Friday, March 19, 2010

ARE MY PRIORITIES ASKEW?

A few weeks ago I threw out all of my old saute pans. They were really nice pans. Well, two were really nice, but the other was super cheap originally. The bottom of all of the pans were flaking whenever I cooked anything, and I knew I couldn't hide the black pieces of plastic in the food, (too big to be pepper!), so it really was a good thing.

I called my mom to find out what type of pan to buy to avoid ingesting aluminum, etc. When I called, I was shopping for food and happened upon some pans in one of the aisles at the super market. She strongly encouraged me to go to a "specialty cooking store"and pay for some really good ones. She suggested at least $150 per pan. I asked if Costco would have some less expensive, high-end pans. She said no. I reminded her that we did not have money to spend on cooking pans. (I probably said it like that too.)

Then she reminded me of the expensive bikes that we own.

I knew and had realized before that my husband and I have kind of strange priorities, (luckily they are somewhat aligned though), but it suddenly hit me that I was neglecting to prioritize the health of my family. I wondered (silently) whether I would have the self discipline to save my money to buy a really nice pan that for much money.

I ended up buying some rather inexpensive pans (a set of three) at Costco. I figure they should last me at least three years, especially if I only use my $1.50 plastic spatula that I also bought for the pans, just so that I don't scratch them - at all.

It's amazing that I would rather compromise the possible health threats to my family of aluminum in the saute pans, but maintain our crazy tendency to spend lots of money on sports and anything slightly related to them. This seems hard to change. I'm not sure if I can. It just seems so obvious which I should save my money for: a bike or a kayak, versus a saute pan or a cheese grater.

I'm lucky to have my mom to remind me of what really is important. Sometimes I wish I could listen to her advice better, but in the end, sometimes I can't. Three years of residency will go by pretty quickly though, right?

2 comments:

cheri said...

we all have our priorities, whether it makes sense to other people. in our house, we would scrimp on other things like trips just to get the right ingredients for a recipe. does that make us lesser people? NO. and neither are you.

i am lusting after really good pans, though, and they dont come cheap. better save up.

added you to my blogroll :)

(Christensen) Fraser, Rachael said...

I have pans from Costco and they are great. They are the really heavy nice ones too. My mom gave them to me when I got married and she gave the same ones to all of my siblings I think when they got married. They are going strong after almost 8 years of marriage and I'm sure they will continue to last at least another 20. I wouldn't discount Costco completely when it comes to pans. I really love mine.