Tuesday, October 12, 2010

food philosophy & grocery shopping

veggie samplerdry goods
apples and bananastomatoes
sweet potatoes & squashasparagus

Will you get a load of this?

quick facts
Patrick and I ultimately want to make absolutely everything from scratch. We've worked up to peanut butter, salsa, pesto, most desserts and granola. Things I know I want to add: whole wheat bread, jam, pasta (and when we get fancy: crackers, mustard, marinades & sauces, and basically anything else we put in our bellies). In the meantime, we buy what we don't make, and mostly that's produce, honey, breads, pasta, rice, beans and sauces.

Eventually I want to shift our shopping habits to reflect the season, and to buy local where possible. Currently, we buy almost exclusively at Kroger, Fresh Market (only occasionally, because it's expensive; but it was founded in my hometown, so I must!), and a warehouse chain (which will remain nameless, because we would choose another chain if it were in our area; but we can't, so we've given in to a chain we don't absolutely love). Our shopping habits are about as far from my goal as you can get, and I admit it's mostly a matter of breaking old habits and being lured by the amazing savings of bulk shopping.

filling our pantry
So in our little limbo, straddling an old way (pseudo processed foods; shopping at big-box stores) and the new way (see above), I am happy with how healthfully we eat.

You see, my strategy during my first go at Weight Watchers was to simply get the points values of all the foods I loved and portion them accordingly, sometimes choosing to "save room" for treats by eating less food elsewhere in the day.

Treats included desserts, buttery grilled cheese sandwiches, creamy sauces with my pasta ... you get the picture. And even when I did "save room" for these treats, I had to eat less of them than I wanted, because they were points-rich options. Which made me grumpy. I would look longingly (with my grump face) at Patrick's plate, full of delicious food. He, of course, rode his bike all the time. And can't sit still for more than an hour. He could get away with that plate-full.

I was an unpleasant lady.

Now, though, it's like I discovered that fruits and vegetables are not only delicious, but worthy of being the center of attention. And what that means is that I fill our grocery cart nearly to the brim with fresh spinach, squash, tomatoes, apples, bananas, berries, peppers (to make fresh veggie sandwiches with hummus; a bowl full of oats and fruit for breakfast; big salads; veggie saute mixed with pasta or rice).

I do look forward to the day that I update this entry with photos of all our farmers market goodies, but in the meantime I'm kinda proud of our bounty.

6 comments:

  1. Aww thanks! I think much of the credit goes to all the sun coming through our big front window; I'd love to know how to get this kinda of light by controlling it myself. Maybe you could give me some pointers :)

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  2. Simply wonderful! I am a big fan of Hodgson Mill whole wheat flour. Makes delicious pizza dough! When spring rolls around, I will definitely need your help with starting a garden!

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  3. Then you, my dear, will want to speak to your brother! He's our garden expert. Tomatoes, peppers, squash, basil ...

    Yay for scratch!

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  4. Yummy! All your food looks so good!

    Gotta plug Three Rivers, too. We do almost 100% of our shopping there now and it's pretty rockin' food that you can feel good about buying :).

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  5. We will *have* to sit down so you can go over your grocery strategy/budget with me. Friday? ;)

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