My big adventure for the day? A walk to the grocery store!
Freedom!!
The walk back wasn’t so joyful. The items I bought turned out to be much heavier than I’d expected, mostly because I’d used a cart. Normally, I juggle everything I pick out, which guarantees I won’t be getting more than I can carry, but since I had my trekking poles with me, it seemed easer to use a cart. I didn’t get that much — just things like beans for chili, vegetables and a can of garbanzos for a salad, and fruit for snacks — but it loaded up my pack.
I would say it was too much to carry, but since I am back here, writing this blog, it obviously wasn’t too heavy.
One thing I bought that I had never before in my entire life purchased was a can of Beanee Weenees. Apparently, my desperation for something different to eat made me resort to such an ignominious act. Whether I eat the stuff or not is a different story, but it is there is my cupboard in case I have to deal with an even greater desperation for variety.
That wasn’t my first slip into abnormality, either. I don’t keep desserts on hand because I don’t need the temptation, but the other night I was so desirous of something sweet, I heated leftover rice and added chocolate chips and walnuts. The gooey mess was actually pretty tasty and I could almost talk myself into believing it was healthy.
Today, though, except for that one Beanee Weenee slip, I’m back to normal, with chili cooking and chicken baking and salad making.
The few people I have talked recently to have mentioned foods they have eaten or craved because they, too are desperate for something different. So many people used to eat out a couple of times a week, and now, unless they want to make the effort to get food to go, they are stuck eating their own cooking, and they are getting tired of it.
What about you? How do you deal when you get tired of your usual fare and desperately need something else to eat?
***
Pat Bertram is the author of Grief: The Inside Story – A Guide to Surviving the Loss of a Loved One. “Grief: The Inside Story is perfect and that is not hyperbole! It is exactly what folk who are grieving need to read.” –Leesa Healy, RN, GDAS GDAT, Emotional/Mental Health Therapist & Educator.
Bertram's Blog 
April 26, 2020 at 11:29 am
If I get tired of the usual fare, I don’t eat anything at all. It wouldn’t hurt me to drop a few pounds anyway. My grown kids are using delivery services (eg. DoorDash or Skip The Dishes) a lot to help support the locally owned restaurants they like. The survival rate of these places isn’t great in the best of times, which these clearly aren’t.
April 26, 2020 at 11:42 am
I like your solution better than mine! I might try that — skipping a meal if I don’t feel like eating anything I have on hand. It certainly won’t hurt me. I hope you are taking care of yourself. Sometimes meals are rough the first few months after the loss of a spouse.
April 26, 2020 at 1:59 pm
I totally understand the cravings. I’m missing Mexican food really badly right now, and I already know that’s going to be our first restaurant stop when it’s safe to raise our heads again and come out. But it’s a question of when we will actually feel safe enough to do that – may be long after the restaurants actually open back up for business.
Your walk made me chuckle. It reminds me of the years I lived in London in a flat that was one mile from the nearest grocery store or tube station. By the time I made it back home, those little plastic bags had just about completely cut off the circulation in my fingers. it was painful…
April 26, 2020 at 4:32 pm
I’ve never had a problem with the plastic bags — my sister had an inventor friend who created handles that made carrying bags easy. I still have a couple of them, even though I seldom use them. I don’t like carrying things in my hands when I walk, and if I use my trekking poles, I have no free hand anyway.
And yes — Mexican food! My problem is that my favorite Mexican food restaurants are more than l000 miles away. The one here is adequate, but nothing I especially crave.
April 26, 2020 at 3:16 pm
We rarely eat out … sometimes when attending church we would go for lunch in town afterwards, but most often any ‘eating out’ meant a meal at a family member’s home, which of course isn’t happening now. My hubby has taken to baking cookies, so there’s almost always a sweet treat around when I crave one. I’m missing chocolate, though. And Chinese food. I could make the latter if I’d remember to put the ingredients on our shopping list but I never think of it then. When grocery shopping is getting done only every week or ten days, it’s hard to accommodate spur-of-the-moment desires.
April 26, 2020 at 4:36 pm
This is a hard time for spur-of-the moment desires and various food whims. I’m lucky that there is a store so close so I could get ingredients if I could think of something I wanted, but I do feel for people who don’t have that luxury. But cookies! Nice!
April 28, 2020 at 10:33 am
I’m glad to see that you are so creative with your food. I, on the other hand am not. Today was one of my healthier meals. I cooked a frozen chicken breast, cut it up & put it on my salad with honey mustard dressing. I try to eat something healthy a couple of day a week. The rest of the time is usually PB&J. I do eat yogurt for supper. My daughter brings some sort of dinner on Saturday evenings. It’s usually a surprise. Enjoy cooking!
April 28, 2020 at 5:27 pm
I’ve always been creative when it comes to food, more because I so often didn’t live near a grocery store, so I had to make do with what I had. I haven’t had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in years! Now I’m hungry for one.