That would bring me close to death since my BMI is already too low …
Regarding the Tomatoes: it is difficult to get good tomatoes in the western world. They mostly sell them chilled which is a shame. Tomatoes should remain unchilled from the plant onwards.
Greenhouses. Holland exports 5x the vegetables we eat (therefore the always used climate argument is doubtful). My grandmum used to have 2 greenhouses, one for the grapes and one for the tomatoes. The way she grew tomatoes and made good soup of them is unforgotten. I still have it on my bucketlist to grow them too.
Dad used to work for Philips here for 28 years - so that explains my Philips CD960 player in my rig i guess…
i went to Eindhoven too - the home of Philips - just for a day to feel and look around. I have a cousin who lives there and used to work for Philips Semi Conductors too - till the company changed hands.
Thanks all for the interesting tips, great book recommendations and general ideas - these will take some time to digest if you pardon the pun.
As I mentioned at the outset I really do enjoy meat, so may not cut it out entirely, but I also love all manner of fruit/vegetables/herbs/spices etc - it’s knowledge of what to try to combine when not using veg as an accompaniment to meat that I’d struggle with without some good recipes/books to give me ideas.
At home I generally cook my own food rather than using ‘ready meals’ etc but they do help cut corners feeding the youngsters with busy schedules, and perhaps not particularly worse than canned quick staples I was accustomed to as a child.
Having the time/inclination to prepare meals in advance say to take to work is my stumbling block - I’m not organised enough to prepare a sandwich! Perhaps evening meal leftovers are the way to go.
I’m an OK cook, but I’m lucky that my wife is an excellent cook. We do the food shopping together, and 90% of what we buy is from the perimeter of the grocery store. The way stores are laid out in the States, this means dairy, fish, meats, fresh fruits and vegetables. We never buy ready meals, frozen entrees; very little prepared foods. And we do take-way food from restaurants…also never. Occasionally I’ll bring home a pizza from our favorite shop up the road; maybe once a month. NB - this doesn’t mean that I don’t eat too much meat. Maybe my 10mg/day of Lipitor helps. And at the office at lunchtime I eat vegetarian almost every day.
It’s a luxury; she finds time to cook and enjoys it. A few evenings I do the cooking, and some evenings it’s just bread and cheese and olives for dinner - something like that. For families with children in the home and 2 income earners, that is more difficult. I know a lot of people who do take-away from local restaurants many nights each week.
I usually have hunger issues when trying to lose weight…but I have found eating some Greek yogurt really helps…I dropped the std yogurts at lunch …and changed over to Greek…it really helps and the weight is reducing nicely.
Don’t be put off by supposedly scientific reports of eating meat being in any way bad for you, or the environment…
I would suggest cutting down on daily processed meats and putting that budget towards a once weekly big price, big weight and high quality portion of meat.
A good quality beef steak has as much and even more goodness as any alternative vegetable, pulse or fruit substitute combined.
Lard.
Most used it as a cheaper alternative to vegetable oil when frying.
Nowadays proper virgin olive oil can be inexpensive compared to the blocks of trex my mum used.
Still. There is a lot to be thoughtful here.
When I roast a whole chicken or a pork joint I always pour the juices into something and then put it in the fridge.
I always end up with a little pot of fat that is awesome used when frying up something.
You could even just take your meat intake here, as so much flavour comes from the fatty effect.
Browning your onions or anything else that isn’t meat will end up with a meatiness.
There used to be a deli in Cheltenham, run by a Serb / Croatian family, that used to serve chilli jam with their bacon and peanut butter sandwich (sourdough naturally). It kept me going after a trip to my supervisor.