Planned Eating: Day 3.5
Initial impression: Good god, this is a lot of cooking!
I've gone from throwing together breakfast, taking leftovers for lunch, and fixing dinner 3 nights a week... to making at least 2 full meals a day.
Having to shop and cook this much is somewhat overwhelming. First you stop at the grocery store for staples and meat, then visit the farmers' market for local/organic produce, and fill in any gaps at the corner produce market.
Sunday, Monday's lunch, and Tuesday's lunch break were all spent on grocery shopping. All my free time at night is spent on cooking, dishes, and more cooking for the next day.
"But what about the food?? Tell us about the food!"
Mmmm. Muffins for breakfast. Beans and rice topped with cheddar for lunch. Steak fajitas for dinner.
I gotta admit that this is way more appealing than cold cereal for breakfast, instant oatmeal and trail mix for lunch, and scrambled eggs with cheese for dinner. (Breakfast fixation? Who has a breakfast fixation?) Not to mention less stressful emotionally - there's more work to do, but less worrying about decision making; I can save my stress quotient for the important stuff.
Cooking on the plan is also harder than grabbing breathtakingly amazing chicken from the Vietnamese place downtown. Passing my favorite restaurant while running errands at dinnertime had me chanting, "I'm eating on the plan. I have a chicken in the crockpot waiting for me at home, damnit! I do not need the best chicken outside Ho Chi Minh City. I WILL eat my home-cooked chicken instead."
Some of the meals (like flank steak, peppers, and onions wrapped in a tortilla with cheese) have been surprisingly satisfying. The applesauce-oatmeal muffins are good, although there's something odd about the texture on top. I had to add seasonings to the rice and beans, but it was also very tasty - even though I don't usually get much joy from brown rice.
Some, on the other hand, have been disappointing. I ate roast chicken and brown rice topped with spinach and tomatoes... and found myself wondering if this meal would ever end. Then I made chicken salad with the rest of the chicken - a recipe that looked wonderful on screen - and found it dry and not nearly as flavorful as expected. Maybe it was just a poor choice of chicken on my part - but something definitely didn't work out right.
After 5 days of dedicating most of my free time to this plan, I'm ready for a break. Unfortunately, I promised myself I would do this for at least a full week and then evaluate - which means I'm only halfway there.
So... time to mix the muffins, and pop them in the oven. Day 4 awaits!
I've gone from throwing together breakfast, taking leftovers for lunch, and fixing dinner 3 nights a week... to making at least 2 full meals a day.
Having to shop and cook this much is somewhat overwhelming. First you stop at the grocery store for staples and meat, then visit the farmers' market for local/organic produce, and fill in any gaps at the corner produce market.
Sunday, Monday's lunch, and Tuesday's lunch break were all spent on grocery shopping. All my free time at night is spent on cooking, dishes, and more cooking for the next day.
"But what about the food?? Tell us about the food!"
Mmmm. Muffins for breakfast. Beans and rice topped with cheddar for lunch. Steak fajitas for dinner.
I gotta admit that this is way more appealing than cold cereal for breakfast, instant oatmeal and trail mix for lunch, and scrambled eggs with cheese for dinner. (Breakfast fixation? Who has a breakfast fixation?) Not to mention less stressful emotionally - there's more work to do, but less worrying about decision making; I can save my stress quotient for the important stuff.
Cooking on the plan is also harder than grabbing breathtakingly amazing chicken from the Vietnamese place downtown. Passing my favorite restaurant while running errands at dinnertime had me chanting, "I'm eating on the plan. I have a chicken in the crockpot waiting for me at home, damnit! I do not need the best chicken outside Ho Chi Minh City. I WILL eat my home-cooked chicken instead."
Some of the meals (like flank steak, peppers, and onions wrapped in a tortilla with cheese) have been surprisingly satisfying. The applesauce-oatmeal muffins are good, although there's something odd about the texture on top. I had to add seasonings to the rice and beans, but it was also very tasty - even though I don't usually get much joy from brown rice.
Some, on the other hand, have been disappointing. I ate roast chicken and brown rice topped with spinach and tomatoes... and found myself wondering if this meal would ever end. Then I made chicken salad with the rest of the chicken - a recipe that looked wonderful on screen - and found it dry and not nearly as flavorful as expected. Maybe it was just a poor choice of chicken on my part - but something definitely didn't work out right.
After 5 days of dedicating most of my free time to this plan, I'm ready for a break. Unfortunately, I promised myself I would do this for at least a full week and then evaluate - which means I'm only halfway there.
So... time to mix the muffins, and pop them in the oven. Day 4 awaits!