I think one of the most wonderful things about growing up in my home is that I was sure that even in the worst of times and when we were at our lowest, we would always be sure of food supply. And this is because, right from the start, Mom taught us the benefits of gardening and preparing our own meals. She’d usually say, “You haven’t experienced the word satisfaction till you have a meal, with the knowledge that practically everything on your plate was planted by you.”
Of course, the basic things like salt would have to be bought and maybe onions, which cannot grow successfully in my region, but vegetables constitute a large part of our diet. And that’s what we have in abundance at home. Fruits too. Although some of them had been cleared to make way for more.
I’d always loved eating outby default but the nutritional value of preparing your meals as well as the hygiene and cost effectiveness cannot be denied. And since an incident where I had a series of excruciating stomach bites and what have you, I realized that it isn’t just worth it. No advantages whatsoever, or at least the cons far outweigh the pros of eating out. I do still eat out, but it’s gotten a lot rarer. Think I’ve eaten out only twice since the year began and that’s a record for me.
Keeping up with my minimalist lifestyle has greatly affected how I prepare my meals. Since most of the food items are readily available at home and planted by me. It makes it a lot easier. My peppers sprouted beautifully a couple of months ago. I’m particularly excited about this one because I’d tried severally to make this particular species of pepper🌶️ grow and what usually happened was, when it germinated to a certain level, it just withered off.
So, I put in extra care to making this successful and when it did, to say I was elated would be an understatement. Of course, they aren’t fully ripe yet for harvest but we love green peppers just fine too and they make an excellent flavour in meals so it’s just fine. Peppers are like air in my family, practically. We love a good chili in our everyday meals and so with that kind of consumption, buying them in the markets is not cost-effective.
A lot of these vegetables may not be known by a lot of people but they are used to prepare several delicacies here. The bitterleaf and pumpkin leaves and even good old curry leaf (a spice in itself)which I used in garnishing the coconut rice I prepared yesterday are all important aspects that keep my minimalist lifestyle going.
Got this coconut from one of the bigger coconut trees and did a good work of making a quick coconut rice meal. Just kidding, it wasn’t quick at all. I had to manually grate the coconuts and that took a good amount of time I was in a haste so by the time I was done, I couldn’t even get it plated to take a picture but it came out quite nicely.
Early this morning, Mom said she was craving a bit of yam porridge so I got it done hastily. It was quite early so no pictures of the process but just before posting this, I got a bit plated and took a picture. Since it was for Mom, I had to prepare it to her taste and Mom’s taste is for the pumpkin veggies, which I used in preparing it, to occupy practically seventy percent of the meal. Lol
Employing minimalism in my daily preparation of meals has made me realize that the simplest of ingredients could make something incredibly wonderful and tasty too. So, it’s more like a win-win. Preparing my meals with ingredients that were planted by me so it’s healthy and simple and saves cost. Minimalism has impacted the way I prepare meals to a great extent cause now I'm rewarded with that satisfaction that comes with eating my own production and the simplicity that comes with it.
Jhymi🖤
This is my entry to THE #KISS BLOG IDEAS. Do check it out if you're yet to.
All images are mine.