Something Deeply Human

September 17, 2024

Beloved:

          One Monday a month I cook almost all day.  Meal prepping is the trendy word for it.  But mostly, it’s because for the life of me I cannot figure out how to cook for just one person.  The few years I cooked for two are now a distant memory.  The nearly two decades I cooked for five are what’s embedded in my brain now.  When the kids were growing and eating like horses, I was at the grocery store every other day and cooked supper every night.  What leftovers were left weren’t left long.  When two of my kids swam competitively, they ate supper twice a day, drank six gallons of milk a week, and leftovers were not a thing. 
          First of all, it’s hard to shop for one, to buy just one chicken breast, two parsnips and three carrots, as my recipes yesterday required.  I could do it, I suppose, if I wanted to shop the butcher’s case and a produce stand.  And sell some plasma on the way in order to fund such high end fare.  The beef stew I made called for a three pound roast.  I could cut it down to a single serving - but I’m not sure even the butcher shop is going to sell me a six-ounce cut of chuck roast.  So I made the whole recipe for about $30, or $5 a serving, and froze all but the one I’ll eat for lunch today.  Far richer food than I could buy anywhere else for $5. 
          Prideful, I’ll admit, is how I feel to see my little freezer stacked with containers of homemade food.  But also, deeply grateful.  Grateful too, for the food, the freezer, the farmer and the grocer.  For the truck drivers and logisticians who move all this food from field to store.  Grateful especially for the congregation who employs me and maintains just working conditions, so I have both the money and the time required to take good care of myself. 
 I haven’t checked but I wonder if any of the meal prep content creators on social media have noted that that whole idea rests in privilege:  in having the money to buy, the time to prepare and the space to store batches of meals?  I’d bet my favorite pen no single parent working two minimum wage jobs to pay rent and feed her kids spends $150 and an entire day meal prepping.  ($150 wouldn’t buy much for a family with kids when eggs are $3.42 a dozen!*) 
​          All of which is to say, I’ve tried to dial back on the pridefulness, trade it for another dose of humility in recognition of the privilege I did not earn so much as inherit and with which I must sit lightly, and responsibly.  First of all, by not wasting food.  Also, sharing it whenever I get the chance.  I can also eat less - three meals daily is not a world-wide phenomenon, nor is meat at every meal.  At any meal with meat, I am trying to pile on the green stuff.  The cheaper green stuff, which is not my favorite but I’m working on it.  I’ll eat the beef stew poured over spinach.  The recipe below includes something I can’t believe I just discovered:  stirring tahini** and balsamic vinegar together to drizzle over cooked green beans.  Honestly I think I might eat corn cobs if they were doused in this concoction.  As well, stirring tahini gives your arm muscles a workout, so there is that. 
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​           I tripled the amount of green beans.  Next time I’ll add mushrooms too.  Tofu would work in place of chicken.  It’s really, really good, and not wildly expensive.  Rice would stretch it even more. 
          Eating is so fundamental to existence and yet we are easily convinced it is a chore to be done with as quickly as possible.  Even if you don’t spend hours at a time making ready, I pray some part of your day contains time and space to be grateful for how fortunate you are, for food to eat and people with whom to eat it.  Hardly anything else is so deeply human.
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~ peace and prayers,
pastor annette
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*A quick internet comparison of Kroger, Walmart and Aldi’s showed Walmart's best price, non-organic, certainly not cage free, eggs at $3.42, compared to $3.77 at Aldi’s and $3.79 at Kroger.  From there prices jump to over $4 all the way to $8 a dozen for some organic, cage free eggs.  The average price a year ago was $2.80.  Something like a 35% increase just to the lowest local.  It’s like my mortgage going up $528 in one year.  I’d have to cash out my retirement, or move.
**Tahini is roasted sesame seeds, oil and salt - emulsified like peanut butter, only much stiffer.