Monday I had to drive to a meeting a couple of hours away. When I was thinking about what to plan for the week, I did not think about a “travel lunch.” I also hadn’t left myself any wiggle room for changing my mind or dealing with contingencies. So, what was I to do? I couldn’t really take leftovers since I don’t have a microwave in my car, and it might be messy. I did have hard-boiled eggs and some English muffins. So, I made an egg sandwich (not egg salad, just egg) and cut up a few stalks of celery. It worked out just great. It was filling and easy to pack and eat while travelling. The bonus was I had extra time to find a small park near my meeting and enjoyed sitting at a picnic table while I ate. I would not have taken the time for that if I had run through a drive-through as I normally do.
After a few days it still feels like I have plenty of food, not a great selection (more on the choices I wish I’d made in a later post), but plenty of food. One thing I noticed is I have a lot more anxiety about wasting food, or “losing” it. Usually I would grumble when food was wasted, but now I actively worry about it before it might happen. Dan almost having jars break would have been terrible!
When I made a rice and beans dish, I used a recipe I had never used before. I blithely started the process in the Crock-Pot, and then about an hour later I walked by and noticed that the spices were still lying on top. Should I have stirred them in? I started to worry that I wouldn’t like the meal and began to fret that I should not have used an untried recipe because if it did not turn out, I would have wasted the food I had planned for about three meals… It turned out very well, if I must say so myself, but not before I worried myself into a minor frenzy.
After a few days it still feels like I have plenty of food, not a great selection (more on the choices I wish I’d made in a later post), but plenty of food. One thing I noticed is I have a lot more anxiety about wasting food, or “losing” it. Usually I would grumble when food was wasted, but now I actively worry about it before it might happen. Dan almost having jars break would have been terrible!
When I made a rice and beans dish, I used a recipe I had never used before. I blithely started the process in the Crock-Pot, and then about an hour later I walked by and noticed that the spices were still lying on top. Should I have stirred them in? I started to worry that I wouldn’t like the meal and began to fret that I should not have used an untried recipe because if it did not turn out, I would have wasted the food I had planned for about three meals… It turned out very well, if I must say so myself, but not before I worried myself into a minor frenzy.
Imagine having that amount of anxiety over food plus your housing, and bills. No wonder low-income people seem stressed and strained.
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