Salad Days

As I pull up my chair to my desk for another morning of writing while eating, it occurs to me that my lunch, which you see above, teaches us two important lessons about sustainability:

1.  Bounty is about what you have now, not what you think you need.  As you can see, my lunch plate is filled with cucumbers; if you aren't eating cucumbers at every meal in this house right now, you aren't doing your job!  But there are also red, yellow, and grape tomatoes, a couple strawberries, and some really nice salami.  With the exception of the salami, these are all products from the garden, and I didn't pay a thing for them beyond the sunk costs of deciding to grow the plants.  I can either complain and say "I wish I had more tomatoes by now," or I can say "thank heavens for the bounty of cucumbers that are filling up many a plate right now with basically free, healthy food."  (Disclosure:  I grew the cukes from seeds I had languishing in my seed box, for which I think I paid $1.50 per pack, so $3 worth of seed.  By now, I am well below 10 cents a cuke in seed costs.)

2.  The inexpensive stretchers are what allow you the little luxuries.  The above salami wasn't terribly cheap, but since I filled a plate with garden veggies, I can put a few slices of protein on the plate and still come in at a lunch cost of less than $1.  (This is always my goal for the main part of my lunch, although I may add a dessert.)  If you are enjoying the bounty of your garden right now, use that cost flexibility to allow yourself to try artisinal cheeses or specialty meats with them.  A bonus for me is that having one primarily-veg meal a day (avoiding adding things like bread or pasta) typically lets me shed a few pounds in summer.

The Analysis

Fast:  No cooking required with a meal that is garden veggies and some meat or cheese.

Cheap:  As I said, this plate is less than $1, a bargain for any budget.

Good:  Healthy, filling, and yummy.