I should cook brussel sprouts

Last week, if you remember, I decided to experiment with noticing any shoulds in my life. Well, apparently shoulds are tricky things because they seem to have gone into hiding. I suspect that they suspected I might have an ulterior motive in noticing them. (Therein lies the trouble with sharing your mind with them.)

In truth, maybe I do want them to leave eventually. For now, however, they are safe. So, I will continue on with my experiment in noticing them.

But .. I still have my shoulds around cooking that I intended to write about last week.

The market that I shop at has a fantastic deli and prepared food section. Lovely quality. Lovely selection. Ideally, I'd always have a few items in the frig for quick meals during the week.

Oh, the voices in my head have a field day at this. "What! That's too expensive. You could buy twice as many brussel sprouts for the same amount of money and roast them yourself. That's what you should do. Goodness. You should be more frugal. You are going to be self-employed someday. You should be cooking. You should be cooking now. You should be perfecting beans and rice, missy. It doesn't matter if you're tired and exhausted after work. You should cook."

So what happens? I buy the brussel sprouts, they sit in my frig until they spoil, and then I throw them out. As an added bonus, every time I open the door and see them, I feel guilty that I'm not cooking. Meanwhile, my eating suffers, because I'm not cooking - and I have nothing on hand for quick meals.

By the way, I actually do enjoy cooking. But I don't enjoy it unless I have energy and time, neither of which are generally present after work or at lunch time or on most weekends. Which also brings up the should that says, "If you say you enjoy cooking, then you should be cooking."

When I look at all of this objectively, I realize that buying a few items every week doesn't really add much to my grocery bill. When I am listening to my hunger cues, it doesn't take a lot to fill me. When I buy something that I want to eat instead of listening to the voices that tell me what I should buy, my food doesn't go to waste. When there are good things in the frig, I can listen to my hunger cues. All in all, I am happier and healthier. Plus, when I have the time and energy and I do cook, I really enjoy it because the act isn't sullied by all these shoulds around it.

Now, if I could only remember this when I'm at the market.

Comments

[Julie M.]

I do the same thing! I guilt myself into buying something because I really *should* cook it and then it spoils.

You have my permission to always avoid brussel sprouts. :D Unless you have a fabulous secret to cooking them?

[Patty Waite]

OH, I can so relate to this one! I was just looking in my little pantry at all the lovely grains, beans, etc. that I buy in bulk with great intentions of cooking up big batches of them so they're all ready to go when I'm scrouging around in the fridge. And then my husband suggests getting take-out Mexican food from our favorite little restaurant. This happens several times a week and I can't resist - I mean, he's buying, I'm not cooking and not only that, I'll have left-overs for lunches for the next few days - hello!! Problem it's not nearly as healthy as the stuff in my pantry and therein comes the "should"! I guess it's all about balance.

[steph]

It sounds like this should of yours might be related to one of mine. :)

Good noticing!

[elizabeth @ the blue lotus]

@steph: maybe we can send them out to catch up and they'll forget about us. ;)

@Patty: I feel like I just read somewhere that if you eat something made with love, and something made without love, the one made with love will be better for you. Maybe that applies to your favorite little restaurant. (I have the grains in bulk too .. the only one that gets used quickly is the white rice - for when the pup's tummy is funny.)

@Julie: they are fabulous when roasted. But, they are also fabulous when roasted by New Seasons (the market). ;)

[Andrea]

i laughed out loud at this post as it is something that i am totally working on for myself! its a constant struggle between buying food to eat and buying food to feel guilty over as i eat a bag of chocolate instead.

[elizabeth @ the blue lotus]

@Andrea: It's good to know I'm not the only one. But wait .. you are eating the chocolate so it's food to eat too! ;)