast at home today.
We have leftovers to manage: tuna casserole, chicken casserole, some chili, some very yummy salad dressing. Tomorrow I will make a salad with some of the vegetables laying around to use up the dressing. I thought I had thawed a roast for dinner today, but it turned out to be cube steak (oops). Here's another change: in deciding to make swiss steak, I didn't feel compelled to go buy carrots for the recipe. I had on hand a big potato and some Anaheim peppers...ta da, veggies for the crockpot dinner. I need to make lemonade and salsa to use up some other produce, including two Anaheims that I'm going to roast with the jalapenos for the salsa. I need to make fruit salad with some tangelos and mangos. I forgot to give the cucumbers to my best friend, so I'm going to try Guy Fieri's recipe for quick sweet pickles.
I didn't get a basket today, which means I may need to choose what we eat next week, instead of being driven to use up random vegetables. I've learned to eat chayote squash, so I might indulge in one from the store and make a potato/chicken skillet with it. It might be a good time to go on a date with my husband.
Our eating out budget has been cut in half. Our grocery bill has dropped 25-30%. I do spend a lot of time cooking, and while that is not paying off at my waistline, it has improved our family's health. My girls like it.
Where are you in your journey with food? How are you feeding your family these days?
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