Canned goods and instant noodles

I am soooo NOT a fan of canned goods and instant noodles. I know–they’re such a convenience. But the artificial flavors, especially the marked taste of MSG, is just too much for my mouth. Plus, all those scary things one reads about preservatives, not to forget a study that came out a few years ago that the styrofoam bowls of instant noodle soups are poisonous… well, coupled with the house policy that fresh is best, it wasn’t hard to totally rid the cupboards of canned meat and fish, and instant noodle soups.

Then came typhoon Milenyo. On the fourth day of the blackout, having cooked everything that could be salvaged from the almost thawed out freezer (2 kilos of pork abodo on Thursday, leftover adobo plus longganisa on Friday, and 2 kilos of fried chicken on Saturday), Sunday would have been the day we starved. We ate out and, on the way home, passed by the supermarket. It was raining again and the kids were too tired to get out of the car. I went into the supermarket alone and bought all the things I promised myself about a year ago that I would never ever buy again–canned goods (Ma-Ling, tuna, sardines) and instant noodles. The latter, in almost all available flavors. I would have bought corned beef as well had my 14-year-old daughter specifically asked that I DO NOT buy any corned beef at all (she hates corned beef).

Note that there was a time, about a couple of years ago, when my kids couldn’t live without instant noodles. I was still working then (real work, you know, in an office) and all they wanted for their mid-afternoon snack, after arriving home from school, were instant noodles. Yet, on Monday evening, my 14-year-old was whining that she couldn’t eat any more instant noodles. She wanted me to call Pizza Hut or that we eat out. Duh, that was the night that Antipolo was flooded.

It’s been seven days since I bought all those canned goods and instant noodles and the last can of Ma-Ling was fried for breakfast this morning. The instant noodles are gone as well.

Two lessons from the experience: 1) canned goods and instant noodles are useful as emergency food supplies (like during prolonged blackouts) and 2) kids can be weaned from their instant noodles and canned goods diet.

In the archive

• Choices mothers make
• Christmas, New Year and our 16th wedding anniversary
• A book and a blog
• Kids in the kitchen
• Soccer, pasta and maki
• Lechon, ham and Noche Buena
• First day of the Christmas break
• Baguio strawberry picking late this season
• The day I stop enjoying life is the day I start to grow old
• Pesticide in breastmilk