Mmmm. Fish-Flavored Chicken

Yes, another post about food. But it turns out food is something we do 3-5 times a day, so it will probably come up somewhat frequently.

We had been warned about chicken tasting like fish, but we just encountered it for the first time. Not delicious. Apparently it is common to feed dried fish flakes to the chickens, and the result is that the meat smells and tastes fishy. We had been very much enjoying roasting whole birds in the oven with a tray of potatoes, carrots and onions beneath it to catch the delicious juices, but then we got a fishy one. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt us, and the meat might even be healthier due to a diet high in Omega-3s, but we both lost our appetites rather quickly. It was just... weird. And my hands smelled fishy for the next day or so. The good news is that the tasty chickens all came from the same grocery store, and the fishy one from a different store, so hopefully we can avoid making that mistake again.

It has been fun exploring all the new foods, and adjusting our diets to focus on the foods that are absurdly cheap (like potatoes, carrots, apples, noodles, buckwheat, etc...). Our first month food bill came in at about $800 USD -- we were budgeting for $200 a month, and of

course there is some wiggle room, but not THAT much! It is hard to calculate how much of that first month was just start-up costs; putting food in the fridge, freezer and cupboards. Needless to say, we have been shopping around quite a bit and trying to cut back on the more expensive foods. No more trays of gooey nachos here :-( On the bright side, we found even cheaper ice cream -- $1.25 for more than half a gallon, so I'm still allowed to have my daily dish. Whew!

We decided to see what would happen if we quit Finn's diet. His gluten free noodles were $3.50 a bag, but regular noodles are $0.25 a bag! His bread and almond milk had similar price deltas. Anyway, we quit all the special foods cold-turkey and he seems to be just fine! What in the world. So, has he already outgrown his issues, were we just grasping at straws believing it made a difference because we were that desperate, or does the food quality here make the difference? I guess we might find out when we come home the first time. I've done a tiny bit of reading, and apparently wheat in the US is soaked in glyphosates (thank you Monsanto) just prior to harvesting; glyphosates are not allowed in Russia, even on the imported food! Similarly, animals are not given growth hormones, and cows are rBGH free as well. As far as I can tell, produce is essentially organic and non-GMO. It is all very interesting. And also super awesome to not have to cater to his special little tummy anymore. We are quite enjoying making him eat whatever we are having for dinner, for the first time ever. Some days (the days that include bread and/or cheese) he is loving it, and others (the days that include meat and potatoes) he is not. In the long run, it should be much nicer for all of us though.