Healthy Foods Are a Win-Win for Me

In "The Surgery", I mentioned that I had gotten applesauce and some other items for Mikey.

This was partly due to the fact he was incapacitated due to his recovery. But also because before we moved in, we decided we'd have a community food policy. Neither of us had ever moved out before, and we're used to all food in the entire house being up for grabs for anyone. We decided we'd go with this. The only issue we really talked about in-depth in regards to grocery shopping was that Mikey suggested we always have beer in the fridge. And if we have a beer, and it's not our own, we'd basically replace it. Just make sure it's always in there and that there's a general sense of balance and fairness in how much of each kind either of us consumes. I went along with this. I like beer.

Anyway, that's beside the point. After a month or two, I began to realize that this wasn't going to work out for me. Mikey, as it turns out, is a VERY picky eater. As I've been able to observe, his diet consists of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, copious amounts of eggs, milk, cheese, and once or twice a month, strawberries. Other than that, he picks up fast food.

So when Mikey goes grocery shopping, he gets milk, eggs, butter (if needed), cheese (if needed), beer, and, very infrequently, strawberries. He'll probably buy those only once a week. This means that per month, he's spending roughly $35. That's per month.

I, on the other hand, try to have a more balanced diet. I love food, and I love trying different varieties of food. So all buy larger amounts of stuff in greater variety to cover all the food groups. Whenever I shop, the groceries I buy generally last a week and a half to two weeks. So, each trip, I've spent anywhere from $60-$90 on groceries. Meaning I spend anywhere from $120-$180 per month on groceries.

Sometimes, I'll eat the stuff Mikey buys for the house. But since he has such a restricted diet and eats those things all the time, the thought of eating it myself makes me a bit nauseous. Sort of like hearing the same song everyday begins to drive you crazy.

But Mikey always eats the food I buy. I remember one time I bought a box of drumstick ice cram treats. I went to taekwondo for the evening after I put the groceries away, and by the time I got home 2 hours later, Mikey had already eaten two of the eight out of the pack. Even though we agreed to share all the food we bought, this irritated me. I mean, I just bought those mere hours earlier. And already 1/4 of them were gone? He eats the good stuff. The treats, the candy, the pizza, the fast food that I buy. And frankly, it's just flat out unfair. I'm spending four times as much money on groceries as he is. Not only am I cleaning up after him, I'm feeding him. I'm his fucking mother.

It's gotten to the point that my last shopping trip, a couple weeks ago, my mom and grandma, after hearing of the situations going on here, took me to Trader Joe's showed me what to buy, how to buy, etc. And they bought over $100 worth of groceries for me.

The next morning, when I woke up for work, I noticed that sometime during the night, Mikey had already dug into the frozen waffles in the freezer.

However, I noticed something. He only took two from the pack of six. This tells me that he probably didn't like it very much. Afterall, I did get the multigrain waffles. That's healthy.

On this trip to Trader Joes, mom and grandma had bought me lots of good, healthy stuff. Vegetables, hummus, multigrain crackers and waffles, almonds, artichoke hearts, tempura vegetables, pastas, turkey sausage...the list goes on.

After a couple days, I noticed that I had much more food per timeframe than in months prior to this. I noticed that since I didn't buy any of the "good", sweet, fat, unhealthy stuff, Mikey hasn't touched it.

So, instead of talking to him about rethinking our grocery shopping policy, I now have a new strategy. Keep the communal grocery policy in place, and I will simply keep buying the healthy foods that I love, but Mikey won't touch. This way, my food remains my food, and I'll still have access to the items that he buys!

The two fold winning piece of this plan is that if this forces me to buy healthy foods, then, obviously, I will cook and eat healthy foods.

Ever since this trip, I haven't really drank. I quit having the nightly beer, and the only times I've really drank were last night when Mikey and I had a shot of tequila in honor of an old high school buddy of ours who was murdered last week, and twice in the last month when I've gone out to the clubs with my friends. Other than that, I haven't touched booze. Combined with the fact that I am now eating healthier and I've stuck myself on a strict workout regime and routine is definitely making me feel better about myself. And I'm glad I've conjured a plan to benefit me and screw Mikey.