Cooking For Myself, By Myself

It's not really come out and been stated, but I've been cooking for myself and following a diet plan. This had lead to a few frustrations, a few insights, and a few good things.

The frustrations are suddenly many- I have to have time to prepare food, I have to go out and find food, and I do not have a kitchen space. There is a kitchen in the next building, but I have to take all of my equipment and food, which would be several trips even to make the smallest meal. It's frustrating. In the meantime, I'm using my hotplate and just making due with the small space that I have. I have a sink that was designed for washing faces, not for washing dishes, and that is frustrating as well. I have to cook all of my veggies, I have to figure out plans on what to eat, and I miss yogurt and cottage cheese. I'm eating the hey out of cottage cheese when I get back.

The other frustrating thing is that this year, socialization happens at meals. When we'd go to a meal, though we didn't all go together, that was the time we'd talk to each other and hear about each other's lives. When I eat alone, I don't get that. :(

There are a few insights, though. Most of the food in the supermarket is overpriced and not food that lasts.  It's far cheaper and easier to head off to the morning markets and buy veggies in bulk- it's a like a farmer's market every day. And the markets are almost everywhere. In short, China is the land of farmer's markets.   However, the supermarket reminds me how easy it is to buy food when you don't have to talk to someone- I can just select meat or veggies that have been prewrapped and don't have to go weigh them, don't have to speak Chinese, and it's easier.

It's also more expensive.

If I go to the market, I get cheap food. It is more likely to need washing, but it's cheaper. And as local as can be.

The good things are that I can control my calorie intake much, much better. I've been loosing weight, which is good (I'm at 14.5 pounds lost since April). I'm also able to control my salt intake (making my blood pressure freak out in the low spectrum, which is less good), and I feel more in control. It also allows me to eat and keep working on projects and things.

I have to collect more tasty recipes, though. The west has such a dependency on ovens...