Sunday's Plate

Saving money on food means the kind of commitment that goes further than a haphazard, half hearted attempt at the domestic chore of feeding self and family. It's all part of the family package. Sadly, it's a package many women who consider themselves "modern" avoid because somehow the grocery store is equated with a kind of slavery that is right up there with the stove, pots and pans, and knowing what to do with said items. Most stoves, after all, come with chains and a whip ;-}

We all know that eating is something we can't avoid, and when "take out" is available, the big modern mouthful is why not take advantage of it?

I was one of those kids who grew up in the modern period known as "cooking is the slave trade." My mother would invariable drag out something to be cooked that had a strong odor, and that was enough to have my father flee from the house dragging us all with him to one of his favorite haunts. It didn't take my mother long to work out a plan for five or six nights out a week. I think I lived in restaurants all dressed up in a party dress and falling asleep in my dessert. In all my mother's ninety-one years, she never ate a fast food meal - for her it was the real McCoy - it was my father's duty to provide and to do it well. My father, on the other hand, drank most of his dinners. After fourteen rounds of cocktails, we would finally get dinner about eight-thirty and be home just in time for bed about 10:00 on a school night. No homework done, of course - but this was my mother's response to the "no commitment" of cooking, and Mother came first, second, third, fourth, and fifth in a family of four. I'm supposing that her example was the reason I think restaurants are a treat on a special occasion.

The problem with take out and restaurant life is that it is simply not intended to be a steady diet. Restaurant food is not high grade food. The best restaurants in town buy the cheapest food they can- duh. The art of putting cheap food together has become a salable industry. But the art quickly ricochets back to a craft when you count the calories, the fat, and the dietary nutrition. One morning's MacDonald's is three days worth of fat and a day's worth of calories and the nutrition of not even half a meal.

Walt Norton, a doctor who lived behind us once told me, "There is so much self indulgence in fast food these days, that kids are coming to me with the arteries of eighty year old people - clogged to eighty percent."

Over the years, I've heard just about every excuse for not cooking. My favorite has always been: "Fast food is cheaper than real groceries."

So let's look at the budget and decide which is really cheaper. We know which is better for you. If you're budget is $100.00 for food a week for a family of four, you are spending less than $15.00 a day on groceries. If you eat three meals at home every day, you are spending $5.00 per meal. You can't take a family of four to a fast food restaurant for under $15.00, so fast is not cheaper than staying home. Sure a quick stop at a drive in is more convenient, and there is a whole lot less work involved, but trade more sick days, more trips to the doctor, and a lot more lethargy, cavities, trips to the dentist, and the trade is still in favor of eating at home.

$100.00 is about right for four. If you spend $25.00 for baking supplies, $25.00 for meat, that leaves $50.00 for fruits, vegetables, and dairy. Cleaning and paper products are not food.

Now, specifically, one of the things that really burdens the grocery list is drinks. Drinks are the thing that puts on more pounds than any other grocery item. Children drink much faster than they eat, and many children find drinking easier than eating. One trick many children pull is to ask for three and four cups of milk and eat nothing. We call it milk-belly.

Few children clamor for water, and that's a shame because water will refresh and replenish the body faster and better than any other drink and it's not something you need to bring home from the store.

As another factor, look at the waste of store bought; it's obvious. Most children will pour six ounces of apple juice into a cup and leave three of them on the counter. Milk is poured at dinner, and when milk belly is not involved, cup after cup of milk is poured down the drain. It's no wonder that parents cave offering soda. Children will drink soda, but leave dinner on the table because the sweetness and lightness of the soda makes dinner taste bitter, sour, and heavy. Try it yourself. Take a big swig of soda and then eat some cooked broccoli.

According to a kidney surgeon I know, soda and the salt in it is a leading contributing factor of kidney disease. It takes four tablespoons of salt to make a soda. Four tablespoons is three too many for a whole day's worth of eating and drinking.

Consider what is in your grocery cart when it comes to drinks. Add it up and then ask if this is really how you want to spend your money. The saddest thing about buying drinks is that they are so expensive and they are taken for granted. Children who get a few ounces of juice a couple of times a day will enjoy it much more than the child who pours endless cups and leaves most of them around the house.

And while we are on the endless cups of this and that, have you ever considered what a disease carrier a sippy cup is? A sippy cup has a child's spit and mucus in it, on it, around it, and through it which dries, festers in the sugary heaven the germs are finding, and every sip is "re-upped" every time the child finds it. No wonder there are thousands of ear infections, sore throats, and general infections around. Do children really need drinks in the car? Are they going to be dehydrated in an hour's shopping or at church? Should children be entertained by food and drink when they are out or is out entertaining enough?

And last but not least today, let's talk about the egregious dry drink mixes that encourage diabetes better than genetics. Need I say more? The very idea of making a kool-aid is tantamount to inviting diabetes to take up with your child. It's sugar water and will dissolve more than teeth. Why does everything need to be sweet? When children drink kool-aid or the equivalent, the body gets high on sugar and then continues to look for that high powered sugar fix. Children who drink a lot of dry powder mixes can't drink orange juice because to them real fruit juice is "sour." That says something about the sugar fix.

So what do you buy? A family of four probably needs three gallons of milk and a gallon of juice. That should do it. And that shouldn't cost more than $15.00. But that doesn't mean every time someone is bored they grope the fridge for something to swallow. Between meals, water will do.

Shopping wisely takes taking command of your menus, your grocery cart and your life, and saying no to the obvious junk that not only is not good for you but horrible for your health. Reducing the amount of soft and sugar drinks, and increasing the amount of water will not only reduce the grocery list, it will reduce the waistline.

Next time: buying meat.