In this blog i will talk about my food consumption for 1 day and will comment on the role of oil and how it has affected my daily routine.
Here is what i had for Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner:
Breakfast:
Cereal w/ Milk
– The cereal i had was Kellogg’s Mini-Wheats Original Flavor and the milk was Dairyland 2% Skim Milk.
Lunch:
Meatball Spaghetti w/ Alfredo Sauce
Lemon tea
– The meatballs were from a local supermarket and the Alfredo sauce was Classico: Four Cheese Alfredo Sauce which i bought from Safeway.
-The lemon tea i had, however was brought home from Hong Kong to Vancouver.
Dinner:
Homemade Seafood Risotto
Water
– The risotto i made consisted of many seafoods such as prawns, squid, scallops, and prawns.
– The risotto was made with red sauce (tomato) and also some vegetables along such as asparagus.
Now i will begin analyzing the role of oil in the three meals i made throughout the day.
To begin with, Breakfast
For breakfast it was a rather quick and simple meal for me as i don’t tend to eat a lot when i just woke up. For preparations, i just mix the 2% milk and the cereal together and thats about it. I chose the 2% milk because i tend to keep track of my diet and do not want to exceed any calories. As for the cereal i picked, i believe its one of the more healthier types with 100% whole grain. The milk was originated in local farms in Vancouver and the cereal was shipped from Toronto, ON. The packaging on both products seems to be quite straightforward with a plastic carton for milk and a cardboard box for the cereal along with a plastic bag where the cereal was in.
I believe that from just my breakfast, the role of oil is already quite large. For the milk, oil was used to produce the plastic container as well as the entire process of making sure the milk is homogenized and then ready to be packaged. For the cereal, oil was produced in making the plastic bag containing the cereal as well as the cardboard box. For the cereal itself, oil was also used in processing the cereal from whole wheat into proper cereal shapes. Adding on, for shipping and transportation, oil was used to for my cereal and milk.
Lunch
For lunch it took me a longer time to prepare because this time i actually need to cook. While cooking i was thinking how important oil was. We use it everyday and we would be in trouble if we do not find alternatives or even try to sustain it for the future. Anyways, for lunch i put the meatballs in the oven and then served it along with some salt and pepper. For the spaghetti, i boiled it in water and then drained it so i can serve it with the Alfredo Sauce i bought, along with the meatballs that were cooking in the oven. The meatballs were from a local supermarket where they said all meats came from Vancouver. The pasta i had was from Italy and was made from Durum Wheat. I believe this type of wheat is very specific and also refers back to our course on how farmers grow their crops. The sauce which i bought at Safeway was also imported from Italy. The packaging for the meatballs was really simple yet i believed used a lot of oil. It was parcelled with styrofoam along with clingfilm film and the nutrition facts labelled on it. For the pasta i bought, it was in a plastic wrapper and the sauce was packaged in a mason jar. The drink i had for lunch also came outside of Canada and transporting it also costs a lot of oil in exchange.
The role of oil for my lunch is also inevitable. Every time i cook, i believe that i will be using some sort of oil or even the fact that oil was already used. The food i cooked for lunch consisted all sorts of oil consumption. For the meatballs, oil was used to make sure that the meatballs won’t stick as well as to ensure that the food smells better. For the spaghetti w/ Alfredo i believe that less oil was used in cooking but for manufacturing the product itself, it used a lot of oil such as transporting it to Vancouver as well as to process raw wheat into spaghetti and also the ingredients in my sauce and how to cooked it. As for my Lemon Tea i had for lunch, i believe it used a lot of oil too because of the packaging. It was packaged by TetraPack where there containers usually takes a lot of resources to produce due to the compact and ergonomic designs. However, one renewable and environmental friendly way i found from lunch was my sauce. After my sauce runs out, i could simply just clean the jar and use it as a glass due to the mason jar design.
Dinner
For dinner i cooked seafood risotto. Yes i am a huge fan for Italian food. Cooking risotto takes a lot of time and preparation. While preparing for my dinner i need to first buy fresh seafood ingredients and then wash them to make sure they are fresh and clean. Afterwards i will start to boil the rice and add in my ingredients to make the risotto. While making the risotto, i realized that i used a lot of oil in the process. I used oil to make the food smell better as well as to have a better taste when the risotto is completed. The seafood that i bought was from a local market where they said their products are from Vancouver. I assume that it might be from Vancouver Island because the fact that they generally go fishing there for their seafood. Adding on, the rice i bought was from a supermarket, however i believe that it was imported from Italy. The cheese and all the other condiments and seasoning i used for my seafood was also from a local supermarket. For the packaging on the seafood, it was fairly simple with not a lot of plastic bags involved. The rice was in a paper bag and the other condiments and seasonings all had their own packaging of a small plastic bottle.
The role of oil for my dinner consisted of different stages. From purchasing the raw products, a lot of oil was used in making plastics, paper, and even transporting back home to cook. While cooking, i used oil to enhance my food as well as an important ingredient in my household. I use oil everyday and it is really hard to change your lifestyle and not use oil, therefore i believe for me to improve i could only use less oil and eventually live a healthier life also.
In conclusion, after analyzing all three meals i had, i believe that my oil consumption for the three meals are in the following ranking:
Dinner: Most oil used. This is because my meal consisted of many products that are imported as well having a lot of processing so the oil used is the highest.
Lunch: Between the amount used for breakfast and dinner
Breakfast: Least
After doing this blog and realizing how much oil i use for just one day, i believe that i need to really control the amount of oil used in the future. This is because i believe i have been using way more than one person’s amount.