Why should you pack your lunch?

For me packing a lunch just makes psychological and financial sense. I know what I am eating, I don’t’ have to worry, and it is almost always cheaper in the long run. If you do it right, packing a lunch can save you up to (and maybe over) 1200$ a year over eating out. 

Here’s the math:

Say you work 46 weeks a year (accounting for vacations, sick days, etc.) and your average lunch spending is about 6 dollars after tax and tip (and kudos to you if you can eat on that budget in downtown Toronto). That adds up to:

46 weeks x 5 days x $6= $1,380$

This does not include snacks or coffee. If we add a daily coffee and a pastry (4$) the number jumps to:

46 weeks x 5 days x $10= $2,300$.

I’ll use myself as a counterpoint example. This week (which was unusually decadent) my lunches and snacks cost me (including my coffee contribution on my paycheque) approximately 4.2$ per meal (I had to estimate on things like butter, sugar and oil). Usually I eat a bean soup or a curry that would cost me about half of this. Here is what my lunch menu this week included:

Snacks: 1 apple, 1 cup carrots and celery, 4 TBS lemon dill veggie dip, 1 cup of homemade apple crisp, and coffee / tea

Lunch: Butternut squash and goat cheese pasta with caramelized onions.

This was all delicious food that I enjoyed eating. Similar quality and quantity from a restaurant would easily run me at least $12 for the pasta and $6 for the apple crisp.

The difference between my homemade decadent lunch and eating out is:

46 weeks x 5 days x 4.2=$966

This is a difference of $414 a year ($1,334 if we use the higher snack number).

It may not seem like much, but I threw it in a compound interest calculator (5% quarterly compounding for 10 years) and it returned $5,375.30. If you and your spouse managed to do this together, it would be $10,750.59.

If we use the number that includes coffee and snacks, same return would be $17,320.40 ($34,640.79 if you and a partner can manage it). Also remember, all these numbers are using very conservative estimates. Imagine how helpful this money would be in your retirement, or to help sending your kids to school.

How to pack your lunch.

Savings alone may not be enough to motivate you. We lead busy lives and between doctors’ appointments, play dates, work, school, friends it can be hard to fit in food prep. Not only that, sometimes we just run out of ideas about what to make and motivation to do it.

Here are a few tips I have found that help make it easier for me to get lunches ready for the week. I also talked to some of my friends with kids to see how they managed to balance the busyness that children always create:

·       Set Aside Time: Set aside a sufficient chunk of time (mine is Wednesday and Sunday evenings) when you do your food prep for the week. I chop all my veggies, make a big pot of whatever it is I am bringing this week (chili, soup, curry, pasta) while I also make something for supper.

o   My friends with a two year old have a similar arrangement. The husband (who does most of the cooking) preps on Saturday afternoon while Mom and toddler go to swimming lessons.

·       

    Portion everything out in advance: That way no matter how rushed you are in the morning you can grab a Tupperware and go. This also can save you a little on energy bills. It’s easier for your fridge to cool smaller portions.

o   Here  and here are some pre-portioned meal and snack ideas for inspiration. You can do way less fancy versions with trail mix, yogurt, apple slices etc.

o   If you are worried about food safety, freeze two or three portions for later in the week. Pull them out the night before (you can also do it the morning of, it just means a longer time in the microwave).

·       Double up: Whenever I make something labour intensive (like enchiladas or lasagna) I make a double portion and freeze the other pan. Either I save it for the week I really don’t feel like cooking, or use it when someone in the community could use an easy meal (new baby, death in the family, a big move etc.).

o   Get together with friends family and co-workers and have a food day. I have done pie days,  jam days, tomato canning days, chili sauce days, tomato sauce days and lasagna days. Combining finances and effort makes everything more affordable and more fun. 

·       Love the “one pot”: Soups, stews, pastas, pasta bakes, curries, casseroles, quiches, strata, and rice n’ bean dishes are all great lunch options. They are usually inexpensive and travel and freeze well. (Each link here is to one of my favourite recipes, note the last one is extremely spicy).

·       Love your salads: Think beyond lettuce, there is so much more to salad.

o   I find you can pack three days of salad and still have it be good, day four gets to my limit of pre-assembled salads.

o    If you have a Tupperware hook-up, these are the best salad dressing carriers. Ever.

·       Make what you love: If you pack a sad desk lunch Saint Lawrence Market is going to seem like a great alternative. The internet is crawling with inspirational lunch ideas (e.g. see here, here, here, here, and here to start). Remember, even if you spoil yourself with a home-made fancy lunch, it is probably still cheaper than a Tim Horton’s Sandwich.

o   Involve kids in the planning and assembly of lunch. They will learn a valuable life skill, are more likely to eat something they have chosen, and you will thank yourself when your 12-year-old can make their own lunch and help out with younger siblings. Here is an excellent guide to what kids of different ages can help with in the kitchen.

o   One of my favourite things to do is use ingredient inspiration. I get an organic food bag from Fresh City Farms every Wednesday. Working with the vegetables they give me takes away some of my decision fatigue. For example, I have two favourite eggplant recipes (here and here) I tend to go between. It’s much easier to plan when you have fewer decisions to make.

·     

           Find the Joy in Cooking: I throw on a podcast, and really try to enjoy the creative process of cooking and baking.  My friends with kids and spouses who do this often use cooking time either as alone time or together time (depending on what they need). Listen to music, have a favourite show in the background, and if you can afford it, invest in good kitchen tools. Learning to enjoy cooking will always pay back over time. Remember, food is more than fuel. It is comfort, culture, memories, creativity, social connection and sustenance. 

Frank

12 years ago I was fortunate enough to meet a man who became a second father to me. From the minute I met Frank, he treated me like a daughter. He was indulgent when I was very obviously trying to impress him, always listened when I needed to talk, was gracious when I needed help, and proud of anything I accomplished.

Many of our extended friends and family benefited from Frank's generosity. He gave away homemade sausages, pasta sauce, canned tomatoes, antipasto, and of course, Plate Cove cod. If you ever ate at my house, odds are you enjoyed one of these foods. Frank loved to cook from scratch, and took great joy in sharing the fruits of his labour (as long as you didn't steal his cod tongues). My best memories of Frank involve working with him to figure out how to make something else from scratch. The day we made pasta from scratch, we took over the kitchen, the dining room, and two laundry racks to dry the noodles. It was a messy but delicious experiment. It also happened to be the day that about four unexpected guests decided to drop by. Frank was unrepentant about introducing his flour-covered daughter-in-law to his friends, in fact, I think he enjoyed it.

Frank's sense of humour was quick and mischievous. He dropped off a case of pasta sauce at my apartment in Toronto with the label "Pasta 2010, rabbit". I gave him my thanks but reminded him that I was a vegetarian. His response was "don't worry, so were the rabbits." Take me out for a beer some day, and I'll re-tell you his favourite story about the falling cows back in Italy.

Frank seemed to embody the values that make a community thrive. He was beyond generous. He probably did 30% of the renos on the house, helped me move several times, helped John's friends move, he even washed my laundry when I broke my foot at Queen's. With children he was gentle, patient, and loved to teach them how to work with their hands. He was kind to those who were older and would always be there to drive a friend into town, bring over some some food, or listen to the old stories again and again. 

He introduced me to long lingering meals, with good wine and good food. We would sit at the dinner table for hours, laughing and telling stories.  Although the table will now feel emptier,  I know there will be many more dinners where the wine and the conversation flow, and we idle at the table, telling stories about Frank. They will be happy, funny stories that we've told 100 times before, that Frank loved, and that he told again and again. For me, these simple pleasures and old stories will be his legacy.

Sooo Pissed Off Right Now.

Yes, I know I am writing a thesis, but I just couldn't hold off on this...the anger is just too much.

Warning, the following post contains intense sarcasm.
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I was perusing my google links the other day, and something has repeated come up in the feminist and sociological blogs I follow. This website (http://everythingidoiswrong.org/#/), has been raising a lot of emotional ire. Long story short it is a website dedicated to helping men deal with their ladies PMS issues. I was so inspired by this site, it has forced me to re-contemplate my life and my relationship with all the men in my life. After some in depth soul searching, I have composed this letter to the milk companies to thank them for highlighting this enduring problem.

Dear California Milk Processor Board, lobbies, advertising agencies and everyone else responsible for the subject discussed herein,

From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Until I visited your website http://everythingidoiswrong.org/#/ I had not realized the pain and suffering that my Pre-Menstrual Syndrome (PMS) has been causing the men that I love for the past Seventeen years and five months.

You may ask how I know that I have had my period for seventeen years and five months. Well, you see, as this milk advertising campaign has understood, my whole life is defined by and revolves around my period. It affects every aspect of my personality making me the thoroughly unpleasant person I now only realize myself to be.

So milk, thank you for making me realize what a burden it is to the men in my life when once a month I can't walk from the pain of my cramps, am completely exhausted from depleted iron for two days, when I faint from the dizziness, can't eat because of the pain from constipation, cry because of the low self esteem from my acne outbreaks, feel depressed and have increased difficulty concentrating.

Oops, sorry, I mentioned constipation, forget I said that. Women don't poop.

Thank you also for showing the men in my life how to soothe me and my raging PMS with gold and silver trinkets and chocolate. I am sure your meter showing the gold, silver, and cocoa futures so my husband can invest our (sorry I mean his) money according to my biological schedule.

Thank you also for showing my husband how my love can be bought with cute puppies, flying kittens, heart shaped balloons and other cute things. Until this point I had been foolishly assuming that mutual respect and communication were the foundation of our relationship. I now realize it is teddy bears.

On behalf of my husband, I want to thank you for teaching him how I was always right. Until now we had both foolishly shared blame when we disagreed. We now know that he is always wrong, not necessarily because the facts are on my side, but because I have a uterus. A utreus that bleeds. Once a month.

Oops, sorry again. You probably don't actually want to think about what a period is.

To the men in my life, I apologize. Up until now I have only been taking hormones that change my physiology and painkillers that make it illegal for me to drive in order to ease the pain you feel from my PMS. I have foolishly asked you to do things like buy Midol, fill a hot water bottle, or, and this is my deepest regret, buy pads or tampons. I am deeply sorry for this. Should I be so foolish in the future to make a request of you, please set me straight and buy me milk, that should solve everything.

Dear milk company, lastly and most importantly. Thank you for portraying me as a dumb bitch who is a slave to her hormones and a complete burden to live with. Thank you for portraying the men I love and respect as stupid idiots who can't have a reasonable conversation and are too immature to help me through something we all know is natural. Thank you for perpetuating sexist myths that hurt all of us. Thank you for giving medical advice based on spurious research. Thank you for teaching young girls their bodies are something they should be ashamed of and laughed at for. Thank you for teaching young boys that the period is something to be feared. Thank you for including one black man on your entire site (you wouldn't want to be racist). Thank you for doing what years of guilt have not been able to do and make me consider veganism, not because I dislike milk, but because I think you are a bunch of misogynistic douche bags who I don't want seeing a cent of my money.


And mostly, thank you in advance for taking a minute to go fuck yourselves. It is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Shelly Belly





See http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2009/09/02/milk-is-mens-work/ for an analysis of another one of this company's charming ads.

Git'er Done!

My Mom said this to me the other day. Seriously. I was whining and crying about my thesis. After about 5 minutes of sympathy (which is is about what you get in my family before you are told to suck it up and move on) she said:

"Seriously Shelly. Just git'er done"

Another friend recently told me that writing a thesis was just like factory work, you just pump out a product that meets the minimum standards you need it too.

Part of me hates this, I want my thesis to be perfect, and to change the world. I want my friends and family to read it and be awed by my genius. The reality is that it really is slog time and I just need to finish it, I can perfect it when I publish it. I am just plugging away. Some things I write knowing they will be completely scrapped later, but I just have to get something on the page because you can't perfect what isn't there.

Still a long way to go, but thanks Mom, I am no longer aiming for perfection, I am just trying to git'er done.

Hamlet the Grad Student

Sometimes, my creativity gets the best of me and gives me a little procrastination inspiration. Here is what I think Hamlet would say if he were a grad student (a religion grad student in particular).

O, that this too too solid essay would finish
Organise and resolve itself into a thesis!
Or that the Committee had fix'd
Their canon 'gainst grad-slaughter! O God! God!
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,
Seem to me all the uses of this study!
Fie on't! ah fie! 'tis an unfunded research,
That grows to seed; theories rank and gross in nature
Publish it thusly. That it should come to this!
But two months to the deadline: nay, not so much, not two:
So excellent an advisor; that was, to this,
Socrates to a Plato; so harsh my editor
That he might not ignore the errs of grammar
Mark my paper too roughly. Heaven and earth!
Must I quote Orsi? why, McCutcheon would critique him,
As if increase of appetite had grown
By when it fed on free food: and yet, within a month--
Let me not think on't--Frailty, thy name is funding!--
A little month, or ere those dollars ran cold
With which I called for money from my poor father,
Like Niobe, all tears:--why he, even he denies me--
O, God! Foucault, wants discourse of knowledge,
Would have deconstructed longer--Derrida with Gramsci,
My committee’s theorists, but no more useful to my paper
Than breasts to a bull: within a month:
Ere yet the salt of most stressed-out tears
Had left the flushing in my strained eyes,
I defended. O, most wicked speed, to post-doc
With such dexterity to ambiguous questions!
It is not nor it cannot come to good:
But break, my heart; for I must get my tenure.

I also want to caveat: my thesis committee is great and very helpful, this poem reflects the expereinces of other grad students as well who have dealt with less helpful committees. I should also note, Dad would probably give me money if I cried, but then he would make fun of me for crying. I also think I get suck-up points for comparing my advisor to Socrates, even though my advisor is much smarter :D.

Compassionate Academics

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/02/02/que-rochefort-hearing.html#socialcomments

and

http://thestar.blogs.com/.a/6a00d8341bf8f353ef01287636a9a7970c-pi

Yes, there are douche-bags out there who want to celebrate a Marc Lepine Day.

Sometimes as an academic I put on a pair of rose coloured glasses. I spend most of my time with men who respect me intellectually and am surrounded by friends who support my choices, be they to pursue my career goals or have a family without judging me for either.

Outside of Academics though (and in some parts of it to be honest) I forget that there are still bigots out there who hate, who hate muslims, who hate women, who hate Black people, disabled people, the list goes on.

As an academic and a person who believes in higher power, I believe I have a responsibility in my research to disseminate ideas of compassion. I don't do academics for the pay (what pay?) or the glory, I do it with the hope that maybe an idea of mine will someday trickle down into common parlance, and people will think, and try just a little to learn about a group they don't understand before rushing to a judgement.

So today I salute gender studies scholars, who take the time to make us question everything we know about gender. Who make us aware of privledge. Who work to remind us that men and women aren't that different, and when we are different, that's OK, and it should never be seen as a basis for hate.

And to clear the record, I have met and studied some of the most passionate and intelligent gender scholars in the world, and while some of them are controversial, they all advocate compassion. So if I ever meet that man hating feminist women's studies proffessor who advocates killing off all men that the people commenting on the CBC article seem to be so afraid of, I will let you know. Because he she exists, she is a bigot, not the norm.

Handy little tip - objects in text

Is your thesis one with a lot of diagrams, illustrations and tables like mine?

Unless you are a formatting whiz, a lot of people have trouble making sure that their text looks right after they insert a photo, diagram or table. Instead of inserting the object at the beginning, keep it out until your last round of proofreading, if you are editing on paper, just put a sticky note where you want the corresponding object and keep track of the numbers. That way if you switch the position of two objects, their numbers will match up in your list of diagrams.

Another alternative is to take a brief online Microsoft word tutorial on setting up indexes if you don't want to edit on paper, you can train your computer to update your table of contents for you, but don't rely on it, always have your final editor check to make sure all objects match the table of contents, are properly labelled and in order.