Enough is Enough
Feb. 6th, 2020 09:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eat_it_all_upAll right, that’s it. I’ve had it with food waste. The poorly-thought-out purchases that end up forgotten in shadowy corners of the pantry or freezer, the leftovers that end up eeewwww in the fridge, and the desperation dinner drive-through visits that end up with a mountain of packaging trash, uneaten scraps, and that *ugh* feeling in my belly. It’s a sin to waste food, echoes the voice in my head from my childhood. But all too often, there goes good food, into the trash, becoming a disposal problem instead of a resource for sustenance. And frankly, though these days I’m not so focused on the concept of sin, I’m ready to make new habits and cut this waste.
I want to buy good food in appropriate quantities, cook at home far more often than we eat out, use ingredients I have on hand instead of letting them languish, and polish off the leftovers before they end up as compost (or garbage!), squandering those nutrients and energy and bloating the landfill. I want to have enough food stored up at home to be prepared for any of life's little or big emergencies, but not too much, so it doesn't get old before I get to it. I want to spend wisely, on quality, not quantity. I want my family to eat healthily, which is so very hard to do from drive-through feed bags or processed-food boxes and pouches. I want to eat deliciously, sharing food with my family and friends in the pleasure of a clear conscience. In short, I need to polish up and focus on those incredibly unfashionable skills of home economics.
Lord knows, I’ve tried: the list-making, the pantry clearing, the meal planning. For years, I’ve been repeatedly trying to do better, getting distracted by life, and falling back into disappointing old ways. (Oh, the poor slimy celery! Cue the sad music.) But I’ve got so many reasons to keep trying. I realize that food is just one strand in our complex, busy lives, but it’s a strand that connects to many others, and it’s one whose end is dangling right in front of me. I’m the main shopper, cook, lunch packer, gardener, and nutritional advocate at my house. Time to tie on the apron and claim some of that power!
And now, I hope to have a new weapon in the fight to keep my eyes on the prize: you, dear reader. I love to write, and thinking about sharing my "messes and successes" with you will help me stay focused. And aren't you over it too? Aren’t you ready to stop being a member of the tribe that throws away 1/3 of its food? Or maybe you already have this figured out, and you can share your habits, tricks, suggestions and ideas with me. Maybe, starting with ourselves, we can shift the culture just a little bit, back towards a deeper respect for the gift that is our food. It’s my hope that this will bring us closer together, and into better alignment with all the forces that sustain us. I think we’ll find that a bit of gratitude for what we have can be a delicious thing!
I want to buy good food in appropriate quantities, cook at home far more often than we eat out, use ingredients I have on hand instead of letting them languish, and polish off the leftovers before they end up as compost (or garbage!), squandering those nutrients and energy and bloating the landfill. I want to have enough food stored up at home to be prepared for any of life's little or big emergencies, but not too much, so it doesn't get old before I get to it. I want to spend wisely, on quality, not quantity. I want my family to eat healthily, which is so very hard to do from drive-through feed bags or processed-food boxes and pouches. I want to eat deliciously, sharing food with my family and friends in the pleasure of a clear conscience. In short, I need to polish up and focus on those incredibly unfashionable skills of home economics.
Lord knows, I’ve tried: the list-making, the pantry clearing, the meal planning. For years, I’ve been repeatedly trying to do better, getting distracted by life, and falling back into disappointing old ways. (Oh, the poor slimy celery! Cue the sad music.) But I’ve got so many reasons to keep trying. I realize that food is just one strand in our complex, busy lives, but it’s a strand that connects to many others, and it’s one whose end is dangling right in front of me. I’m the main shopper, cook, lunch packer, gardener, and nutritional advocate at my house. Time to tie on the apron and claim some of that power!
And now, I hope to have a new weapon in the fight to keep my eyes on the prize: you, dear reader. I love to write, and thinking about sharing my "messes and successes" with you will help me stay focused. And aren't you over it too? Aren’t you ready to stop being a member of the tribe that throws away 1/3 of its food? Or maybe you already have this figured out, and you can share your habits, tricks, suggestions and ideas with me. Maybe, starting with ourselves, we can shift the culture just a little bit, back towards a deeper respect for the gift that is our food. It’s my hope that this will bring us closer together, and into better alignment with all the forces that sustain us. I think we’ll find that a bit of gratitude for what we have can be a delicious thing!
