Saturday, September 05, 2009

Boston&

I am in Boston now and, finally, in charge of my own kitchen. We are eating eggs or cereal for bfast, turkey or ham wraps for lunch, and planned dinners. It isn't cheap at the grocery store, this bare-bones-but-healthy menu, but i have to admit it is still less expensive and less caloric than eating out.

We have this charming bakery 1 block away from us and i bought myself a little pastry there, a blueberry galette. It was delicious, slightly heated, with milk. last night i made Chris' favorite: orange peel beef. I use low-sodium soy sauce, fresh veggies for the stir-fry, and whole wheat pasta so it was pretty healthy. Tonight, it is grilled chicken, veggies and wild rice.

I am of the opinion, as it matches my experience, that eating healthy is redundant. You'll notice that we're eating wraps everyday for lunch-- for four days. My wraps have turkey, havarti, bell pepper, sprouts and avocado. the ham option gets a yummy artichoke and hummus spread in it. Wraps are easy and i think they cost about $2.25 per wrap. But the ingredients are most cost-effective for us if we eat them daily after we buy them, else we spend money elsewhere while they get less fresh and healthy and less appetizing and then, after a week, i don't want to eat them at all. The best wraps are made in succession, daily, with the veggies still pretty, and they are really REALLY healthy for us. (I think that eating bad food also gets repetitive...there are times i am tired of hamburgers and chinese food, but i actually get it ANYWAY because it is convenient and cheap and habit.) funny, huh? So i just accept that eating healthier and conveniently and cheaply will involve less variety. If it really starts to bug me, and i know it might, i will be forced to get more creative. but for right now, this'll work.

i guess what i could have said is that i think for me, success in the venture is greatly aided by CONVENIENCE! and for me, convenience is Repetition. and, it might be important to note: i love to grocery shop and aim to do so twice a week so that I don't intend to eat exactly the same thing for more than four days in a row.

This works for me, but what is it that works for you?

5 comments:

R said...

The beef dish sounds yummy. I mix up the whole wrap bit by shredding the same ingredients on top of a salad or whole-wheat pasta.

Boston sounds divine.

Kristen said...

I so agree about convenience = much easier to eat healthy. I tend to do some repetitive eating, too, especially when it comes to the fresh fruits and veggies (just to use them up). Lately though I've been trying some frozen stir-fry veggie mixes--which is nice because I can get really yummy "frozen at the peak of freshness" veggies, pre-chopped and clean. And I picked up some frozen peaches for mine and Alyssa's smoothies so that when the price of fruit gets jacked back up to $2.50/lb now that it's fall, we can still have some "fresh," healthy stuff.

I've also been looking into some easy bean soups for my lunches. I can definitely handle eating almost the same lunch every day for a week (with maybe a little bit of a different side or added ingredient, like fat-free sour cream or something) and that is such a healthy, yummy thing to reach for on these rainy fall days.

I'm lucky that Jason and Alyssa don't mind repetition at all.

E. Michelle said...

k, please post me your fave bean soup recipes. i love beans. did you know that in the uk they are referred to as pulses? or is it pluses? i think it is the first.
Chris doesn't like black beans.=(

aola said...

I guess I've never thought about it much, but, we too eat repetitively. I buy pretty much the same thing at the grocery store every week, week in and week out with some seasonal changes. Once in a while I will throw a new recipe into the mix to satisfy me mostly because no one cares as long as there is food.

and your menus sound wonderful!

Sandra said...

Yep, repetition is key for me. When I was eating my most healthy I had a smoothie for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and a lean protein with veggies and a baked sweet potato for dinner. I took one day of to have whatever I wanted for dinner and I never really got tired of it. I just got out of the routine of it.