winter deliciousness

i was used to go shopping four or five times a week, i'd always buy exactly what i needed, then i went home and i prepared my meal. i almost never bought convenience food, i bought my ingredients and did the cooking at home. i hardly ever had leftovers, and i did not throw away much of my food either. i figured i was making really good economic sense this way.

it never really occured to me that i was actually spending a lot of money that way too - untill i was getting interested in organic food and local produce last summer. i always thought that this is something a single person just has to deal with. i have no room for storage, i have no freezer, i can not buy cheaper family sized packages. i just have to go with the smaller packages and spend a little more money. well, that little more obviousely piles up over the days, weeks and months! but really, insted of buing single portions for my dinner, i could have easily spent money to buy quality food instead of the quick fix.

and while i always had a good example for an economical lifestyle in my mother and grandmother, i am really living a rather urban single lifestyle that is not always combinable with stockkeeping and accurate planning.

with my attention towards organic food it suddenly became very clear to me that i was actually wasting my money because all this short-term planning was more convenient. i'd always make an excuse for the easy, single & urban way out (remember? i am a cheater!).

leaning towards a more organic and more balanced diet did not exactly make me a nutrition expert, but now i spend much more time thinking about what i eat, where i buy my food and - yes, now i plan ahead! because i would never want my farm box deliciousness to go bad - well, it happened a few times, sure. but i am getting better at the whole planning. this does not really require a lot of effort but the results are very surprinsing, acutally!

i was looking through my finances the other day (i am a very accurate person when it comes to my records) i noticed something really interesting. i always figured that i just shifted my budget from expensive single portions to expensive organic food. but i was wrong! it just so happened that i now spend only about 75% of the money i spent on food before. how did that happen?!? i buy all that expensive organic stuff now, i go to local markets, i go to organic supermarkets, i buy a lot of treats (like a pack of oreos every now and then, and they are actually quite expensive here in austria and you can only get them on like ONE supermarket in town), so how on earth could my expenses drop?

it must be all the planning! i think i am really a far-seeing person now, just like my mum is and my grandma used to be! i took some getting used to, but now i think i am finally there! it might only be a little thing, but ... i am actually really proud of myself. pad me on the shoulder please!

(well, you don't have to. i did it myself already)

see that, i am rambling again :) i always do that when i talk about stuff i care about. i acutally wanted to show you my delicous winter salad! it contains things from this weeks and last weeks farm box, and everything's still crunchy and fresh and nothing is rotten (so far) ...

• lettuce
  
• radicchio (soak in warm water for a while to remove the bitterness)
  
• carrots (different colours again!)
  
• a tomato (i only started eating tomatos last summer, now i even add them to my salad)
  
• an apple
• feta cheese
  
• balsamico vinegar
  
• pumpkin seed oil
  
• salt
  
• pepper
  
• parsley