all about food

i thought it might be interesting to let everyone back home know how things are going by sharing what we have to eat here.

**disclaimer** regardless of my commentary below... i am getting the right amount and type of nutrients i need... just not in the form i'd every voluntarily eat.

there are basically three sources of food here... dfac (dining facility), mres (meals ready to eat), and off the economy.

1-dfac food: this food is the "hot" chow we can get in the cafeteria. it's a lot like dorm food in that it doesn't seem so bad the first week... until you realize week two is just like week one. in fact day two is just like day one. we already joke about our deployment being like groundhog's day the movie... but with no "pizza" days to look forward to... it really does seem like everyday is the same day.
-our menu for breakfast is always powdered eggs (or omelet if you have a half hour to wait for it), ham slice, bacon, sausage (all of which are rubbery and suspicious), grits (yuck), or a trip to the fruit and cereal bar. the cereal isn't bad but the melons usually are pure rine. i generally eat a bowl of granola and a half a grapefruit for my breakfast.
-lunch & dinner consists of your choice of protein-baked fish (type unknown), some form of chicken and some form of beef... rice or mashed potatoes followed by steamed veggies... then a fairly decent salad bar. this may not sound so bad... but after one week of this... you'll be looking for alternative sources of food.

2-mres: these are pre-made/cooked meals that are fully self contained including thousands of calories. they have a chemically powered heating pouch so you can warm up your meal if you so desire (i usually just eat them cold). when we were in the fob, the food was so bad i actually opted to eat mres instead if i had the choice. they aren't too bad but again here... the selection is limited so it's easy to burn out. look online for different types and how many calories are in them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRE

3-economy eats: if we have the time or transportation there are several options for eating off the local economy. first there's the pizza place, sandwich shop and bagel boutique at the px (post exchange) - plus a burger king just outside. connected to the px is a commissary (grocery store) for those who are ambitious (i go there for fresh fruit when i'm craving it) -there's also plenty of pizza, chinese and other restaurants just off post who deliver... but... that's a sure way to see your pay evaporate and have your wife calling you as to why there's no money in the bank. the other side effects are love handles and an extra set of chins.

what it all boils down to is this... the food sucks, but is sustaining my existence long enough to write this blog. you can see if you think i've lost weight or not by going to my picture page linked at the top of my main blog page or by clicking here. http://picasaweb.google.com/home