Well now
I actually came home on Tuesday, full of stress and ready to either cry or beat something up, and headed directly for the treadmill. Actually used it as stress reduction. Hell of a thing.
For the hell of it, I brought along my heart rate monitor (which I have named Thumper) today so that I could occasionally close my office door, put on my sneakers and strap on Thumper, and rock out to music on my iTunes. The glory of my job is that nobody notices I'm here in person, only via e-mail, and so I regularly have large chunks of the day when nobody even walks by my office. Stress reduction via silly dancing is still a classic, and, hey, what the hell, I need a little extra motion in my day.
I'm breaking up our grocery bill into several different categories: meat, produce, dairy, grains/pasta/bread, taste sensations (things where a little goes a long way and really kicks up the taste of a dish, like vinegars, garlic, herbs, spices, strong cheese, and so forth), and treats. I have it in my head that if I cut back on the meat and get us more dependent on other (and cheaper) protein sources, that will give us more money for piles of vegetables. Which, in turn, means that we'll have less meat per meal (and, I'm hoping, at least two or three nights a week of vegetarian meals-- that's thus far a theory), and a ton of veggies, and that is definitely of the good.
As part of this process, I've signed us up for weekly produce boxes from a grocery store that specializes in local (if possible), organic (if possible) produce. We'll be getting a mad variety of fruits and vegetables every week for $15, since in essence this means we'll be getting the benefits of buying in bulk without the boredom factor, and for a bonus, we'll be supporting a small business and local growers. We'll get to try lots of new things. I am well and truly pleased and really, really can't wait to get my hands on our first batch of fantastical veggies.
I'm still eyeing vegetarianism. My sister and best friend are both vegetarians, and they both are dating/living with guys who are definitely not vegetarians. My Hub is most definitely not a vegetarian, and as far as I could tell his main objection to me going veggie would be that he'd be worried about how this would impact his ability to eat lovely meat foods. I'm thinking that before I broach the subject with him, I should figure out some options.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that I'm not as keen on meat as I am on the way meat is prepared. I'm thinking that I should do some experiments with trading out the meat in some recipes for tofu or extra veggies, working in beans and whatnot. More investigation is definitely in order. This is going to be interesting.
More exercise, more veggies, more water. Slow and steady, yo.
For the hell of it, I brought along my heart rate monitor (which I have named Thumper) today so that I could occasionally close my office door, put on my sneakers and strap on Thumper, and rock out to music on my iTunes. The glory of my job is that nobody notices I'm here in person, only via e-mail, and so I regularly have large chunks of the day when nobody even walks by my office. Stress reduction via silly dancing is still a classic, and, hey, what the hell, I need a little extra motion in my day.
I'm breaking up our grocery bill into several different categories: meat, produce, dairy, grains/pasta/bread, taste sensations (things where a little goes a long way and really kicks up the taste of a dish, like vinegars, garlic, herbs, spices, strong cheese, and so forth), and treats. I have it in my head that if I cut back on the meat and get us more dependent on other (and cheaper) protein sources, that will give us more money for piles of vegetables. Which, in turn, means that we'll have less meat per meal (and, I'm hoping, at least two or three nights a week of vegetarian meals-- that's thus far a theory), and a ton of veggies, and that is definitely of the good.
As part of this process, I've signed us up for weekly produce boxes from a grocery store that specializes in local (if possible), organic (if possible) produce. We'll be getting a mad variety of fruits and vegetables every week for $15, since in essence this means we'll be getting the benefits of buying in bulk without the boredom factor, and for a bonus, we'll be supporting a small business and local growers. We'll get to try lots of new things. I am well and truly pleased and really, really can't wait to get my hands on our first batch of fantastical veggies.
I'm still eyeing vegetarianism. My sister and best friend are both vegetarians, and they both are dating/living with guys who are definitely not vegetarians. My Hub is most definitely not a vegetarian, and as far as I could tell his main objection to me going veggie would be that he'd be worried about how this would impact his ability to eat lovely meat foods. I'm thinking that before I broach the subject with him, I should figure out some options.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that I'm not as keen on meat as I am on the way meat is prepared. I'm thinking that I should do some experiments with trading out the meat in some recipes for tofu or extra veggies, working in beans and whatnot. More investigation is definitely in order. This is going to be interesting.
More exercise, more veggies, more water. Slow and steady, yo.
posted by Meg at
9:15 AM
3 Comments:
I'm lacto-ovo vegetarian, my husband's a meat eater who doesn't really like to prepare meat, so he pretty much eats meat when he eats out / eats at the work cafeteria. We've had pretty good luck with "meatless meatballs" made from walnuts and bread crumbs and colby cheese with regular meatball spices and substituting tofu in various chicken dishes - tofu divan, tofu cacciatore, tofu marsala, etc.
By
Anonymous, at 5:50 PM
Could you please tell me where you get this weekly produce box?I have been looking around and I find picking up the difficult part.Is it delivered to your home?Everything I have come across, delivers it to a particular location and
it has to be picked up within a certain time.Could you tell me where(the website) you have signed up?BTW,I live in Chicago too.
By
Anonymous, at 10:01 AM
Sam, it's the New Leaf Grocery-- here's their website. They do home delivery for some areas, so call 'em and check!
By
Meg, at 11:52 AM
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