(Jacob's pantry. Notice the cubbies of things. They hold sauce packets, the smart over the door organizer, and the shelves and SHELVES of food! There are three shelves you can't even see!)
I grew up in a house where when money was tight, we'd have in our cupboards: one can of kidney beans, two cans of beets, bread crumbs, apple cider vinegar, and sometimes stale taco shells. In the freezer we'd have frozen veggies, and in the fridge we'd have many containers of 'gone bad' leftovers and an enormous jar of marashino cherries. You could say, that we had no food, and I would. 'Mom, we need food.'
As an adult, I have more or less mimicked what I saw growing up. I get a few cans of this, some fresh veggies, etc., but never more than what will get me through the next week. I am not a 'oh look, oatmeal is on sale, let's get 12 boxes' kind of person -------- but I want to be. I am working on allowing for 'stocking up' in my food budget. It's all so new to me though.
Now that I eat meat (glorious, fantastic, AMAZING meat ((sigh))), I have this strong desire to get a deep freezer and buy all sorts of meat (on sale meat! woohoo!), or go in with a few people and split up a cow, you know...like you do. Now that meals are routine, and I am veering away from cereal as my maincourse, I want to have fully-stocked cupboards so this issue of 'we have nothing to eat' never comes up with my children.
Perhaps my maternal instinct is FINALLY kicking in, and this desire to provide for my family dominates my thinking. Food is playing such an integral role in life for me these days, and I just want to be able to whip up meatloaf, and blueberry crisp for dessert. Yeah, yeah, I realize I'm not Jacob and that cooking isn't 'my thing', but I just feel different now. So many options to entice us all.
My dear dear friends, Solomon & Janella, and their ADORABLE daughter Delilah are here visiting. Solomon recently ended a long stint being a vegetarian as well. This has been a wonderful week of exploring our tastebuds and rediscovering the wonderful adventures of tasting and sharing fantastic meals. There is something marvelous about being with him, his family, Jennifer and her family, all being together (where are you Girl, when I need you?!?) and eating substantially. I never knew what I was missing out on.
5 comments:
I too, grew up in an un-stocked home, and perhaps that is why I like to always have options. It isn't so much that one needs to hoard food, but rather than one wants to have certain things on hand for whenever the fancy might strike. To give yourself choices.
For example I always have: several types of rice, a variety of pasta, lentils, beans, couscous, quinoa, chicken, beef, and vegetable stock, a whole litany of dried fruits and nuts and chips and sugars and flours for baking, good quality honey and maple syrup,a variety of homemade jams and jellies, some baking mixes (for those lazy days), cocktail mixers,canned beans and tomatoes, a variety of vinegars and oils and sauces and marinades, and a freezer full of meat and vegetables and fruit etc.
And THEN, all you need do is pull some meat from your freezer, a few fresh or frozen veggies and in minutes you can have yourself any number of different meals, even during the leanest of times.
Am I wrong? Is this a sickness? Am I just rationalizing?
I grew up in a home where my mom was super frugral and always had tons of food around and I have, for the most part, picked up that trait.
I love saving my family money while still buying good food. I love going grocery shopping together. I adore coming home with grocery bags and putting them away and then seeing my freshly stocked fridge :).
Almost always she had every ingredient that you would need for baking if you decided to make something on a whim. I've tried to model my kitchen after that.
I'm a freak for organization in the kitchen. I keep grains, flours, etc. in nicely labeled quart canning jars. I love seeing rows of things all organized and awaiting a culinary creative splurge.
Canning is my obsession right now with the summer on and I bought 40 dozen canning jars today in different sizes. I cannot wait until they're all full and stacked on the shelves.
I am a food retard and would starve in spite of overflowing cupboards if it weren't for the kindness and culinary prowess(es) of those around me.
But I too would love to nail that formula of opening the refrigerator/cupboard and seeing ingredients that make sense as a meal. Wtf is wrong with me? The Cup-o-Soups are wearing thin...
Funny, I have been thinking about this for a long time. Apparently you and I grew up in the same house, and we always had weird stuff because we got free food boxes.
It was raised for me again recently with Cheyenne's entry about someone's love of Grocery Outlet.
Your point makes so much sense Jacob.
You lead by example, Jacob, and I really am in such awe of this whole lifestyle of OPTIONS!
It's not a sickness, it's a whole new worldview, and I LOVE it!
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