Waste Line

People in my family understood hunger personally.  Stories of a foster family that fed my great-grandfather rather indifferently with lard or whatever was at hand.  My grandfather ate after his father and older brothers were through.  Pancakes, pancakes, pancakes were the menu for everyone when the Celanese laid people off.  For our family it was the forlorn can of beets my mother bought, but no one wanted to eat--for one reason, who eats beets? For the other, when the beets came out, we knew the cupboard was empty.  They didn't come out often, but not knowing what's next makes a strong impression.  

I tried to make sure that calories didn't go to waste.  I ate up leftovers.  Cheap was good, even if it wasn't good--take non-cheese cheese.  To this day I love Ramen noodles.  Rice, pasta, potatoes stretched the family food budget.  I didn't like beef, because the cuts we could afford took forever to chew.  When Kurt and I married, I told him I defined rich as being able to put whatever I want to eat in the grocery cart without having to think twice at the register.  He had us rich as Croesus in two years.  

I find such pleasure in feeding my kids.  It's the same pleasure my grandparents took in feeding me.  

During the holidays I like to offer all our favorite things in abundance.  I like for our storage shelves to be open and full.  If you can open the fridge you are allowed to peruse it's contents and choose a snack.  The catch 22 is that calories are always on the verge of being wasted, and I save them, literally, on my waistline.  Throwing away food always feels so fancy-fine and ladeedah.  I've learned to give it the Kurt test.  If he'd pitch it then it ought to be pitched.  I keep trying to find the right quantities of food, but shopping at Sam's Club and the kid's fickle tastes don't make that easy.  Some things seem to live on our shelves forever.  I was so grateful when young friends were excited about the granola bars my kids had lost interest in several months back. Some day I will figure it all out, but for the moment I keep buying cookbooks for two, looking forward to the day when things will be manageable again.