Survival

Recently I was trekking through the wilderness with a close acquaintance of mine and the topic of what we would bring to survive in the out doors to survive with. The reason that I felt like this should be on a food blog was because almost everything that I said I would bring had to do with obtaining or preparing food. I would like to point out at this point that I am not any survivalist so if I say something stupid, it is because as I was thinking about this it seemed like a god idea.

1.)    A scoped .22 rifle with ammunition. For me this one is a no brainer because I will provide food and entertainment. Having this weapon will allow you to make a meal out of any small game that you see, but not completely blow their brains off. By this I mean that it is not too much gun for squire as lets say a 12 gauge. The 12 gauge was suggested by my acquaintance, but I pointed out to him that you will see more small game that large game and even if you take down a buck you would have no way to keep the meat so you would only get one or two meals out of it.

2.)    Matches. This is another one that came pretty easily to me. The guy I was with was trying to sound tough and suggested flint and steal, but I am not that manly and I am not trying to impress anyone so matches suit my needs. These will come in handy for preparing meals and also making water safe to drink. That leads into number three…

3.)    A pot. I feel like this would get over looked by most people, but having a fire and water does not do you much good if you do not have anything to boil it in.

4.)    A knife. This one also seems pretty obvious, it would come in handy for cleaning game and fish.

5.)    Rod and reel. If you are not having a great day of hunting them you could always throw a line into the water and hope that you get lucky. For bait you can just use a bug that you find of if you catch a little fish you can chop him up (using you handy knife) and put some pieces of him of the other end of your line.

So there you have it. With your rifle, rod and reel, knife, matches and pot you should have all you need to feed your self in the woods. You may even eat pretty well if you know how to cook over a fire. (442 words)

Skiing

So it seems like whatever the weather is like at the time of my blogging inspires me to write about the opposite type of weather. Today it was beautiful so naturally I want to write about what I like to eat while I ski.

So unless you are a high roller, or just do not go skiing very much it is very stupid (in my opinion) to buy things at the slopes, regardless of where you find yourself skiing. I say this because no matter where you are it is always a safe bet that they will jack the prices up. So now you have to sneak some food in…the question is, what do you take?

While skiing may not be the most physically strenuous thing in the world, it still takes some work so I like to try to avoid really greasy things like McDonald’s and Wendy’s. Instead I would rather bring a foot long from subway or bring a couple of double decker peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. If you are not aware of what this is, it is a creation that I thought of (and millions of other people I am sure) in which you use three pieces of bread and to layers instead of the more conventional two pieces of bread and one layer.

Another thing that is a good one to bring would be leftovers. It does not get much better than enjoying some cold spaghetti with some hot chocolate. The only time that this is not such a great idea is when it is crazy cold and you just want to get warm food in side of you when you come in.

Let us say some time you decide to buy food there, now what do you eat? Well. It is pretty safe to say that you will not be getting any food with out grease, so I say go big or go home. Go ahead and get your double bacon cheese burger with mozzarella sticks and bacon cheese fries. (339 words)

HyVee

Today I thought that I would shake things up a little bit and do another restaurant review. So as I am sitting here trying to think of a restaurant to review the first on that comes to my mind is HyVee. I know what you might be thinking, but to many people including myself it is. The best part about going to HyVee to eat is that unlike going to a regular place to eat, you are not limited to one part of the world to eat at. By this I mean that if you feel like pizza, you can get some pizza, if you feel like Chinese food (also known on the streets as “hichi” [HyVee Chinese]), you can get some of the best Chinese food in all Iowa. If you want some home style food (like chicken or Oreo salad) then you can just go get some. The way that you can do is by investing in a fairly priced ticket that entitles you to as much of whatever you want. This I commonly known as a buffet. One of my favorite parts about the HyVee experience is the fact that you don’t have to pick up your own stuff, that is someone else’s job. Something else that makes it nice is that it is conveniently located in side of a HyVee, so if you want to get something else to eat along with your meal you can just go get it. But that typically is not an issue because of the generous portion sizes, and also the fact that it is a buffet and if you know what a buffet is then you know that that doesn't really matter. There is however one thing that I don’t really like about it, that is that I do not get a discount. People who work there do, the problem is that I do not work at Hyvee, just not the one that has the places to eat. So that means that when I go with friends I get to watch them all get discount while I have to pay full price. Another thing that make it hard to resist is that great prices. On top of the already low prices their Italian section had “dollar slice Thursday”. As you may expect on Thursdays a slice of pizza costs only one dollar, and this really attracts people. The way that you get there on Thursdays within your lunch period is to leave right away, get some pizza and eat it on the way back to school. The distance between the high school and the location of the establishment is another thing that I don’t like, but I suppose there is not as much the store director can do about that issue. (427 words)

Pre-What Ever You Are Doing

The problem that I always seem to run into is that I have to be at a practice or lifting session pretty early, but I need to find something to eat. As most people who play any sort of sport (real sport, that is, not golf, bowling, etc.) can tell you that going hard on an empty stomach is absolutely awful. Not eating before you exert your self is the quickest way to make yourself throw up, and throwing up is the quickest way to make you not want to work out. So not the important question, what can I eat that is good right before practice that is also very quick so that I do not have to get up any earlier that I have to?

One option that I am very fond of is a Zone bar. These are made for this purpose and they come in lots of awesome flavors. The flavors are so good, in fact, that there was a point that I didn’t want to eat them because I assumed that there was no way that they were that good and also good for you. I eventually asked my doctor about them and she said that they were good for me, so now they are one of my favorite snacks and pre-practice food item. The only problem is that with like most things, you get what you pay for, by this I mean that from what my parents have told me, they are pretty expensive.

                Another very good option is Muscle Milk. This is supposed to be a post workout protein shake, but I have found that it is great for pre-work out as well. The protein makes it very filling and I get the pre made ones that come already in liquid form (rather than coming in the powder form that requires you to mix it with water in a water bottle). They come in a re-sealable container which makes it great it great to drink while you are driving to practice or running out the door because you are running late.

                The last one that comes to my mind is the humble peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The only down side to this one is it take a little bit of time to prepare, but it is always nice to have that familiar flavor. Another great thing is that the sandwich had sugar, protein, and carbs, all of which your body need to help you perform at you highest level.  (417 words)

Sick Food

Lately I have been feeling a little bit under the weather and that got me thinking about what I like to consume while I am not feeling my best.

I don’t know what is about soup, but for whatever reason I love it when I am sick, but I strongly dislike it when I am feel well. One of the best has to be the classic tomato soup. It might be the simplest thing (other than water) in the history of mankind to prepare. But if you really want to get fancy with it you can make a grilled cheese sandwich and dip it in the soup. The grilled cheese sandwich is relatively advanced and to be completely honest, I do not know how to make one. In know there is something weird with putting the butter on top or something like that. So I only get to have grilled cheese if my mom is home. Another favorite in the soup category is chicken noodle. What I like about this one as opposed to tomato soups is the chicken noodle has some mass to it. By that I mean that it doesn’t just seem like heavy flavored water like tomato soup. In Chicken noodle soup, as the name suggests, you get small chunks of chicken as well as some noodles.

The next one I feel like I have mentioned on here before, but where on here I do not know. That is the pot pie. All you have to do to enjoy this little guy is pop him into the microwave for six minutes. The only bad thing about pot pies is that I am always too eager to eat them so when the some out of the microwave scolding hot I am always inclined to take a nice big bite. But I guess that you cannot really blame the pot pie for that, that’s more user error.

My last pick is nothing. I think that we have all been there when the instant you try to put any substance into your body it just comes right back up, for these situations I think that we all can agree that is is best not to eat anything. If you are in this situation and you feel like you absolutely need to eat something, then about the best thing that I can recommend would be a sugar cube. (397 words)

Food and Kids

Food play a major role in the life of a teenager. As teenage I think that I can give an interesting insight into how big of a deal food is to a teenager, for hunger suppression, social gatherings, and trying to get bigger.

The first of the things that I listed, hunger suppression, is one that impacts me in a large way. My problem, along with many other teenage boys, is that I am always snacking. I literally eat about six or seven meals a day and according to my mom “[I am]...Eating her out of house and home”. Everywhere that I go I need to know that there will be something there for me to eat so that I don’t go into a spiraling “hunger depression” and that is not very much fun.

There is, however, a problem. The problem is that I cannot seem to gain very much weight. To some people this might seem great, but to me it isn’t. I am trying to gain weigh for sports and my high metabolism is really making me mad. This brings me to the third thing that I listed, trying to get bigger. At this point in my life, and the lives of most of the people that I know, getting bigger no longer means growing taller as it used to. Now getting bigger means just adding mass to your body. Most people prefer to do this by working out and gaining muscle, and to gain muscle you need to eat. Another way that you can make yourself bigger is by adding fat, this is the least preferred way. Right now I am just trying to get bigger no matter where the weight comes from.

Lastly, Social gatherings. Restaurants are the place where you go to meet up with your friends and plan out your night. You may discuss whose house to go to over a burrito or perhaps what bridge you heard was fun to jump off of whilst enjoying a Big Mac. Or maybe the food itself is what you are doing that night. Maybe you just want to go to Casa and eat chips for a few hours before actually ordering any real food.

All of the different ways that food can impact the life of a teenager is why I believe that it is such a major part of this nations youths today. (398 words)