Part Three: The Setbacks
"Start where you are.
Use what you have.
Do what you can."
~Arthur Ashe
At this point in the story, someone needs to cross their eyeballs pretend to gag. If you don't do it, I will.
Grass-fed, free-range meat, organic fruit salad and homemade tortillas all sound great until we wake up to find ourselves in our real world of screaming toddlers, tight budgets and crazed schedules, right? Id est, would someone please remind the good lady that she is one, a medical student, two, a mother of two toddlers, and three, making meals for a family of four on a very tight grocery budget (thank you, federally-set resident salaries) ? At a certain point along our revolutionary journey I found myself in each of the following rather exasperating scenarios:
- Home from work at 7pm with no dinner ready, two crabby toddlers, so hungry I could eat my fist, and LIVID that I had no preservative-laden boxed dinner to make and no ideas how to use the wheat flour, week-old oranges and frozen ground beef that I had on hand (at least it was grass-fed ground beef, right?).
-Driving around to three grocery stores on a precious Saturday afternoon trying to find the best price on organic produce that was too darn expensive at the first store, totally unavailable at the second and, SHOOT ME NOW, even more expensive at the third.
-Staying up until midnight reading blog after blog about the dangers of GMO's (genetically-modified organisms), the merits of grinding one's own flour and eating only raw foods, why I should only make sourdough bread, and why I should have been soaking my grains all this time.....only to lay awake until 2am worrying about whether I really needed to do those things and, if so, how I would find the time. Please just breathe.
My mother has an affectionate term for the crazed individuals she encounters in life: "gerbils on crack." She most often and most appropriately uses the term to refer to her justifiably neurotic yorkshire terrier, Tinkerbell. I will appropriately use the term to refer to myself, especially during the above-mentioned periods of our food revolution. There must be a better way.
And, slowly but surely, through each situation, I found that there is.
Just as important as the setbacks were the lessons I learned from them and the ways I (*sometimes*) adapted to them. Which brings me to how I have not only survived but am learning to thrive in our post-revolutionary kitchen.
Next: Part Four: The Sustainment
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| By a few months into our family food revolution, I frequently found myself on the warmer end of this scale.... |
- Home from work at 7pm with no dinner ready, two crabby toddlers, so hungry I could eat my fist, and LIVID that I had no preservative-laden boxed dinner to make and no ideas how to use the wheat flour, week-old oranges and frozen ground beef that I had on hand (at least it was grass-fed ground beef, right?).
-Driving around to three grocery stores on a precious Saturday afternoon trying to find the best price on organic produce that was too darn expensive at the first store, totally unavailable at the second and, SHOOT ME NOW, even more expensive at the third.
-Staying up until midnight reading blog after blog about the dangers of GMO's (genetically-modified organisms), the merits of grinding one's own flour and eating only raw foods, why I should only make sourdough bread, and why I should have been soaking my grains all this time.....only to lay awake until 2am worrying about whether I really needed to do those things and, if so, how I would find the time. Please just breathe.
My mother has an affectionate term for the crazed individuals she encounters in life: "gerbils on crack." She most often and most appropriately uses the term to refer to her justifiably neurotic yorkshire terrier, Tinkerbell. I will appropriately use the term to refer to myself, especially during the above-mentioned periods of our food revolution. There must be a better way.
And, slowly but surely, through each situation, I found that there is.
Last spring, T forwarded me an article from ABC News entitled, "How to Eat Well on a Food Stamp Budget" (I later posted my thoughts on the article here). The AP had asked two chefs and the editors of one of my favorite cooking magazines to plan out 7 days of meals for a family of four within a food stamp budget. Although we are fortunate enough to not qualify for food stamps, I felt both validated in my struggles and fascinated by how much organization, education and work goes into family meal preparation. Even the experts noted how much advance thought and work went into planning the menu, shopping and preparing the made-from-scratch meals they proposed. They acknowledged that this would be a hard thing for many families, especially with two working parents, erratic schedules, tight budgets, or less knowledge about home cooking.
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| Balance is key in many situations, such as family food revolutions, for example. |
So, I had to be real with myself:
Grass-fed, free range meat is expensive. Our budget does not allow for unlimited amounts.
Organic produce may be expensive or unavailable. Our budget does not allow for unlimited amounts.
I will not be able to make everything from scratch.
I do not want to make everything from scratch.
I am not able to grow my own produce. We live in a city in a home with no garden space.
Every alarmist internet post is not certifiable scientific evidence that must be followed or face imminent human peril. It can be hard to know what is best for us to eat. There may not be a right answer, we are mortal, and we are all going to die someday regardless of what we eat.
Thank God for the food that you do have, the money you have to buy it,
and any faculties you have to prepare it.
Just as important as the setbacks were the lessons I learned from them and the ways I (*sometimes*) adapted to them. Which brings me to how I have not only survived but am learning to thrive in our post-revolutionary kitchen.
Next: Part Four: The Sustainment
2 comments:
What a journey! Did you also read blogs/articles about the other side of organics, etc? just to be fair, you know. I don't know all the answers either, but I've heard different things that make me think organic might not be the best answer either. Like you said: we are all going to die one way or another! We're living a lot longer than previous generations, and personally I think that will be long enough :)
Sarah, you are so right! Balance is key, especially when approaching food and health. I don't think there is any perfect way, fountain of youth diet or holy grail when it comes to food. There are no certainties or guarantees in preventative health. We can also drive ourselves nuts trying, and the specifics of food can easily become a golden idol taking up too much of our life. May all things food related occupy their proper place in our lives and families.
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