While I was writing this post about batch cooking, I did an internet search and realized that I could use Greenling to get organic/local/sustainable products delivered to my door and that I could actually order all the ingredients (already chopped/prepped) to cook five Engine 2 meals (for two people).
What!?!
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the
Engine 2 diet, it was developed by a firefighter in Austin (I’m actually friends with his awesome wife!). It’s a plant-based diet that focuses on whole, healthy foods.
The total cost for 10 meals (5 separate meals for two people each) was $89.99.
And just when I was about to feel guilty about the carbon footprint associated with having groceries delivered to my home (so indulgent!), I read that it actually uses less carbon to deliver 100 orders in one van than to have all those people drive to the grocery store separately.
Don’t get me wrong; I don’t want to be the kind of person who gets groceries delivered. In fact, I want to be like Barbara Kingsolver who
grows all her own food and cooks homemade pizza with her family! But I’m okay with it for this year (if it actually works out well). I’m trying to make a clearing so that I can balance everything. Parenting is so, so hard. Parenting two children is even harder. Trying to do it without getting very much sleep is even more overwhelming. And then throw in two parents who are working full-time+. It’s a lot!
But when we start to get overwhelmed, Matt and I remind each other: “Let’s be grateful.”
Even if this system works out for us, we’ll still go to the grocery store every week so that our children learn the very practical skill of shopping for food; it’s just that we’ll only shop for breakfast and lunch stuff instead of every ingredient needed for every meal. (I guess we won’t be reducing our carbon footprint…). I’m eager to see if we can buy breakfast and lunch things and pay $90 for our meals and still stay within our weekly budget for groceries.
