No Boxed Dinners

A long standing joke between the wife and I while we are shopping is for me to throw a box of Hamburger Helper in the cart.  This is usually met with “The Look” (married guys, you know what I mean) and then followed by me putting the box back on the shelf (quickly).  Early in our marriage (and even when we were dating), we went through many a hamburger helper box.  I seem to recall that being a positive for the argument to marry me (that I could cook, a little).  Since we became more educated about nutrition, items like hamburger helper started to be weeded out of our diet.  Some of my favorite flavors were Potato Stroganoff, Cheeseburger Macaroni, and Zesty Italian.  We probably tried them all at one time or another I imagine.  But that life (and culinary pleasure) is a distant memory for me since our ecu-ma-cation about nutrition.

You would be hard pressed to look in our cupboards and find even a can (let alone a box) of anything.  All our vegetables are either fresh or frozen.  If we make any meal, it is usually from the ground up, nothing pre-packaged.  Even cheese has to come in block form and we either slice it or shred it as needed…

This is the lunch I made for the daughter last Saturday.  I got this grilled cheese just right (according to her) which entailed the correct thickness of cheese slice and the correct amount of butter on the outside of the bread and the correct temperature for the pan / duration of grilling time per side.  The “ants on a log” took some prep time as well (using all natural peanut butter).  These raisons DO come from a can but I am not sure if you can get them in anything other than a can or box.  Even the tea is freshly brewed (not instant) and lightly sweetened with raw sugar.  Up until just recently (before the wife started working part time) we even made most if not all of the bread that we ate (sigh, honey, please, can you get the bread machine back down and teach me how to use it?).

We have big plans next year to expand our gardening.  This year we just planted a few things, to see if we could do it.  I have blogged in the past about some of the things we pulled from the garden but next year will make this year’s produce look pretty paltry.  We have dreams of canning and / or freezing items for the winter like many other people do.  It seems we are just throwing away money at the grocery store due to our ignorance or lack of effort in gardening / canning.  I know my grandmother used to can items as I remember watching her and her daughters do it one summer and I could always go to the basement and see rows and rows of green beans, etc, on the shelves.  She even had a bumper crop of raspberry bushes one year and made (17) raspberry pies (which, by the way, I was sick of around number 10 or so).  Anyway, we have big plans for next year.

Well the wife and daughter are about home from gymnastics so I had better get dinner started.

Jon