Well, we have passed the half way point for the year and this has been so much easier than we thought it would be. My weight is down. We have saved a lot of money. My wife’s blood pressure is better than it has been in years. She is very sensitive to the amount of salt in fast food. And my culinary skills are in top form.
I really thought I would have a lot more to say at this point but basically this is just my life now. Or I should say my life again. Many times in my life, cooking at home was not a choice. It was a necessity. And those were almost always great times in my life, just very financially challenging times as well.
At one very difficult point I was eating oatmeal three times a day. No milk, no sugar or honey, no raisins or other fruit. Just plane oatmeal. Those were tough weeks but I got through it.
When we first got married, there was not any money for eating out. I bought whole chickens and butchered them myself because that was the least expensive meat we could find. And nothing was wasted. Even the bones were turned into broth for soup. On the rare occasions we did go out, we liked a family run Italian place just down the street because the owner would give my wife free Minestrone soup to take home. We made every penny count. I’m just doing that again.
It only took a few weeks to get back into those old habits. Shop often. Buy fresh. Plan meals a day out, even if only in my head. Keep the kitchen clean so I can start cooking immediately. Make enough for lunch the next day. Get out of ruts like “Taco Tuesday or Meatloaf Friday”. Mix things up and cook something new or at least something I haven’t cooked for years.
Get out of your fast food rut and take back the kitchen. Put the passion of cooking into your life.
John
Black Forge Kitchen 