You know what’s fun about eating healthy? DO you?
...not very stinking much.
For one thing, it’s completely blown my grocery budget. I used to be able to make my meal list, estimate how much all the ingredients would cost, and be right on or under that number at the register. I could always count on spending less than a dollar for Mac and cheese, five bucks for two gallons of milk, and I knew when meat or cheese were going to be on sale.
Now, I have to try to guess the cost per pound of weird stuff like apples, Brussels sprouts, or green beans. Also, how many crowns of broccoli will I need, and why can’t more than four fit nicely into those flimsy little bags? Apparently those scales in the produce section aren’t just for kids to try to weigh their elbows on...? Why does a bag of lettuce cost 3x more than a head of lettuce?
A half gallon of rice milk costs the same as two gallons of milk...but it lasts the same amount of time because nobody drinks it.
I spend a lot of time checking labels, only to discover that the shorter the list of ingredients is, the more it’s going to cost. The less processed an item is, the more expensive it will be. If I’ve estimated that I’ll spend $330, I now find that I end up paying more like $350-$400.
And that’s just the issues before I even get it all home.
That $15 bottle of extra virgin olive oil runs out fast when every recipe calls for it. And then nobody wants to eat the barley, lentils, or quinoa because they hate me- I mean, because it’s a weird texture. That bag of grapefruit looks so nice arranged in a basket...until two weeks later when they’re all still there and going moldy. The organic, low sodium trail mix everyone loved a month ago sits sadly in the back of the cabinet because all of the sudden everyone doesn’t like almonds. One day they love basil, the next it’s “weird”. One day Greek yogurt is amazing, the next nobody will touch it.
Do you have any idea how many healthy meals use chicken? At this point, I’m pretty sure I never want to see chicken again...I’m tired of eating the dead ones, and the live ones attack me and dig up my garden.
The worst part though? I’ve stopped eating sweets, soda, most carbs, pork, and I have one lonely little cup of coffee a day, plus I walk and garden and ride my exercise bike and chase kids and chickens around...I’ve lost six pounds. My husband? He still goes out for lunch once a week, hasn’t added any exercise, and he’s dropped 45 pounds.
I could cry into my leftover Mediterranean quinoa and chicken salad (that I’m going to have to eat for breakfast and lunch for three more days or it will go to waste).
