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I ventured into the kitchen today for an all day go at it.  I used to cook, bake, can, freeze, make jelly, everything all the time before I ran away to the sun, sand and surf.  In my new life I still cooked, but worked a lot and didn’t get quite so involved in the kitchen.  Okay, okay!  I was almost totally uninvolved.  I had a 6″ skillet, a fridge and frozen dinners.  So now you know that I ate a lot of yogurt or ate out or scrounged hospital food in the middle of the night when I was working.  Those were the days when I  worked agency and had very little money in the summer months. That was low season in my tourist’s paradise, and the snowbirds were all up north for the summer.  Those were the “Happy Hour” days when establishments served real food and plenty of it at happy hour.  Two for the price of one watered down drink, and I could eat like a queen. 

Eventually, I bought a set of pots and pans.  When my mother and aunt came down to visit about six months later, I even took them out of the box.  I got back into the cooking and was taught how to cook West Indian style.  Love that food. Then I started working at sea.  For about ten years I cooked a couple times a year when I took a little work break.  I might help my mother cook when I stayed with her, but usually she preferred for me to stay out of the way and clean up the mess instead.  I would often spend a week on one of the islands for some R & R since there was no resting at my mother’s.  While in the islands I stayed at guest houses which had cooking facilities.  I would cook up a storm.  Hmmmm….West Indian home cooking. 

When I came back to land, I had to cook more.  Consumer Man can fend for himself, but I prefer to cook for him.  I feel less guilty that way.  Depending on my work schedule, I got back into the habit of cooking almost every day   That went on for about four years or so.  Then we decided to separate.  I moved back over to the west coast of the state and left him on the east coast.  I still cooked, but the frequency decreased.  Eventually I came full circle back to the yogurt, frozen dinners and occasionally something in the skillet. 

Last year I decided to let Consumer Man move back in, and the cooking began again.  But now I’m a diabetic and I was trying to get up at an ungodly hour to cook breakfast for the man.  I couldn’t get back on a schedule that worked for me, so my blood sugar started going wonkers. My health in general went downhill for awhile.  Finally, I came to my senses, told him I love him, but if he wanted to eat in the morning, he would just have to come up with something on his own.   Except for the weekends when I work, I did continue to cook evening meals for him.  That was working out quite well, especially since I rediscovered my crock pot. 

Now that due to the economy, Consumer Man is back working over on the east coast, I’ve started to slack on the cooking. I was starting to like that yogurt, cottage cheese, cereal and an occasional meal from the skillet or crock pot.  Something nice and easy.  But that doesn’t work anymore.  I have to watch my food intake and make sure it’s all balanced.  So, now I’m back to cooking. 

Today was a cook in batches and freeze day.  I’ve decided to do that at least once a month.  I’m planning on getting a nice little stash of goodies built up and then I won’t have to cook much at all the rest of the month.  Today I made a huge pot of chili, fried up some sausage to use in an egg muffin recipe with some left for a casserole later, mini meat loaves from a recipe on the back of a Kretschmer wheat germ label and some whole wheat biscuits.  I’m feeling a bit smug and giving myself a pat on the back.  Soon I’m going to cave in and find my bed.  I’ve already cleaned up my mess and have the dishwasher running, so it’s okay.  Have you all tried making any freezer meals?

Tags: cooking, freezer meals
Posted in Thursday's Travels | 2 Comments »