My Pathetic Grocery Cart

Since Rick has not been able to tie on a feedbag, my grocery cart is pathetic. Small. Pitiful. Near empty. Today, I didn't even have to put a thing in the main section, relying on the kiddie seat to hold all of my purchases.  It occurred to me when I got  home, that if a person were to just write down the portions required per week, per person, and bought accordingly, counting calories wouldn't be necessary.  You could just eat your share of everything in the house, and not go back to the store until your next scheduled shopping day!  Hmmmm....something to think about.

Today, I bought

1. a bagged salad for two 
2. three individual servings of yogurt
3. two tomatoes
4. two bananas
5. two sausage coils - 10 servings in total (90 calories each)
6. small piece of old cheddar - that ought to be good for a couple weeks at least
7. six  pack of individual Taster's Choice...brewed coffee is not a good thing for one person. Too much fuss and waste.
8. frozen mixed veggies
9. frozen peas
10. one large white onion
11. 12 pack of Fresca

With everything I have in the pantry, this should be good for at least a week.

Yesterday, I went to the food section of Wal-mart, and bought sandwich meat in a perfect pack for one. There was enough ham, salami and pepperoni to do two sandwiches and add to my frozen gluten free cheese pizza during the coming week. A quick stop at Gimli Fish for a pound of pickerel, provided one meal that night, and one to cook this coming week. Rick tolerates fish well, and I love it, so fish will be more frequently seen on our table in the coming weeks, until he is able to tolerate the smell and texture of  dryer meats, such as pork, beef, and chicken.

Buying just what you need is an interesting concept. I could never go "European" and shop every day...it would be easy if there were corner shops rather than supermarkets, I am sure, but fighting the crowds to buy meat for supper isn't something I look forward to! Once a week at the store is more than enough for me! I have always kept a well stocked pantry. The only time we 'ate it down' was during a period of unemployment that lasted a year and a half. I still have rather an extensive stock of frozen hamburger, chicken, pork tenderloins, canned tuna and salmon, beans, corn, tomatoes, pickles, pasta, chicken stock, green beans and V8 juice, but I am letting it slide. (Just think of all that shelf space I will have for my extra dishes!)  Now that Rick is not consuming a lot of food, it really is quite pointless to keep it up.  The bonus is that shopping is not an ordeal anymore. I no longer check prices, or try to figure out the best size to buy. I shamelessly shop at Safeway, buy the smallest size available, and rather enjoy the whole process. More than once I have added a bunch of flowers to the cart, counting it as produce!

My Mission for the Day

Is to completely clear out our refrigerator. We have not been consuming the food we have been buying, so there is a lot of old produce lurking in the bins. Out they go, and shopping will be done tomorrow to replace the bare necessities.  Nothing is more pointless  than eating old lettuce!

On the organizing front, I purchased four "FRIG BINZ" from Costco a while back, and are they ever good. There were two sizes in the package - shown above as the top and middle- one is perfect for Rick's puddings, and one is perfect for 2 1/2 dozen eggs. (Speaking of which, I have lost my taste for eggs. Really find them nauseating now. I think it is because we have only had them poached for the last two months. ICK.) The other two vary in their uses according to need. I also found some professional quality storage containers that are great for containing salad fixings. All I have to do is pull out the container and mix away. So, with all of them empty, I guess it is time to go shopping!

My grocery list is fairly simple these days. Milk. Butter. Bag of salad or head of lettuce. Couple of tomatoes and some spring onions. Apples. Oranges. Grapes. Bananas. Nature's fast foods!  Of course, chips and chocolate bars, the ultimate meal replacement items. No smell, no clean up...the perfect foods for caregivers!  My pantry is full though, from more active kitchen days. The supply of nuts, gluten free pastas, tinned fish, etc. is good for another flood. I do run out of coffee every couple of months, so I was thinking of buying some instant until the man is back on coffee detail.

Amazingly enough, my weight has dropped, so all that hype about junk food being fattening? I DON'T THINK SO!   It is just boring, easy, and to tell you the truth? Not all that appetizing. When the joy goes out of eating, it is not a pleasant thing.  But, there is a silver lining. My frig will be shining and contain nothing but an echo at the end of a busy afternoon!

Perch ALMOST Meunière

I discovered a little while ago, that you can use cornstarch to dredge things in before frying them in butter. It actually gives a crispier crust with much less effort, truth be told. Today, I bought a few fillets of perch from Gimli Fish Market, and wow. Was it ever good. Simple to do, and sooooo flavourful when prepared so simply.

I baked a fillet with full fat cream and tiny sweet peas and onions for the hubby. He ate the whole thing. Took him two sittings, but he did it.  This was the first meal he has had in months, and the beginning of some serious healing!  It didn't taste great to him, but he was able to 'choke it down'....some compliment to the chef, right?

At last!

Some semblance of food for the man!  I cooked a little bit of gluten free pasta - little tiny rings. They slid down really well!  As for flavours?  I tried sugar and cinnamon, cream and parm cheese plus I added an egg to a 1/4 cup of the pasta and scrambled them together. This was the closest he has come to eating in weeks. He managed to put away the egg and pasta, plus the pasta with sugar and cinnamon. Of course, all of the pasta was drowned in butter. What a difference it makes to try to add calories, rather than reduce them!

Almost two months...

later.  Rick is through his chemo and radiation, but he isn't able to eat. Not a mechanical problem as such, but the tastebuds and saliva glands took a kicking. He is existing on protein shakes, eggs, cream, tofu pudding  and home made tapioca pudding. Tiny amounts at that.  As you might know, this man was made to consume food with gusto, and this is killin' him! 

On the other hand, the effects of the chemo are subsiding and the burns are on their way to healing. He can not stand the smell of food, so you can imagine that it is just a tad difficult to live in the same house and eat. So I don't.  His sense of smell is very keen these days, and even going out to a grocery store is out of the question.  It is a hard time of life. Possibly harder than the plane crash, or the double knee replacement. At least then he could still take comfort from chocolate!  He is losing a lot of weight quickly, and we will have to go on a shopping spree as soon as he is able. There has to be a silver lining, right?