Food and meals in Sweden

Back in NH, many of my meals were often prepared quickly, with the exception of my cooking streak during July when I wasn't working. Often, when things get busy, spending time cooking loses priority. We had a good variety of quick meals, either to make ourselves, or something inexpensive that was already made.

Here in Sweden, eating out is almost always expensive. Lunch is cheaper than dinner, but usually I am perfectly content eating sandwiches for lunch. In general, I haven't really built up a collection of quick meals to make. It is easy to make spaghetti, because it is obvious that tomatoes are tomatoes, and pasta is pasta. Finding the right spices took a little bit of time, but that got sorted out. Apparently mac&cheese is not a thing here. Although I just remembered that I saw a box of cheese sauce in the section with the sausage, so I'll have to try that sometime. But when we first got here and I wanted mac&cheese, I had to make my own cheese sauce. From real cheese!

So I am getting good experiences with cooking, but again, I don't really want to be spending too much time with cooking. One way I am cutting corners is with instant mashed potatoes. I remember eating them when I was a kid, and they were flakes that you mixed with milk and butter and salt. Now (or maybe just here in Sweden), the instant mashed potatoes are a powder. You just add hot water. It is as easy as making tea!

I'll apologize now that none of these paragraphs really flow or have nice transitions.

The other day, I found what looked to be a granola bar. It was in the gluten free section, where I was looking to find some oats (I eventually found them by the rice, and then I made a delicious apple crisp.). And it was delicious!!

I ate this yesterday before leaving the office. It had oats in it. And maybe oat flour? And some vegetable oil. And cranberries and pumpkin seeds of course. It was super delicious, and with 250 kcal of energy, it definitely held me over until I could get dinner. Greg also had one, and he said it tasted like cookie dough, so it makes sense why I thought it was so delicious.

I also love that it says "On-the go!" which is a bit of a novelty here. In the US, it seems typical to be eating foods on-the-go, or at least snacking on foods throughout the day. This does not seem to be the case here. Actually, I've noticed that in the European airports I have been in lately, people generally do not eat food outside of the designated restaurant areas. Foods seem to be eaten as meals, and proper meals only. No grazing here. Unless you are me, and you stocked up on Flapjack cranberry & pumpkin seed bars:)