Monday, October 29, 2012

Watch Sandy Candy and Hurricane Weight Gain

Wind? Rain? How about weight gain?


*Please note this was written before Sandy devastated the area, I would never make light of what's happening in our city. 
I would guess that, aside from water, our family could survive for a month with the items in our pantry, fridge and fruit bowl. Obviously, a loss of power would change those calculations. This knowledge didn’t stop me from hitting the grocery store. I felt compelled to get another bunch of bananas, milk (we had a ½ gallon and a spare), eggs, Mast Brothers dark chocolate with sea salt, you know “just in case”.  I was housebound during flooding in New Orleans, back in college, with carrots, tomato paste, ground coffee (not that interesting when there’s no water) and uncooked brown rice. Though I survived, it wasn’t fun. Clearly, I am not alone in my unfounded food panic Westside Rag reported a run on bagels, pasta, turkey burgers and scallions (scallions.. are people smoking them or something?). 

We are not in a low-lying area or “Zone A” so my Hurricane Sandy fear is not the legitimate concern for our home or property. We are not getting evacuated. If we were I’d be attending to all the goes along with that. Instead, I have the luxury of bitching about school being closed, my workday scrapped and hours upon hours housebound and sedentary. The idea of this makes my skin crawl. And compounding this there’s another source of anxiety, what will my cooped up clients be eating?  I want to grab the microphone away from reporters in windbreakers near beaches and scream "everyone knows that beaches during storms are unsafe, what about kitchens?" In the event that you’re inside contemplating cake or Halloween candy, some dietary sandbags:

Plan your food for the day.
It’s easy to use food to pass the time; however, if you’re less active and eat more you will roll your way into Halloween. You see where this is going. Make yourself a menu for the day. Maybe use up some perishable items or cook something healthy. Warning: cookie baking may lead to "storm surge" in unexpected places.

Juice
If you own a juicer, while you still have power, use the veggies you have lying around in a juice. Washing and cutting takes some time (you have plenty) and you’ll be able to start your Sandy day on a healthy note.

Don’t raid the pantry, organize it.
If you’re in the house for the foreseeable future and any of your shelf contents are unappealing, they will always be unappealing. Use the time inside to gather up giveaway items.

Carve
Do you have that pumpkin sitting around uncarved? Carolyn informed me pumpkins were sold out at Whole Foods yesterday so some of you snagged them. Maybe some Sandy-inspired art? While you’re at it, roast the seeds. What else do you have to do?

Dance
I’m the type who needs to move or I’m unpleasant to be around (my husband would likely have a different adjective than"unpleasant"). I don’t know if I’ll have the chance to risk my life to get to Flywheel at the JCC tomorrow (with a bike dangerously located near a window) but I will have a family dance party or we’ll shoot some hoops in my son’s room and I may even use some of the purged cans (hearts of palm that predate my children) for hand weights. Our intern Katelynn plans to embrace elevator-less-ness and she lives on the 19th floor.

And when all else fails shop
We might not be able to get our Sandy Special to you during the storm but we can at least provide a light at the end of the hurricane.

Let’s have some fun with this.
As always you can #TIDEI (tweet it don’t eat it) if you’re tempted to eat any unnecessary Sandy snacks.

Post on our Facebook page how you’re “working out” during the storm. I welcome creativity but keep it PG rated (do what you want but just don’t tell me about some workouts) 

At the end of the day, Sandy may lead to a lot of devastastation; she doesn’t need to make you fat.
If you went to the grocery store before a storm, what would your essentials include? Why do you think we’re tempted to eat when stuck inside? Any idea about the scallion appeal?



21 comments:

  1. Glad you are not in harms way but I'm sure it's scary anyway...stay safe Lauren. And enjoy your chocolate...

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  2. Went for foods that if I started to eat out of boredom would do the least damage - and had the potential to survive w/out refrigeration: roasted chick peas, kale (+ other veggies/greens), some imported tuna, apples, some dried mango, iced coffee (I would rather give up water than coffee), finncrips crackers and chocolate almond butter. A superhelpful hint - put most of my bottled water in the freezer. If power goes out, they will act as ice blocks to keep things chilled for a longer period of time.

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  3. I like your Sandy menu Jen and a good reminder I am going to make some coffee and chill it now in case.

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  4. I know you're Mast Brothers fan too Ameena. Right now, not so much happening here but we'll see. Kids home, ah the fun never ends.

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  5. I have a TON of meat in my freezer so I've been cooking frantically today and yesterday, just in case the power goes out. But if it does go out, it will all go bad anyways so I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.


    I'm a big fan of Go Hunza Take a Hike trail mix, Lydia's Cacao Bars, Kale Chips, Canned Salmon and Nori wraps.

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  6. New orleans hurri-cations were so fun - this is a little less so. I'm sticking to lots of recipes, tried not to overdo snacks. We carved pumpkins last night and friend used muffin tins for roasting seeds, turned out perfect single servings. Other essentials: fruit, nuts, eggs, lots teas. Ok, wine too.

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  7. love the image of frantic cooking, sort of love that we're using up some things/veggies dwindling. All meals are like a Chopped episode.

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  8. hurrication fun, "house arrest" with whole family something we should consider for criminals. love the muffin tin pumpkin seeds, how did you season?

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  9. i prepared a few meals the other day as well. i used up all of the fresh veggies i had in my fridge, (along with anything that would go bad if the power went out) i made roasted butternut squash, chicken noodle soup, as well as a cold pasta salad. i've stocked up on nuts and dried fruits for snacks...i just don't get the whole scallion craze...maybe scallion can be used in a few different soups?

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  10. I can only imagine how packed the NYC grocery stores were yesterday.....I mean, I'm in Columbus, Ohio and our store was a MAD HOUSE yesterday! So.....I'm trying to picture 10 x the madness.....wowza.
    We carved our pumpkins on Sunday, but I got lazy and didn't do the seeds. Oh well, next year!

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  11. First off, glad you and your family are safe and sound {and maybe a little bit crazy from all the family togetherness!}. Great tips, here, especially the one to organize the pantry and juice the produce. I probably would drink a lot of tea being stuck inside, which is actually what i do working from home between meals when I'm not REALLY hungry. Glad you have your dark chocolate w/ sea salt...that really is a pantry staple IMO.

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  12. so sad love the seeds :( Worst part of this storm how long it's been, I can't complain though. Lights flickered but we have power.

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  13. hope you braved Sandy/all is well.

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  14. maybe you're right K, scallions for soup or just weird new yorkers, hope to see you thurs.

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  15. the crazy damage put this all in perspective though schools closed a third day tomorrow. I'm still doing well rationing that dark choc.

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  16. So glad that you are safe and don't need to evacuate.

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  17. grateful, really wasn't bad but it was for some. City far from back to normal.

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  18. thanks Ayala, happy to not be closer to the water.

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  19. Lauren, this is so funny. I was last minute provision shopping Monday morning and Andrew said to me, "Do you need popcorn?" And I said, "NEED? No, I don't 'need' any of the stuff we are getting and the last thing I need is to be buying snacks that I will feel obligated to eat just because I bought them. I did drink a lot more wine than I typically drink on Weekdays though...oops.

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