Another reason to like summer

[mousme]

Fresh veggies are just about the best thing about summer. Maybe the fresh fruit and berries beat the veggies, but not by much.

I have become a rabbit of late. I've been eating almost nothing but veggies, mostly raw. My gazpacho was a success, I might add, despite the absence of fresh dill. I am a little out of sorts with my body, which has decided to *gain* weight on an almost exclusively-veggie diet (go figure), but the joy I am getting out of the fruits and veggies pretty much cancels out any minor vexation on my part.

I am currently experimenting with veggie smoothies. I have been having tofu and fruit smoothies for breakfast on and off for a few months now, and the results have been invariably delicious, so I decided to branch out into vegetables and see if I couldn't simplify my lunch prep. Right now I just blended a bunch of celery, spinach, a banana, carrot juice, and half a cup of (very yummy organic) vanilla yogurt. It's not bad, but I've shoved it in the freezer, testing out a theory that it will be delicious when properly chilled. I may make it with ice cubes next time. Then again, I may find a combination I like better.

My coworker printed out a bunch of veggie smoothie recipes yesterday, and I'm using those as a basis for my own experimentation. If nothing else, working with a weight-and-nutrition-obsessed girl has made me more aware of what I'm putting in my mouth. I was a little dismayed at *just* how bad Tim Horton's stuff is, especially the muffins and Timbits. It makes me a little sad, but I have decided that I'm not going to deprive myself if I really want something: I'll just stop making a habit of going every day and simply go for a treat, or if I go more regularly, I'll just stick to a coffee, which is my main reason for going anyway. It'll cost less in the long run, anyway.

Whatever benighted person said that it was cheap to eat well on a regular basis was sadly deluded, I must say. Sure, if you're eating nothing but canned and dry food, then it's cheap. The minute you get into fresh produce the prices skyrocket. I honestly don't know how people with reduced incomes manage. Even when I was earning my lowest salary, which wasn't minimum wage, I found it hard to both pay my bills and eat healthy and fresh things.

Ah well. At least now I can buy a $3 bottle of carrot juice and not worry how the hell I'm going to pay rent. It's been nearly a year since I've been financially solvent, and I'm still not used to the feeling. I still boggle every time I see money in my bank account at the end of the month. It's not a ton of money, but it's not a negative amount, which is something in and of itself.

Comments

[ai731.livejournal.com]

When I was living on a very healthy, everything home cooked, big batches at once student diet in the USA for a year and a half, I couldn't afford to buy fruit. Ever. rosy1 is absolutely right that if you know where to shop, you can get good fresh produce cheaply. Except it means going 'round to a half-dozen stores which is expensive in either time or gas. Also, I worry about how many 'food miles' the cheap veg has.

I make casserole-style bulk lunches that come out to 1.50-2.00 per portion. Cheaper than, or at least the same price as, just about anything you could buy ready-made or in a can/box. BUT they don't have much veg in them. Taras can't eat it... They have a lot of beans, and rice, and potatoes, and pasta, and tomato sauce, and tofu. But no peppers or celery or carrots...

[mousme.livejournal.com]

"Food miles" are a concern for me too. I don't really have the leisure time (or the gas money) to run around looking for the cheapest produce available. I'd rather go to Atwater Market and pay a little extra (since I can afford it these days) for something I know is grown locally.