If I could go back in time and stop myself from purchasing all of the foods that went to waste in my cupboards and fridge over the years, I'm certain I'd have enough money to pay cash for a car. A new car. With ease.
The reality is I've bought stuff I shouldn't. Stuff that went to waste. All for the sake of me not using the products or produce up in time.Ironically, most of that stuff was prepared, ready-made, highly processed crap that was engineered with a long shelf-life while making life easier and meal assembly simpler. The irony is that my choice to eat healthier has left me having to spend countless hours researching and preparing my new meals, and yet I waste very little now as a result.
Sometimes I don't have what I need. For example, Vegandad's Blog has a number of excellent recipes, but almost all require stuff that either I don't have ready or I don't have. Take the sausage recipe for instance; I had neither the right beans nor the gluten flour, so I made arrangements to leave work in a timely fashion and stop at a bulk food store and health food store on the way home.
The plaza I needed to visit is within a stone's throw of several well-known burger joints, a pizzeria and a national coffee chain. Every single one of those brightly lit, highly appealing mainstream fast food service centres was competing for my attention. Now, in a past life, there would have been no competition between the fast food and the health food store; the pizza joint would have won out. Why? Because it's easier to grab a large tray of pizza and wings through a call-ahead take out order, have it plated and on the table within 35 minutes of leaving work and be done within the first hour I get home. Easy peasy, no cleanup and if I got a veggie Pizza, it was healthy, right?
Wrong. But how was I supposed to know? I was still plugged into The Matrix. Processed food was acceptable. In fact, it's even healthier! Just look at the Mold Zapper. It now keeps bread fresh for two months without refridgeration. How great is that! Totally healthier than home made bread! The ads said so!
And therein, on that street of brightly lit neon signs beckoning me into a lactose intolerance hell of double patty with four-kinds of cheese unhappiness was my epiphany: My life was made more complicated and expensive by my attempt to be more time efficient by eating processed foods, the very foods designed to be easier and less expensive.
Back to present tense, here I am tonight with two bowls of beans soaking in water overnight so they are softened up tomorrow to make a meatless dish. Additionally, I have a fridge stocked with homemade almond milk, veggies cut up for my lunch tomorrow, a sack of sweet potatoes under the counter waiting to be turned into a soup and plans for a weekend veggie lasagna on the back of my mind. And it's only Wednesday.Why? Because in going vegan, there isn't a place to just stop on the way home that offers fresh, not-processed foods of a healthy nature. To be healthy I need to be proactive. To be financially efficient and smart, I need to be proactive. To be vegan, or at least vegetarian as I have become, I need to be proactive.
By being proactive about meals, and giving up convenient fast foods, I am efficient while saving money. And I haven't done without a single day since my transition started.
FG
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