Why I eat what I eat

I'd say that the choices I make when I'm buying food are pretty typical of a college student. When I shopping, or at UDS, I try to get food that is at least a bit healthy, but its not really my top priority. Saving money probably is. Even though I actually do pretty well for myself (especially considering I'm a college student) I grew up in a pretty poor family so, out of habit, I go cheap when I shop. For example, I usually try to get some sort of lean meat when I get groceries, which usually ends up being chicken breast because it's relatively expensive and is super versatile. I typically grill up 1 package of chicken breast (which I get off of Gopher Grocery because I don't have a car and don't like bringing groceries on the bus) that usually contains 3 breasts sometime during the weak, cut them into pieces and use it pasta or salads or by itself. Thus, I can make sure I'm eating at least some protein everyday and am able to stretch out that one package for at least a week.

Waste is my biggest issue when it comes to food. Whether it be wasting my money (why spend more money on more expensive food when I can get the same value for a lesser price?) or wasting food, I have a hard time doing it. (Keynes would probably say I'm hoarding my money) This largely stemmed from working as a dish washer at a fairly upscale Italian restaurant (okay, it's in Mankato, so it's not all that fancy) where our customers would regularly compliment the food, yet still send at least half their plates back untouched. In one 5-6 hour weekend shift I would easily throw away enough food to feed at least 50 people a full meal with salad, a main course and dessert. And we actually served pretty small portions.

The huge gap between myself, as someone who grew up without an excess of money, and the usual patrons of the Neighbor's Italian Bistro, who are generally in the $150,000+ per household bracket, is actually a fairly interesting phenomena to me now. After being a first-hand witness at how much useless waste we generate, first while working at a restaurant and then at a grocery store, as well as the fact that my dad really pushed being frugal onto me and my brothers, I find myself extremely reluctant to contribute to the problem any more than necessary. To put the matter into some perspective, every year Japan (not to pick on them, they're just the only country I know off hand) throws away about four times as much food as gets sent by aid programs to starving nations (~23.2 million tons vs. ~5.9 million tons). So, being able to keep the amount of waste I produce at a minimum is just as important to me as taste or initial cost when I make decisions about food.