Food at Home

Dearest Rachel –

It’s so memetic that there isn’t a single iconic image to represent it; all there is to it is a basic script. Child asks for restaurant food (usually from a low-grade fast-food place – and yes, I know that’s something of a redundancy), to which the mom replies that “we have food at home,” only for the picture showing what the “food at home” looks like is… well, not to put too fine a point on it, less than appetizing. The options are so varied, it requires a screenshot of the query:

And to be fair, it’s hardly as if I need to explain the concept. For one, the meme has been around long enough for you to have remembered from some of the videos we would download and watch during downtime on the island. For another, every one of us has been a child, asking for the opportunity to have a meal out, only to get a response like this (and given your parents’ frugality, and my parents’ straitened circumstances when Dad was starting his business, each of us knew better than to press the matter when rebuffed). And finally, there’s the fact that we’ve also been on the opposite side of the question, especially in the early years of parenting, we knew that fast food wasn’t always a viable option (and certainly not a healthy one).

Granted, our situation was a little unusual in that we weren’t asked as much by Daniel as your average kid, possibly because, despite a certain disdain for fast food, we also made a habit of it on certain days of the week. Mostly breakfasts, whether on my way home from putting in a few hours of overtime on Saturdays, or on our way to church early on Sundays. With those being a regular part of our culinary rotation, there wasn’t as much need to ask for such treatment on the other days of the week – and these two habits were so ingrained that Daniel didn’t need to ask (just as I didn’t have to ask what he wanted; the only one of us without a ‘usual’ at these places was me, and since I was picking up the food, I could make my own selection in the moment depending on my whim).

But all of a sudden, I’ve gotten it into my head to spend the week preparing meals for myself (and if they want any of it, the boys) at home, rather than picking anything up while I’m out. To be sure, it would probably be rather easier to do otherwise, since I’m reporting to the booth every day at five, and not heading out until just about eight; so I’m out during peak dinner hours. Either on my way out or on my way back would be a reasonable time to grab something at one nearby restaurant or another – and it’s not as if there’s any lack of choices. Even considering how certain restaurants closed their doors for the “two weeks to slow the spread,” and never reopened them, there have been plenty of new places rising up to take their place.

Likewise, while it’s an obvious truism that, while restaurant food tends to be of better quality than food prepared at home (fast food aside, but then again, just try preparing a Big Mac at home; it’s more trouble than it’s worth, I’d wager) – I’m told that certain cuts of meat tend to be more accessible to the restaurant rather than the general consumer market – there’s no denying that the cost to the consumer rises commensurately. Granted, it’s not an issue for us these days, and the convenience factor can arguably add sufficient value to such prepared meals as to still make them worth the additional expense involved with “food at home.”

But for whatever reason, I’ve taken it as a personal challenge this week to not rely on restaurant food this week, and just fix my own meals. It’s not that I’m trying to save money, obviously – although we did buy a fair amount of groceries recently when trying to burn through our monthly allotment of coupons at Meijer, and they need to be used up at some point. I think I’m just trying to eat what we have, and do so early in the afternoon, rather than fill up late at night, when I get home, and fall asleep with a full stomach; that, I’m told, is a recipe for weight gain, rather than loss. I’m also curious to see if I can actually do this for a full week, especially given the additional strain put on my usual schedule by VBS.

Now, as part of this whole challenge, I’ve had to make it known to Daniel as to what I’m doing. Basically, nothing in terms of ingredients is portioned such that one can cook a single serving, which means he’ll have to eat whatever it is I’m thinking of fixing on any given day. This means I have to make things interesting enough for him to take part in, at the very least.

Now, I imagine there must be a few moms reading this over your shoulder and laughing somewhat scornfully; “you consider that a challenge? I consider that to be a normal week.” And I suppose I’ve earned whatever mockery they (and, for that matter, you – it’s not as if you didn’t cook most every day of the week every week) might choose to dish out to me. What I’m doing isn’t special, considering how, to many people, this is the way life is; it’s just easier (and cheaper) to prepare “food at home” than to always be heading out somewhere for a meal.

But for someone like me, who could go out – and might be better off doing so, given the need for speed and convenience, as well as my own questionable cooking skills – to do otherwise is actually an accomplishment, and I think you might recognize and appreciate it. If nothing else, it’s an unusual thing for me to insist on doing, and worth commenting to you about.

Still, if you could keep an eye on me while I’m in the kitchen this week, and wish me luck, I think I’d appreciate it. I’ll need it that much more than usual, I suspect… but we’ll see…