Cass
March 4, 2014
For the first day of Meatless Monday, I was unfortunately
not able to be as successful as I had hoped. I had a hectic schedule and did
not have enough time to create a new meal like I had hoped. I was home for the
weekend and on Monday, before I left to come back to Buffalo, I met my parents
for lunch at Chipotle. I always get chicken but decided to try something new
this time. It was actually just my luck that Monday was the day they were
debuting their brand new tofu option. I was going to try to make a meal off of
just vegetables but I decided to try this new organic meat replacement. Before
this, I have never tried any type of meat replacement besides a black bean
burger but I actually enjoyed it! The tofu was just as flavorful as the chicken
and was not as bad as I thought it would be. I also made sure to add more
veggies to my meal as well. Before that, I ate my usual breakfast of yogurt,
granola, strawberries, and blueberries. For diner, I just ate a quick meal of
carrots with a little bit of honey mustard to dip in. I work Monday nights so
it is hard for me to eat a real dinner.
So far, this has not really affected a whole lot in my
normal routine. I did not spend much more money on this day compared to others
nor did it affect how I ate Tuesday either. It also did not really affect
anyone around me. At my apartment I shop for myself and don’t have to worry
about anyone else. The only way it could conflict is when I am home and my
parents make a big meal for the family that includes meat. One thing I did not
think about was my hectic schedule. On a normal Monday I have class all
afternoon and then a half hour to change and get to work. For next week and the
weeks following I am definitely going to have to plan ahead more and probably
prepare my meals on Sunday. There is absolutely no time for me on Monday to
prepare a decent meal before work. Usually I will eat a bowl of soup at work
then eat oatmeal when I get home or a bowl of cereal, hardly a real dinner. Not
to mention I am never hungry for dinner at 4 in the afternoon. For next week I
will have to shop for the certain ingredients and cook my dinner on Sunday
night and make sure to bring it with me to work Monday night. I was glad I
tried tofu and actually liked it! That may be a choice I stick with in the
future outside of Meatless Monday.
Cass,
ReplyDeleteI'm so jealous that you had the opportunity to try the tofu at Chipotle. I've been waiting for them to bring that to the east coast for so long! I hope the location in Buffalo will do so soon.
It's great that you were able to actually enjoy the tofu. A lot of people I know hate it because of the texture, but I personally love it. It's great since it takes on the rich flavor of whatever you choose to cook it in. The only downside is the prep - sometimes it can be really annoying to cook it yourself and I've had my fair share of mess ups when attempting it on my own!
I can definitely relate to your comments on being busy and having trouble planning ahead when you have a packed schedule. That is really the toughest part for me, too. Now that I am able to use Sundays to plan ahead and prepare things for the week, I find that it's easier to eat on the go. It's definitely hard to eat healthy when you're in between class/work and all there is to grab is stuff from the union or the commons!
It's good that you don't have to worry about your meatless mondays affecting your roommates. I'm glad I don't have to worry about that either, it makes planning meals a lot easier since you don't have to deal with splitting grocery bills and stuff like that since going meatless and organic can seem expensive to people who aren't interested in trying to make the change.
Good luck with everything! See you in class
-Ally
Cass,
ReplyDeleteLike you, I too have pretty hectic Mondays - I'm on campus during lunch and dinner and don't typically get home until a little before 9 p.m., so I know what you mean when you said you didn't get a chance to prepare any "new" meals. If you're at school or work for a long period of time and there's no access to a stove, fridge, etc., it's pretty difficult to eat anything innovative or creative. Peanut butter and jelly and Cliff bars typically become my main dinners more often than I'd like. That's something I'd also like to work on for next week - going shopping for diverse ingredients and preparing ingredients the night before would probably the best way to go about it.
I have only been to Chipotle once so far and loved it, but I had no idea they offered tofu as an option! I found it interesting to hear that you tried it and liked it; I've tried it a couple times before on a make-it-yourself salad from Wegman's and also from Edgy Veggies in the Student Union. I also thought it was incredibly flavorful; I even thought it had a slight chicken-esque taste to it. It definitely wasn't nearly as foreign or scary as some make it out to be.
I can also relate when you mentioned it may be difficult to uphold Meatless Mondays if you're home for a big family dinner. I actually live at home with my parents so it can be difficult to eat vegetarian and/or organic as much as possible. Maybe if we both decide to keep up this type of eating in the future, our families can get on board as well.
Hopefully we can improve for next week!
Andrea
Cass,
ReplyDeleteWow, I love Chipotle so much! I am surprised to hear that they are now serving Tofu. After hearing that it is equally as delicious as the other meat, I am definitely going to have to make a trip there. To tell you the truth, I have never tried any meat replacements either. I am confident that trying Tofu from Chipotle would be a better start than preparing it myself.
I can certainly relate to having a hectic schedule. I too struggled with meal planning. I found it difficult to come up with THREE meatless meals. I think that my biggest problem with this project is that I only have time to prepare one full meal. The rest of the day, I seemed to just snack. It almost seems like that is the case with you. I do really like that you are exploring vegetarian options in restaurants. This almost certainly has to be a timesaver. I am not as adventurous as you! I am totally afraid to order new foods at restaurants. I am somewhat picky, and do not like to waste foods. It is only under someone else’s recommendation that I will branch from my comfort zone. I hope that you continue to explore meatless options at other restaurants. I would love to hear what other places you explore in the future.
I think that it is a good idea to prepare meatless options in advance (Sunday). It definitely helps with a busy schedule. This week, I found that I did not eat a real lunch because normally my lunch is leftovers, and all my leftovers contained meat. I too am going to try preparing meatless options in advance. Then, all you have to do is reach and go. Hopefully that will work better.
Sincerely,
Rebecca