Food Infrastructure

So you've been reading my posts detailing the bounty of health and financial benefits of making your own nutritious, organic whole foods. You want to stand up against industrial food. You don't want MSG and hydrogenated oils in your bloodstream. You want those hundreds of dollars you spend each month on restaurants and packaged foods to stay in your pocket. Yet, despite all this, you find it hard to actually do. You figure that the only way to accomplish all this is to spend all your time in the kitchen or carry large satchels of food to work every day.

I admit, even though I love to spend a lot of my energy on food, I have a difficult time sealing all the cracks. There are days when I run out of time to prepare a lunch, or I'm out on the road and misjudged the timing. I'm forced to stop as a restaurant instead or (God forbid) a convenience store.

You certainly can spend all your time and energy managing your food. However, all hope is not lost if you are not able or willing to do so. You can make this so much simpler for yourself by creating a Food Infrastructure in your life.

Think of recipes that are quick and that you actually like to eat (key point). Now keep that in mind and see how your favorite recipes might fit in to the following strategies:

For example, I make a point of eating some fruit every day. However, it is easy to miss when I'm running late in the morning or didn't go to the grocery store the day before. I therefore keep some berries in the freezer at work. I also keep some dry oats in a container in my desk. I can have those berries and oats for breakfast in the morning. Its not quite the same as fresh fruit, but berries are an important part of any diet.

I will sometimes buy a package of whole-wheat pitas, a container of hummus and a couple of tomatoes and bring them to work on a Monday. They can stay in the fridge at work or in my desk cabinet, and provide a tasty and nutritious lunch for an entire week. All I gotta do is bring it to work once and its good for several days eating.

Work is, in fact, a wonderful place to get yourself to eat foods you know you should eat but find easy to avoid. It’s a controlled environment. Beans and whole-grains are often missing from contemporary American cuisine, so making sure they are in your lunch at work is a good way to get them into your diet consistently. Then you don't have to think about them for the rest of the day. Knocking out your fruits or veggies early in the day can free up your evenings in case you do something unexpected or are out on the road.

Stash containers of trail mix at work or in your car. A great snack of seeds, nuts and dried fruit--Important items that most Americans don't eat enough of.

Other people recommend once-a-month or once-a-week cooking, as well. You blow the kitchen out making every concoction you could ever want and stock the freezer with it. You have ready-made dinners for yourself whenever you want them, good for at least a year in the freezer.

I always try to keep some food items at home that can constitute a quick dinner. Sometimes I come home and I'm too tired, but the fridge is empty and I don't feel like making a big ordeal in the kitchen. It would be real tempting to go out and hit a restaurant. Having a dozen eggs on hand with some onions or tomatoes at the ready is my way of making a 5-minute dinner. Those are items I generally keep around, so they rarely go bad. Eggs are a good meal for this purpose, because you can always add whatever you have available: sour cream, salsa, peppers, beans, cheese, meat, whatever is in the cupboards can really go into a meal of eggs.

There's no reason to overlook the good ole faithful peanut butter & jelly. Bring a load of bread with a couple containers of the toppings and you're all set for quite a while. Keep in mind that there are other options besides PB & J. There are plenty of other nut butters, jams and preserves with various fruits. Even if they are slightly more expensive than the old standbys, the money you're saving by not going to a restaurant more than covers it. [I should mention here that I believe that conventional breads and jams are rather bad for you. I do recommend getting something organic and minimally processed.]

Keeping a loaf of bread in the freezer can be a good idea, too. For me, bread goes bad quickly if I don't do something about it (especially since the bread I buy doesn't usually have preservatives in it). Alison once told me that a toaster can bring some frozen slices of bread back to life really well.

Making healthy food a priority certainly can take a consistent, constant effort. It goes against the grain of our society, so you have to be at the ready at all times. However, you can really minimize how much effort this takes by having a network of food that you keep in strategic locations--at work, in the car, at home. These are foods that can be cheap, they keep well, they target key areas of nutrition, and they are foods you actually like to eat. Even if they function purely as a back-up plan, they can be a great way to cut costs and keep you healthy.

If you have quick and easy food ideas, I'd sure love to hear them.