Hypocrisy

I'm plum tuckered out - my back is bothering me, I'm totally exhausted, and I'm completely over scheduled - things could be a lot worse.

We were on the verge of becoming a wasteful family - the one that dines out or takes out frequently - lately it seems that the majority of our meals have been prepared outside of the home with the exception of the puttanesca I made on Tuesday. 

Tonight I truly did not feel up to cooking - I was uninspired - but I couldn't bring myself to order out. There is plenty of meat in the freezer - beef, chicken, and lamb - as well as some miscellaneous frozen and fresh vegetables. 

The kids were nagging me about The Great Food Fight - they desperately wanted to go to Aldi and purchase canned goods for a food drive, expressing genuine concern about the children whose brains wouldn't develop properly due to malnutrition.  I'm not a fan of food drives and I'm definitely not a fan of canned food.  Food drives seem inauthentic - people clear their pantries of unwanted food and donate.  Canned goods were taboo in my house growing up so I've always avoided them because of the sodium content and the taste.  I relented and decided that I would spend $10 on canned goods. 

As I walked down the aisles I was thinking of foods that had relatively decent nutritional value...of course I couldn't resist reading the labels - we decided on kidney beans, pinto beans, butter beans, green beans, peas, corn, and diced tomatoes - I thought these foods could be combined for a tasty nutritious meal - I stayed away from potatoes, carrots, and asparagus because I felt certain that canned versions were unappealing.  I added fruit cocktail (in pear juice) as a dessert choice and evaporated milk for good measure.  I spent slightly over $20 but felt confident that my purchases reflected choices that I would make for my own family. 

At that point I knew I could not justify take-out so I returned home and threw together a meal - simmered fresh brussel sprouts in  broth, pressure cooked yams in juice, and put hamburger patties in the oven with onion soup mix and French dressing.  The meal was very good and the patties were exceptionally flavorful (I've never eaten salisbury steak, but I imagine it to be similar to this).

As I stare at the 35 cans of food, I think of how fortunate we are to have enjoyed a warm home cooked meal as a family.