"What's for dinner?" A lot of us ask that question right before popping our head in the fridge to see what the options are. If nothing edible is found in the house, three options with rather high probability of being significantly less healthy than the home-cooked-meal come to the table.
1. Hungry trip to the supermarket. We've all experienced this. With all the good intentions of buying the staples, we grab a bag of chips or box of cookies because our stomachs and brains were freaking out until we gave them something instantly satisfying. Those cookies are history five minutes after check-out.
2. Delivery menu scramble. Pizza, Thai, Chinese, Burgers, oh my! This rarely ends well.
3. Going out to eat. If you live near a restaurant that serves simple, organic, fresh foods, you may be ok. But that isn't the case for most of us. Even if there is a healthy joint nearby, when engulfed in a hunger rage our brain chemistry and psychology can turn us into zombies making our way to a not-so-healthy eating establishment.
If Michael Pollan and our parents (assuming they had a little common sense) have taught us anything it's that preparing our own meals is so much better than the other options for many reasons. We can create our portion size, know all the ingredients we are eating, and will probably enjoy our meal much more because we took the time to make it.
Sure, it's cheaper to eat at McDonald's. For $1.99 a day, you can become obese, get diabetes, and keep the pharmaceutical industry in business. Organic foods can become less expensive when there is more demand. We can decide to spend either on healthy foods that will keep your body working efficiently for a long time, or cheap foods that will make you sick and cost you much more in medication and hospital costs. As for time, there's always time to do what's important to you. Make it important!
So what's in the fridge? Go take a look. You can save yourself now, while you're not starving, with a trip to the farmers market or grocery store. When you're done with your fridge, go check out your neighbor's, your family's and your friends' too. Swap healthy recipes. Take your farmers market and grocery store trips together. Then have your friends over for dinner. You'll eat better, feel better, and probably have a good time while you're at it.