A comforting meal substitute

Today were having pork. It is the other white meat and they seem to have a lot of it at this nursing home. I do not like to eat pork as it tends to upset my stomach and cause abdominal cramping. But sometimes it's almost unavoidable. Some days they substitute ham with pork, or the reverse.

When I saw that pork was on the menu today, I wondered what the substitute would be. I found out it would be yesterday's spaghetti and meat sauce. That sounded much better than the dry pork they usually serve here.

I gave up pork on my own along with beef back in the 80s. The price of beef and pork was pretty high and at the time the store where I shop for meat did not have the best all the time. Many times after I worked I did not want to come home and wait for my caregiver to cook for me. Sometimes we did fast food. After a while I knew that was not good. It resulted in weight gain.

We started having a hard time figuring out what to do with the pork and beef. I put it in the freezer and it was a challenge to use it up. I've referred to have chicken and fish because it took less time to cook them. I gradually gave up beef and pork.

It was difficult going to a nursing home. Beef and pork were most definitely on the menu. I had to eat the beef and I ate the pork. I guess I wanted to see what the food would be like. I was used to nursing homes in the late 70s that served beef, pork, and chicken made into patties that had been flash fried and frozen. They weren't very appetite appealing, but they were sustenance. At least the food a nursing home is not quite that bad now.

We have gone 13 days without a pork entrée at lunch. During that time I did have to eat pork once. Ham with beans was the main meal. The substitute was a breaded pork chop. I ate it because it would be either that or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I eat the pork and was sorry afterwards. To me it tasted a bit old.

Today pork was on the menu for lunch. In the last two weeks the pork on the menu was served in the evening. I don't go to the dining room for that meal.

When I checked to see what the substitute was, I was told spaghetti and meat sauce. It would be warmed over yesterday's lunch. Even so, I always think spaghetti sauce is better on the second day. I just hoped they would have enough to give us a good portion.

When I received my plate, the spaghetti noodles and meat sauce filled up about two thirds of the on the designated entrée spot on my dietary tray. I was dejected and hungry. I ate the spaghetti with meat sauce and the piece of bread with butter so I would be filled up. I think spaghetti brings back comforting memories from home and childhood.

I remember watching mother making spaghetti sauce, over many hours, in her kitchen. I also remember the many years that I helped her put things together for her spaghetti sauce. As I said, a spaghetti dinner brings it all back.