Small Victories

(Becky)

I have a tendency to lean towards lazy when it comes to cooking....at least I have the past 9 months that I've been in my apartment alone every night while my husband serves our country. Now, there are plenty of lazy meals that I could actually make....grilled cheese, soup, real food. Not for this girl - my lazy meals involve a take out menu, a telephone, car keys and a debit card. Chinese and grinders rank up there right at the top of the list, followed next by the hot bar at the local grocery store less than 5 minutes down the road. When neither of these options are viable, because it's 11pm at night and I just realized I never ate dinner, a box of crackers and a brick of extra, extra sharp cheddar will suffice. Healthy? Not at all.....

I've been saying for most of the past 9 months that I need to start cooking again. When Jer was here, we would cook almost every night of the week. Due to busy and often conflicting schedules, it was actually easier to cook a meal, leave it on the stove and the person getting home last would just serve themselves. We rarely ate together during the week but we also rarely ordered take out. Once Jer left it was easy to justify not cooking. One - I didn't feel like it. Two - I was going to have leftovers that I wasn't going to eat. Three - no one was here to tell me that the meal was good. Four - I was settling into a new routine, my husband had just deployed and I was trying to figure everything out and keep everything going - bills paid, animals fed, house cleaned....cooking and eating well fell way down on the priority list.

So, I decided when Lent rolled around this year to make cooking for myself and eating well a priority again. I also gave up Diet Pepsi (this was a nightmare at first...I'm a caffeine junkie even without the diet pepsi, but wow, I felt horrible). Was I successful? Let's see....

At the beginning of the Lenten season I had a full meat share in my freezer (10 lbs of beef, pork, chicken) along with various bags of frozen vegetables. In the other freezer I had seafood and fish (which were sufficiently freezer burned and mostly ended in the garbage...what I get for not cooking I guess). I had plenty of staple items in the cupboards. So, I would avoid take out for Lent, minus going out to eat (that doesn't count - I'm not eating alone). I managed to cook almost every single night that I was home. I did cave in and order a grinder once - just once and just a grinder. I didn't even order the jalapeno poppers on the menu (this in itself is a miracle). I did have a night where I ate crackers and cheese....but it was either that or order Chinese. The result? I have more energy and feel better, my clothes fit better even if the scale stayed the same, I learned how to make stir fry and my freezer, as of last night, has no meat in it - I have cooked a full CSA meat share for the first time ever. Tonight's the monthly pick up and I'm so excited to see what I have!

They say it takes up to 3 weeks for a habit to stick....I agree. I don't want to go back to ordering take out or eating at the grocery store. I've stopped buying lunch every day because I'm taking the dinner leftovers to work with me. Food's become exciting again. I decided that I'm worth cooking for. There's also more money in my bank account.

As for the diet pepsi habit? Success. I still gaze wistfully at the Pepsi cooler at the store, but I'm determined to stay away from my fake sugar chemical lover....