Today, we ate perfectly healthy, perfectly tasty food. Breakfast was an egg sandwich with goat cheese and tomatoes. Lunch was leftover veggie-tofu couscous and some cabbage cole slaw that I had mixed up the night before. I had a banana muffin with my coffee at work.
For dinner, my husband made chicken thighs marinated with lemon, rosemary and garlic. We had a bit of plain brown rice and shared a sweet potato.
Yet all day, I felt a bit, well, restless. I wanted some variety. I realized that in doing EDF for four days, I haven't spent any money. None. Zilch. I haven't bought anything, anywhere. I haven't set foot in a store at all.
It's not like I would normally go and drop a few grand at the mall -- but I would go to the grocery store to buy food. Maybe plan a meal and go to Whole Foods to buy a few expensive, organic ingredients. Or go out to eat, just for something "different."
In de-cluttering my life of things, I seem to have swung the other way with food. Doing this Eating Down the Fridge challenge is an eye-opener: why do I accumulate and eat the food that I do? Is it always necessary? Is it because I'm bored?
Don't get me wrong; I'm not going to stop going out to eat or halt my fun and interesting kitchen experiments. But do I need to eat lunch and dinner and snacks out all weekend? Are there ways I can be creative with what I have, instead of just buying more and more stuff?
Do I need to buy the 2-4-1 cranberry juice when I don't even drink cranberry juice?
I have finally gotten around to the cranberry juice, BTW. I'm drinking it on the rocks, with a shot of limoncello.
Great post. I agree on the revelation part. I've discovered and uncovered things that were completely out of sight, out of mind. And I am thinking that maybe I've been out of my mind.
ReplyDeleteI'll still shop the farmer's market twice a week but I now have a new view of what I "need".
I've got to agree. Just ran across the EDF challenge today (which is how I found your post), but it's something I've been trying to put into practice for a while now.
ReplyDeleteMore and more, we're trying to use more of "what's on hand" -- rather than letting inspiration take us back to the grocery store mid-week. We're also trying to make sure we get to the farmer's market on the weekend so that we can commit to eating more local food.
Changes the way you look at everything, doesn't it?