M. Suzanne Terry

Today is the final day of my 31 days without fast food.  A little recap for you of things I’ve learned:

– Fast food was more a part of my routine than I thought it was.  This was harder than I thought it was going to be.

– Food is my boyfriend.  I am emotionally attached, in both good and bad ways.  Food is how I express affection and connection, but it is also the thing I associate with shame, guilt, and avoidance.  So, maybe food is a bad boyfriend.  Maybe food should just be food.

– Soft poached egg on potato chips is a nice occasional treat, but should not be one’s go-to breakfast.

– Good time management means never having to go without coffee.

– Meal planning only works if you actually do it.

– You don’t have to spend a lot of money to eat well, but you will probably have to spend more than you’re used to spending.

– Guests are just as happy with a one-pot meal that took me less than an hour to make as they are with an elaborate, themed party.

– Supper Club!  I’M SO EXCITED!!!

– My food choices are connected to larger issues and problems, and they can also be part of the solution to those problems.

But the most important thing I learned this month – the thing that I need to remember the most – is to extend grace.

I need to extend grace to others.  Grace to others who don’t make the choices that I think are important.  Grace to listen to them when they feel the need to justify those choices.  Grace to really listen – not to just wait until they stop talking so that I can tell them why they’re wrong.  Grace to accept that my disagreement doesn’t automatically make them wrong.

I also need to extend grace to myself, which is sometimes harder than extending grace to others.  Grace to enjoy the occasional bowl of eggs with potato chips without feeling the need to justify it.  Grace to accept where I am now, even if I don’t plan on staying there.  Grace to appreciate my body and what it does for me.

And yes – grace to occasionally indulge in Whataburger.  Just giving myself permission to do so reminds me that I have a choice, and going a month without it taught me that it’s not a choice I want to make very often.  Inherent in the grace to indulge is the freedom not to.

I went 31 days without fast food!

I have people over a lot.  I feed someone at least once a week (I’m an introvert – that’s a lot for me).  It’s not always the same people, but it’s fun, and it’s one of my favorite things to do.

But I don’t always want to make it a big deal.  When it’s people who haven’t been over in a month or so, the excitement and the planning seem to spin out of control.  What was originally a hot dog and beer night becomes a hot dog and beer and I’ve-been-into-Tom-Collins-lately and vegan beanie weenie and sauerkraut and four kinds of bread night.  Then I don’t do it again for a month, because while fun, that’s exhausting.

I have wanted to have a regular time for a small, regular group of people to come over for a while.  I have also wanted a writing/reading group for a while.  Earlier this month, I got the idea to combine the two desires into one – and the seed for Supper Club was planted.

I had a certain couple in mind.  He writes – and pretty seriously (last time I checked, he was looking for an agent).  I’m not sure if she writes, but she has thoughtful insights (and also, I just really like her).  They also suggested another mutual friend who has diverse reading interests and seems very enthusiastic about the group.

So on November 10, the four of us are going to have the first Supper Club at my house.  I want it to be a weekly thing eventually, but we’re starting out with every other week.  It will be potluck.

I’m going to make lasagna, and they can bring whatever they want to go with it.

I will try to limit myself to two lasagnas – one meat, one veggie.

I’m not sure what we’ll discuss.  I don’t want it to be a book club, where we all read the same thing, because that’s more work than I want it to be.  I mostly just want to hang out with them and support one another in our creative endeavors, whatever those endeavors might be.  Perhaps that’s what we’ll discuss.

Depending on how it goes, we might be inviting more people to join, but I don’t want it to get too big.  I’m excited to see where this goes.

Themes, Observations, and Lessons:

– My house is never cleaner than when I’m expecting company.  Here’s hoping that this is motivation to keep my house more organized.  Here’s hoping that this will not be a drudgery.

– I’m so excited!!!

I’m going 31 days without fast food.

I do this every month.  I do one big grocery trip, so that I can just make little trips throughout the rest of the month.  And then I freak out about how much the big grocery trip costs.

It cost a little more than it usually does.  I spend a little under $250.  That’s about average for the months when I actually cook at home and have people over once or twice a week.  It’s $150 under my grocery budget (which includes money for coffee and wine, which the majority of that remaining $150 will go to).

I know that it’s okay.  I know that it fits into my budget.  I know that the locally sourced, organic meat, dairy, and vegetables are good choices.  I know that buying this food means that I am more likely not to eat fast food, and that definitely saves me money in the long run.  I know that this is better for me.  I know all of this in my head.

But *hyperventilates a little*

I am thankful.  There was a time when I couldn’t spend $250 (much less $400) on groceries every month, because I couldn’t afford it.  Good food doesn’t help you if you have to give up electricity or rent to buy it.

I want everyone to be able to afford to eat like this.  I mean, I like ramen noodles as much as the next person (okay, maybe a little more), but it’s nice to be able to have options.

As I type this, the house smells like caponata.  It’s almost ready.  Just a little while longer.

And it’s starting to rain.  ❤

Despite the mild freak out and going to the grocery store on a Saturday (ugh…the worst!), this has been an excellent day.

Themes, Observations, and Lessons:

– I’m gonna need payday to fall earlier in the week.  This shopping on the weekend nonsense is, well, nonsense.

– Caponata is definitely making an appearance at a Supper Club night.

– So happy and thankful tonight.

I’m going 31 days without fast food.

I don’t like letting things go to waste.  I am that person who cuts up old t-shirts to make a rug or a grocery bag or a quilt or something.  I have an entire blanket made just from yarn scraps.  If I buy canned goods, I buy them in jars that I can wash and reuse for storing leftover soup or sending someone a care package of leftovers or coffee (or, last December, hot chocolate) to take home.  I am big on recycling.

The thing I hate wasting the most?  Food.

This is the main reason I was dreading cleaning out the fridge.  I knew that there were things in there that were past their edible date.  In fact, there was a whole grocery bag full of things.  I dumped the buckets of rotten food into the bag and took it to the dumpster.

Then I cried.  I’m even getting a little teary writing about it.

A few years ago, I chaperoned a group of student leaders on their spring break trip to Memphis where we worked at a food bank.  Most of the week was spent sorting cans and stocking shelves.  It was hard work (omg, so much work), but it was rewarding.  The hardest part of the week – for all of us, I think – was the afternoon when they showed us how much food was donated that they had to throw away. There were two truckloads, and I’m not using hyperbole there.  Two truckloads on one afternoon.

So much food goes to waste in this country.  We produce more than we can ever consume, and we consume a lot.  We also have people going hungry, because we haven’t figured out how to get it to them before it rots.  Or we’re so concerned that they can pay for it – that they have a job and are contributing financially to society – that they’ve earned the right for their families not to go hungry.  I don’t want to assume that the general consensus in this country is that we would rather have food go to waste and end up in a landfill than to give it to someone who didn’t or couldn’t pay for it, but our behavior sure makes it look like that’s true.

I haven’t worked fast food in about twenty years, and even then, I only did so for a couple of months.  That was all it took, however, to know how much food gets thrown away there, and that was under the guidance of a careful manager. I can only imagine how much worse it would be under the management of someone who didn’t care.

I want to stop being a part of this problem.  I NEED to stop being a part of this problem.

Themes, Observations, and Lessons:

– My dollar is my vote.  Every time I spend money at a place that, as a result of its business structure, policies, codes, etc., inevitably wastes large amounts of food, I am rewarding that behavior, and I am a part of the problem.

– This ^ is an exhausting truth.  Where the hell can I eat?

– One thing I can do is make sure that none of the food at home goes to waste.  So my cooking schedule for November just got spread out:

10/26 – Caponata, several batches of beans that I can freeze, Kale/chicken egg rolls

11/2 – Enchiladas, chicken and dumplings, pizza puffs (snack for the following Tuesday’s book club)

11/9 – chickpea curry, roast

11/10 – lasagna(s) for Supper Club

11/16 – green bean casserole, something delicious with pasta, baked potatoes

11/23 – black bean chili

11/24 – Lazy Sunday casserole for Supper club

And Thanksgiving will be at Mom and Dad’s, so that should cover meals and leftovers for the month with (hopefully) no waste.

I’m going 31 days (and hopefully much longer) without fast food.