When I moved into my first house in my second year of university, I remember that my limited cooking skills dictated that I ate mostly canned and microwavable food. My typical shopping cart would contain a loaf of bread, processed cheese slices, a box of chicken nuggets, pizza pockets, hot dogs, and hamburgers. There would also be a couple of bottles of pop for good measure. When I couldn't even be bothered to fry a hamburger, I would simply cook some rice and unceremoniously dump a can of sardines on top of it.
My roommate Marcos could often be found making coffee in a French press while I munched on my sloth-induced concoctions. In that house, it was the perfect convergence of class and ass.
4 years later, while I still do enjoy the foods of my 20-year-old self on occasion, I can't imagine reverting back to eating hamburgers every day for weeks on end. Today, my typical shopping cart usually contains an assortment of pasta, fruits, vegetables and items from all four food groups. Chips are a rarity and pop has been replaced with soda water and fruit juices. Never in my life did I anticipate the moment when I found myself standing at the fish counter at the New City Supermarket in Kitchener asking for fresh tilapia.
An aside: to all of you who dislike fish, try tilapia. It's crisp, clean, and doesn't taste like most other fish. I've heard halibut described in similar terms, but it is ridiculously expensive at $15-20 a pound, whereas tilapia is only about $3 a pound. If you're interested in trying it sometime and live around Waterloo, let me know and I'll invite you over for dinner so you can try some.
So, what has brought about these changes in my shopping cart? Well, this past summer I had to avoid filling myself with junk, because I could not reasonably expect my body to cycle 150+ km a day after eating an entire bag of chips for dinner the night before. I became much more conscious of my health and at one point, I was actually counting calories to ensure that I was getting the nutrients I needed. But besides that, many of the changes have also been motivated by my relationship with Jenny, but more on that in the next post.
What's in your shopping cart?
Comments (7)
This seems eerily timely in my life since i recently started eating ALOT more healthy in the past few months.
This morning when I went shopping I had the following items - El Peto bread (gluten/wheat/sugar free) El Peto muffin and waffle mix, Edamame, Dried Cranberries, Soy nuts, Tuna, organic chicken, lentils, ground turkey, cannelini beans (very filling btw and easy to put into anything) muesli and stevia, which is a natural sugar replacement.Also, I purchase the frozen juices and usually add another litre of water since I find it is too sugary with the amount of water recommended. Also oats, which you can make a simple fruit cobbler recipe out of using oats, brown sugar, butter, and some flour.
The only downside - it was so much cheaper to eat shite!
Posted by Janice | October 28, 2006 12:51 PM
Posted on October 28, 2006 12:51
sevaral bags of pasta, potatos, green bell peppers, almonds, large bag of oat meal, 1 case of apple juice, two bags of assorted vegitables, ground beef, large ham, bacon, 2 loafs of bread, apples, oranges, coffee beans, coffee filters, 2 bags of chips.
i love chips. they are the reason i go shopping.
Posted by jim | October 28, 2006 7:35 PM
Posted on October 28, 2006 19:35
Normally, it's TV dinners for lunches, soups, pastas, yogurts, cereal, nutri-grain bars and loads of fruit juice with some canned fruit thrown in. While you're right - my eating habits are a far cry better than they were back in University, I find I eat out a *lot* more now. There doesn't ever seem to be time to cook good things. Oh, and thanks for the recommendation re: tilapia. I'll suggest it to Suz. I really don't care much for fish, but I'm supposed to be eating it. Bane of my existence.
Posted by martin | October 30, 2006 8:58 AM
Posted on October 30, 2006 08:58
A lot better stuff than before. I used to eat crap food, and now I've realized I can't keep that up forever. I just went shopping for the basics at the grocery store, and I found myself reading every label and vetoing things that were unhealthy at all. I'm making an effort to buy fresh stuff on a regular basis at the St. Lawrence Market since it's so near my work - they have purple cauliflower and really cheap mussels, mmm! I think my problem before is that I didn't go grocery shopping often enough, so I'd buy a bunch of non-perishable crap.
Posted by Carly | October 30, 2006 11:17 AM
Posted on October 30, 2006 11:17
Pizza pockets. Vegetables. Some fruit. Cheese. KD. Cereal.
Posted by Ashley | November 1, 2006 1:38 PM
Posted on November 1, 2006 13:38
The cart varies greatly on sales. I'm a discount fiend.
Bread, balderson medium cheddar, tilapia, outside round roast, fryer chicken, bunches of bananas, carrots and broccoli, red potatoes, a box of SuperPretzels and Del Monte frozen fruit bars, frozen spinach,Superior brand soy sauce, and my new favourite: Hung Wang Noodles.
We've been buying a lot of tilapia lately too. I'm picky about fish but the price is right and it cooks up so nicely.
Posted by sra | November 2, 2006 11:14 AM
Posted on November 2, 2006 11:14
I'll have to try tilapia. I love fish and I'm always looking for yummy kinds that don't cost an arm and a leg. The seafood counters at the market are so fun, yet so painful to the pocket, to look at.
The Balderson store is about 15 minutes from my parents' house, although my dad says they don't make the cheese there anymore. It's a wonderful place. Free samples!
Posted by Carly | November 2, 2006 4:42 PM
Posted on November 2, 2006 16:42