The week is over, and - again - I almost met my goal. 14 out of 15 meals this week, I did not eat out. I had instant oatmeal for breakfast each morning. For lunch, once I had pb&j, once I had a frozen Lean Cuisine, and the remaining three times I had leftovers. For dinner, I had steak and broccoli, barbecued chikcen and broccoli, and toasted pb&j twice(well, sort of, I’ll get to that later). That makes four dinners, leaving only Friday’s dinner, which I just finished a few minutes ago.
I caved; after a long day at work(and facing the prospect of working on Sunday), I went home, gathered my things, and headed to my favorite cafe for a burger and fries. I could have easily heated up some of my frozen leftovers. I just didn’t want to.
There were other factors. Twice while I was cooking this week, my apartment’s power went out: once while cooking my steak, and again in the middle of toasting a rushed Wednesday night dinner; leaving me with quarter-toasted bread for my pb&j sandwiches. The steak I finished cooking in the dark, but the power came back on soon enough that I was able to eat without the aid of my roommate’s candle. So tonight, besides being exhausted, I was also motivated by the prospect of eating an entire meal without fear of losing electricity in the middle of fixing and/or eating it.
Overall, I really enjoyed this little experiment. I enjoyed the cooking(if you can call it that), and I enjoyed not having to worry about where to go to lunch. I had more time to read, write, and just relax during my lunch break; plus fixing dinner felt kind of cathartic after a long day. Especially when it tasted good.
I’ll keep trying to cook more, especially in my new apartment, wherever that may be. I’ll have to look up a list of kitchen essentials, and some easy recipes to get started with.
Researching eating in, I came across an interesting book: The Art Of Eating In by Cathy Erway. It’s based on her blog, Not Eating Out In New York, and so far - though I’m only forty some-odd pages in - it’s a very good read. She spent two years not eating out(mostly). I’m sure I’ll pick up some good tips(and recipes).
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I’m not sure what to do for next week. Apartment hunting is taking up a lot of my time, but I can’t really make that a “goal”.
I’ll think of something.
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You should cook for the week during the weekend and freeze the dinners.Or stop eating.
ReplyDeleteWhats the cafe you like so much?
I think you should make a goal where in one week you have to read a short story or poem each day via people's recommendations.
P.S. Here are some quick and easy recipes:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Garlic-Red-Potatoes/Detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sauteed-Garlic-Asparagus/Detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pork-Medallions-with-Dijon-Sauce/Detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spicy-Brown-Mustard-Chicken/Detail.aspx
i picked up a great book about a year ago, "50 secrets of the longest living people in the world". it's by sally beare. she starts out be detailing the lives of 5 cultures whose people regularly live past 100 hundred and rarely need to see a doctor. the second part of the book really gets into good eating habits, what foods not to combine, how often to eat, and she even offers some of the longest living peoples' recipes. it's a cheap $8 book, but it's basically my food Bible.
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