Why the Cook Quit or A Modern Jack Sprat Tale

Posted on | November 25, 2007 |

In the past two months that I’ve been blogging, I’ve also been reading a lot of PF blogs.  I’ve noticed that the grocery bill is almost universally the first budget category targeted by people wanting to tighten the budget belt.  The Husband and I have discussed this observation and his take is that in situations of deep consumer debt, the grocery bill is one of the very few monthly bills that has any wiggle room at all.  This has lead to more than one conversation about our own food consumption and grocery bill.  The consensus is that we’re both very happy with our current food consumption and see no need to make any significant changes although we agreed that I could be a little more conscious of sales and/or coupons — I have definitely gotten a bit lax in those areas.

So, we’re comfortable with how much we spend and satisfied with the types and quantities of food that comes into the house.  The one area, however, in which I see room for significant improvement is the number of home-cooked, from-scratch meals I prepare in the course of the week.  As much as I hate to admit it, I only cook one or two meals a week.  We always eat dinner together as a family but more often than not than not those meals are “smorgashboard” affairs — each person finds and prepares their own individual meal choices.

There are two main reasons behind our lack of home-cooked meals.  First, my health.  Whatever the reasons — whether the lingering results of the TIAs or a side-effect of the Fibromyalgia or the hypothyroidism — I still struggle with a low energy level.  By the time evening rolls around, it’s often everything I can do just to sit at the table with my family and feed myself.  And second, we represent a modern twist on the Jack Sprat tale-of-two-conflicting-diets idea.  Except in our case there are two conflicting diets plus a third restricted diet to consider.

I have extensive food allergies.  I’m allergic to all legumes (all beans & peas).  I’m also allergic to most oils (I can eat canola and olive oil only).  I’m allergic to corn; most nuts; most seeds.  I can’t have any form of soy.  I’m allergic to all yeast (baker’s and brewer’s).  And I’m allergic to mustard.  And mushrooms (actually, everything fermented or containing fungi).  And those are just the things I can think of off the top of my head.  And we’re not talking about not being able to have a full serving of something; I can’t ingest even the tiniest amount of any of these items.

This means that I can’t have sushi rolled in sesame seeds nor any wasabi nor anything that has come in contact with soy sauce or wasabi; I can’t eat any solidified chocolate products; I can’t eat anything containing soup stock nor anything labeled as containing “spices.”  Almost without exception, I cannot eat anything packaged or pre-prepared.  I once ate one bite of a cookie from Whole Foods.  I’d carefully checked the ingredients and confirmed that the oil used was canola and the rest of the ingredients were okay.  I got unbearably sick.  It turned out that the oil used to grease the pans so the cookies wouldn’t stick was something other than canola. 

Eating out is simply not possible.  Traveling is very difficult.  At home, in a fully-stocked kitchen, there’s actually quite a bit that I can eat.  But all of my protein has to come from meat.  And here’s where the Jack Sprat thing comes in — The Daughter is a vegetarian.   Her diet is almost directly in conflict with mine.  Add to this diet issue the fact that The Husband is supposed to restrict his salt, cholesterol, and sugar intake.

Cooking is often just more hassle than it’s worth.

But we’re learning how to compensate.  Sometimes I prepare meals that the kids and The Husband can eat.  Sometimes I prepare a meal that everyone but The Daughter can eat.  I’d really like to put more thought and effort into building a collection of recipes that will meet the needs and tastes of three out of four.  But, for now, most of our meals are smorgasboard affairs with each person fixing a sandwich or some eggs or a bowl of cereal or a quesadilla or a salad to meet the desires of their own taste buds.

I’m just grateful that our budget is such that tightening our grocery bill belt isn’t necessary.

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