Wednesday, February 20, 2008

It's Not Easy Being Green When You're Sick


We're sick around here. My mom who lives over in the next town is sick, too. I'm trying to take care of us all. I realized this morning as I ran to the grocery store that my eco-consciousness went into hiding sometime around yesterday afternoon.

I forgot my reusable bags (yes, even after yesterday's post!) when I went to the grocery store.

I didn't have time to go to the grocery store with the good organic choices so I ended up buying regular milk, regular eggs, and sports drinks in individual bottles for the boys at the closest grocery store.

I bought a frozen dinner to heat up for tonight because I know that I'm not going to want to cook.

And you know what, I'm okay with this. Of course, when we're all feeling better, I'll go right back to making better choices. But I've got a family to nurture, and I've got myself to nurture, too. Nurturing the earth is important, but not more important than making sure my family has what they need, including me when they need me. So if for two or three days I make a few choices that are convenient instead of green, they're the right choices to make. 


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4 comments:

Permaculture means ... said...

Hi! I'm a new reader and just thought I'd share my thoughts...

I hear you on this one, especially the cooking. Maybe another step in getting 'a little greener' could be to make an extra large batch of dinner once or twice a week to freeze -- then you'd have an easy solution for days without time or energy for a full-blown from scratch meal?

Robin Shreeves said...

Welcome, yes mam!

You know I made a huge pot of chicken noodle soup earlier in the week for just that reason, but we ate it for lunch and dinner two days straight and finished it off for lunch today.

I do like to double my batches and freeze half if it's a meal that freezes well (see my post on saving energy when cooking a few posts down).

I'm also always looking for great recipes that do freeze well, so if you've got a family favorite - please share it!

Unknown said...

Hi Robin

I was sick earlier this year too. I had planned to make soup and bought all the ingredients, but then found myself without the energy to even contemplate it. I found myself in the local Tesco buying tinned soup and cheap white bread!

I justified it to myself that because I was unconscious for most of the day, I wasn't using any electricity!!

Robin Shreeves said...

Hi despairing, welcome!

Cheap white bread - yum. Seriously, sometimes I long for a good old pb&j on cheap white bread. But alas, I know eat it on organic 9 grain bread.

My eight year old, who is the sickest of us, asked yesterday for a can of chicken noodle like I used to give him. Since he's sick, I gave in and bought a can. He asked today if he could have my homemade stuff. He remembered the can stuff being better, but apparently I've won him over with the homemade.