Eating in, mostly

A fair bit of our life revolves around food.  I don’t think we’re especially greedy – after all, you can be keenly interested in food and yet not overeat – and nor are we great gourmets, but we do enjoy planning and cooking our meals.  Blue Witch says that she’s read a report that only 10% of our meals are cooked from scratch at home – well, almost everything we eat is, yet we have lunch out about once a week, so we can’t claim 100%, but the planning, cooking and eating of our meals has an importance that could be slightly embarrassing if we were of a mind to be embarrassed by anything.  But right now, we’re sharing a punnet, the first, of local strawberries and if that isn’t important… And earlier, we enjoyed the spinach that I’d picked an hour previously.

I don’t think anyone need have hang-ups about what they want to eat, though.  I’ve plenty of friends who don’t much enjoy cooking or for whom food is fuel rather than keen pleasure.  A friend of mine told me, the other day, that she and her husband have started subscribing to one of those companies that deliver all the prepared ingredients for meals but that one cooks oneself.  She said, they eat more healthily and with more enjoyment, there’s no waste and no uncertainty, and no shopping during their busy working lives.  I completely agreed with her, it’s clearly what is best for them at this time.  And takeaways, why not if you want to?  We choose not to, others choose differently.

All the same, we love simple, perfect ingredients cooked with love and care and eaten with appreciation, plus lunch out regularly.  It’s what suits us for now.

3 comments on “Eating in, mostly

  1. Beryl Ament

    My sister-in-law had ten children and when she announced (in her late seventies and living alone) that she was no longer interested in cooking, we thought she was either going to starve or become a pauper from eating in restaurants. Now I understand her feelings. But I think it is shopping I dislike more than cooking, so I am looking forward to summer and the limited amount of fresh produce we grow. You sound as if you have a veritable harvest going on there.

    Reply
    1. Z Post author

      When I was living alone, I sometimes cooked a lot and sometimes just snacked or skipped meals if I wasn’t hungry. It was good to have the choice, after 40-something years of family life. I like shopping in proper food shops – fishmonger, greengrocer, bakery and so on, but supermarket shopping is pretty dreary. I hate huge supermarkets, luckily our local one is not too big. Ten children, though, her whole life must have been geared to the next meal and washing clothes!

      Reply
  2. 63mago

    When my partner lived “alone” work related she fell in a terrible routine of pre-fabricated meals. There is nothing wrong with pre-fab-meals but you can not survive on “Fruehlingsrollen” and pizza for months. When she came back for real we tucked into greens of any kind, salad – and I realised that my own “cooking” had deteriorated also. So it is all “planned” now, I am kind of hawkish even for vitamins, green stuff and self-made food – yes, I am the housewife here. Work related stress, smoking, drinking for relax, sitting, driving – the whole unhealthy stuff – it all takes a toll. And after fifty the body does not rebounce as easily as it did some years ago.
    What I really miss is the garden, but we have a good green grocer here.

    Reply

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