Eating a Lazy Girl's Lunch

One of the few vices I have in life is that I eat out... a lot.

Its not that I particularly love restaurant food, its that I love the convenience. Like many young professionals, Ben and I often work late (when I am not actually physically at work, my time is swallowed up by the constant flow of emails that my narcissistic streak allows). We often go for runs or take a yoga class after work to try to stay fit, take night classes and spend time doing extras (like blogging). Usually 7:30pm will roll around when we start to think about preparing dinner (which project actual eating time at 8:00 or 8:30pm). But by that time, along with the fact I don't think eating late is good for digestion, the idea of pulling out the double steamer and wooden cutting board couldn't appeal less.

My dilemma is that I know how important eating well is to maintain a healthy body and healthy skin, but eating out is laden with tasty but unhealthy ingredients hidden in sauces and marinades.

So, upon my return home from our epic Paris-Dublin-Worcester-London trip, I did a smart thing and hired a meal service. For those of you who don't know what a meal service is, it is a company which prepares your meals and delivers them to your door. The ultimate in convenience - you don't even need to wait to be served or spend time deciding on what takes your fancy. I thought this was an especially fabulous idea to aid us while we waded knee-deep in work. Ben did not.

After a bit of online research, I found Toronto-based "Green Zebra" - a vegan, macrobiotic and raw foodism-inspired meal service which even pre-soaked their legumes (!). This also did not particularly excite my Ben. Neither did their declaration that they were "100% vegan, 90-100% organic and local when possible." He was looking at the priciness of it all (what do you expect with organics?). But after much prodding (we won't call it nagging) I got my way and filled out the convenient online order form, choosing the 9 meal option for $155- which I tallied up to be 4.5 meals each (or 3 meals each and lots of snacking for me).

To my delight, any initial order is 25% off and it appeared they threw in a jar of soup. As soon as we got our cooler of goodies, I read aloud the menu "oooh"ing and "mmmm"ing at Ben as if to say "See? See!".

Our menu included: Smoked Tofu with Barbecue Sauce, Roasted Yams and Cauliflower with Maple-Dijon Dressing, Basmati Rice with Spicy Kim Chi and Arame, Broccoli Squash and Quinoa Salad in a Cashew Sesame Sauce, Black Beans with Onions, Peppers and Cinnamon-Cilantro Dressing, Grated Beet, Carrot and Apple Salad, and Roasted Corn and Tomato salad, Adzuki Beans with Golden Vinaigrette. The Soup was Potato Leek with Fresh Herb and the weekly dessert was a quartet of Banana-Maple Pecan Cornbread Muffins. Yum! Just as good as homecooking (?). This list came with a complete ingredients list which I appreciated.

Well, let me tell you it was much more than 4.5 meals each. I was eating the stuff for breakfast and lunches (and I'm ashamed to admit, but would not bother warming it up eating it cold as salads)-- it saved me from my bad habit of delaying eating to fit in more work, then becoming an uber-wench when I realize that I am starving but also incredibly picky.

And to my surprise, Ben was enjoying it too. He was probably also enjoying not having to deal with the mood swings that come with me being hungry (he calls it the spirit of "Angry Girl").

Now this isn't something I want to do routinely. Firstly, I was raised in a family that doesn't believe in eating left overs...ever - but in all honesty, the food I was eating out-and-about may not be all that fresh either (an employee of an unnamed high-end, organic grocer whispered to me that their prepared foods are usually about a week old...gross). Secondly, despite finding the meals truly tasty, I felt they were simple enough that I could've made them myself.

"...But you didn't," Ben said to my surprise. "...I don't want to waste what little free time we have cooking. Let's order again next week."

www.greenzebrakitchen.com