Emotional Baggage About Food

One day we were so busy at work we didn't have time to go out and get lunch. Our boss ordered in a variety of food from a local vegetarian deli so we wouldn't go hungry. I tried a cup of soup and it was Delicious! One of my co-workers wanted to know what kind of soup I was eating. "Tomato" I told her. "You should try some." "No way!" she scoffed, "I don't eat no soup that doesn't have meat in it!" She looked around the table. "Any roast beef?" No, she was told, no roast beef. There's no meat in vegetarian food. What about a roasted vegetable pita?

"I'm not eating any of THIS food!" she all but yelled.

"Why not?" I asked.

"I'm better than that!" she said. "This is poor people food. It's what you scrounge from your back yard when you can't afford meat!"

She'd rather go hungry than eat the very expensive, high quality food that was provided to her - for free.

We all have 'food baggage' -- and I'm not talking about the type that sits on our hips and pads our waistline. I mean the ideas, biases, and prejudices we have about the food we eat. Manufacturers are very aware of the emotional baggage we have regarding food. They design their products to meet our emotional needs. They will take our money and fill us with junk food that is sweet, comforting, made just for us, and wrapped in a pretty package like a present.

There's no shortage of websites that will tell you how to shop, how to use coupons, how to buy in bulk, how to buy in season, the value of learning how to cook and how to garden in order to reduce the amount of money you spend on food. When you control your food budget, rather than your food budget controlling you, it's like another paycheck in your pocket every week.

There aren't many websites that will tell you that you have to get past those psychological roadblocks first.

So that is where we are going to START.

You are not born with food baggage. But as soon as you open your mouth, it piles on.

There's no such thing as 'poor people food'. In Colonial Rhode Island one type of food was considered such low quality it was only fed to servants - in fact the State had to pass a law limiting the number of days per week LOBSTER was fed to household help. A 1928 political advertisement bragged how they had put "A chicken in every pot." because chicken was so expensive it was reserved for special Sunday dinners. Until recently many types of fresh fruit and vegetables were available only to the very wealthy who could afford to ship them in out of season. Don't label your food. If you like it, eat it!

Food is nourishment. It can be very enjoyable to make meals, and very enjoyable to eat them - especially in good company. But food is FOOD. It is not a substitute for love. It does not solve your problems. Food is not a reward.

Working with food does not denigrate you. Growing food, processing food, and cooking food are not only emotionally and financially rewarding, it is the ONLY way to insure you are feeding your family high quality food, free of all those nasty pesticides, fillers, chemicals and preservatives in processed foods. Working with food is a very real way to express your LOVE of your family - and yourself.

You aren't lazy. You lack motivation. You don't think the amount of work involved in keeping a frugal kitchen will reap enough reward to make it worth it. There are so many other things you'd rather be doing than clipping coupons or making your own granola. How's that working out for you so far?

You wouldn't be here unless you wanted to save money on your food budget.  I hate to tell you but there's no Food Fairy gonna come down to save you. You need to change the way you do things - and the first place is to really examine the roadblocks that keep you where you are.

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