Since today I made the Same thing as Day 54, I thought I would talk about how much we eat repeats. If you have not caught on already, I don't talk about every single food item that goes through my mouth. For instance, I eat a lot of cheesaritos (a somewhat varied, but always similar dish) and Huzbun eats a lot of Egg Salad sandwiches. Of course we eat leftovers too, as most of our prepared dishes offer at least one additional meal. To update this blog with repeating statements about our food would get laborious on my part, and uninteresting on yours. However, I mention it because it does bring up the valid point that eating extra cheap consistency doesn't necessarily require, but is easier when you have favorites you can continuously comeback to. It allows you to buy in bulk and essentially save time on learning curve.
I think we all have our favorites we return to - My mom consistently eats oatmeal in the morning, Huzbun has his fiber rich cereal, Roommate seems to eat a lot of spinach salad and nachos, I eat cheesaritos (and lately the meatless variety) and coffee and our old roommate ate at the same restaurants all the time. Everyone probably has a dish the eat all the time, or at least could eat.
So saving money while a good motivation, doesn't appear to be the only crux of the matter in repetitive eating- as not only the financially restricted are participating.
There must be reasons beyond affordability that we do this. Comfort:? Delight? Simplicity? All three? Something Else?
Also, I wonder when do we get tired of a particular food item? I ate a lot of Ramen in college (like everyone else), but then I got sick of it (like everyone else). Is Ramen the anomaly, or will I eventually get sick of other foods too - such as cheesaritos?
Do you have a food that you ate too much of and then got sick of? or do you have a favorite food that you think you could eat always?
when I was about 16 I ate nothing but spaghetti-os for about 6 months. I didn't touch them again for almost 6 years. Followed them with ramen, which made it another 6 months (but with other stuff tossed in for fun). When I first got to NZ I had a packet of timtams every day for about 6 weeks before I got sick of them.
ReplyDeleteSo I've definitely gone through it... Mine are pretty much all super easy though. Even the short term food obsessions that required cooking were more along the "open jar, cook pasta" type.
For the stuff in my "normal" rotation.. I find myself getting sick of stuff more often *now* than I usually would, and I think it's because of implied shortage. I *don't* have much choice (somewhere deep in my mind, anyway), so I don't want what I've got. I'd normally be happy eating black beans all day every day, but if it's all I had... yeah, not so much.
My favorite food I could eat forever: my homemade macaroni and cheese. Sadly, my dietary requirements do not allow me to eat it hardly at all. I'm working on adapting the recipe to make it more friendly, but it just is never the same.
ReplyDeleteSick of foods? Well, that could be almost anything. I tend to "cook big" and eat leftovers until they are done. Most things last longer than my interest and that is where the leftovers go bad. I'm trying very hard to be better about putting some of my cooked items into the freezer for easy meals later and less chance of overexposure.
I may be nearing the end of my ability to tolerate my every day breakfast: ham and cheese on a whole wheat english muffin. It just doesn't excite me any more...
I toss orzo with some zucchini and canned tomatoes, garlic, onion, olive oil and basil... I eat it at least 4 times (6...10) times a week since college. So 3 years now, I really hope I don't get sick of it because it's easy and delicious, mmmmm
ReplyDelete@Shana - your repetitive food sounds uber delicious!
ReplyDeleteShana: I agree with Ruby Leigh. That sounds fantastic!
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