Step 3: removing cholesterol from the diet

No cholesterol means none. None more cholesterol! Zero eggs, meat, poultry, fish, or dairy. That leaves me with only about a million other kinds of food to eat. The trouble will be coming home from a long day at work (one hour transit each way) and taking fresh food from the fridge and preparing it, and NOT buying a bag of Fritos on the way home and eating them for dinner with salsa as a vegetable. Or spending money on pizza or Chinese or sushi or whatever. Or making a couple or three peanut butter sandwiches.

Considering the fabulous collection of cast iron, stainless steel, and copper cookware I have, and all the cool tools and knives and cutting boards anyone could ever want (none at full price, mostly bought at clearance sales and from thrift stores; I'm not rich!), I should be able to cook for myself, right? And I have a blender, and TWO food processors (one large Braun with multiple blades and bowls that I got at Value Village for less than $20 CA [see picture], and a smaller Salton that works well to chop onions, etc., quickly), and a Braun immersion blender that I've had for about 20 years. And two Presto pressure cookers (one vintage aluminum, needs a new sealer ring again; one new stainless steel). Oh, and I have a vintage juicer that works pretty well (5 bucks at our street sale).

I went through my freezer and cupboards and pulled out all the foods that are meat, fish, or dairy. I listed the frozen meat on FreeCycle and have had about 9 responses since yesterday.

I specified that the food should go to an organization that provides meals for people in need. This implies that, for example, the meats could be thawed and used in recipes. So a strip loin steak or pork loin could be cut up and made into a nourishing soup, stew, or casserole, so instead of feeding me twice (or once, if I'm greedy), that tender meat cooked with vegetables and potatoes should feed about 6-8 people. One can of sockeye salmon (hey, it was on sale!) could make sandwiches for four. Is that a lot to ask?

I think I've made my choice, though. I called Second Harvest today and left a message. They don't usually do small pickups, but I checked their website and among the donations they want is an industrial wringer bucket on wheels, of which I have one (1). I am not so ambitious about washing the basement floor any more...

Now I need to cull more cookbooks to make room in the pantry for beans and other things.