Those that knew me well at home may remember that I turned into quite a health food nut the last few years. Well, “health food nut” makes it sound a little more trendy than it was. More accurately, I became a bit of a fresh, whole, organic food nut. I almost never froze anything, instead I shopped every couple days, at whole foods on my way home from work. I had a weekly supply of fresh organic produce delivered to our door from a local farm coop, including all kinds of dark, leafy greens. And I rarely, rarely, rarely used anything canned or boxed. I cannot exaggerate how much that has changed now and how hard of an adjustment it has been for me.
So, now I have to fess up to all the things that we have on board that I wouldn’t have gotten within 10 feet of back home. These are in order of when I relented and started accepting them: powdered milk, Bimbo white bread (think wonder bread with even more preservatives), canola oil, canned fruit of all sorts, iceberg lettuce, canned veggies of all sorts, margarine, canned meat (chicken and beef), and bagged bacon.
I started using powdered milk almost right away for baking and in my coffee. I’ve only stooped to using margarine once or twice when I couldn’t find real butter. I started using canned chicken only just recently in soups and casseroles. I haven’t actually used canned beef or bagged bacon yet, but we have it on board and I’m sure they will find a place in some recipe at some point. The iceberg lettuce has kind of a funny story… when we went shopping with Lady Carolina when we first arrived at BLA village, they picked up a head of iceberg lettuce, and I totally turned up my nose at it and made fun of them for it. A few nights later Carolina brought over a salad and we could all not get enough of it. I couldn’t believe how much I missed salad, even one made of ice berg lettuce! So, after that I have started picking up a head of it every now and then and I have to humble myself before Carolina each time.
Gresham Family Exodus 