Cheap Eats

So, did you hear the economy is/was/still might be tanking?  Yep, most people are trying to slim down their budgets.  

Finally, I say.  Too many people have been living past their means for too long.  Sheesh.  ...of course, not that I was that much better until about a year or two ago.  It took me FOREVER to learn that my economic status was not the same as my parents' status (imagine that, a theatre grad not having the income of a family who had been working for decades, who'd a thunk).  Anyway, I figured it out, paid off the bills, slowly (I mean slowly) got a budget, and have been getting better gradually ever since.  Took me long enough.  But my husband has always lived frugally ("It's like Monopoly," he says, "you can't spend more than you've got!"), and I've been doing pretty well for a while, so I got a head start on the people who just started getting cheap last fall.

Anyway, I'm now at a point where I can look at an item in a store and know whether or not it's a good deal.  That's important, and not as easy as it seems if you're not used to it.  Here in Chicago, you're lucky to find ground beef for less than $2.50/lb, boneless chicken breast for $3/lb, and apples for less than $1.50/lb.  Add in all the fancy stuff that "people are supposed to eat", and the grocery bill can add up fast.  I swear, when I was in college, I would sometimes spend $100 a week on food.  A WEEK.  For one person.  It was in the name of it's-healthy-for-me, but it was WAY out of budget.  Kinda dumb.  I'd love to eat all natural free range organic happy everything, but I just can't afford $10/lb meat.  Or oranges for $1.50/lb.  Or a box of cereal that's less than a pound for $5.  It's just not possible.  I feel bad for the animals and the earth, I know it's not as good for us, but there's just nothing to be done about it.

So, let's look at what I've prepared over the past week or so:

Beef roast with mashed potatoes and salad:  Beef, buy one get one free, $2.50/lb.  Potatoes, $.50/lb for a 10 lb bag.  Salad with tomatoes and cucumber, about $1.50.  Per serving:  $2.00.

Tuna salad sandwich: Tuna, $.59, mayo/mustard, $.25.  Croissant, $.60.  Apple, 5 lbs/$3, about $.55.  Total:  $1.99.  (The croissant did me in.)

Pasta with tomato-beef sauce:  Pasta, $1.  Beef, $2/lb.  Tomatoes in a can (2), $1.50.  Onion & other, $.50.  Per serving: $1.75.

Chicken Rice & Spinach casserole:  Chicken (breasts, frozen from before I realized I shouldn't buy the easy kind), $2/lb.  Spinach, $1.50. Rice, $.50. And some other stuff.  Per serving: $1.50.

Beans, cornbread, and salad:  Beans, $1/lb.  Cornbread, about $2 homemade.  Salad of tomatoes  cucumber, $1.50.  Per serving:  $1.25.

Eggs & toast:  Eggs, $2.50/18.  Bread, homemade, $2.00.  Per serving, $.50.

So I'm doing alright, I think.  I'm finding meat on sale, buying a lot, and freezing it (wrapping in foil and writing the date on it first).  I can get chicken leg quarters for $.75/lb at the corner store normally, and sometimes on sale for $.50/lb.  Heavy produce (apples, potatoes, oranges) have better prices by the bag.  And although I don't typically buy onions by the bag (why not, who knows), I think I'll start.  Since we're chocaholics we always have some choclatey sweet stuff around, and my husband likes the good stuff -- Ghiradelli.  It's hard to go back to store brand chips... so that's our splurge item.  It's typically $3.89 for an 11 oz bag of chocolate chips, I can find them for 2 for $5 every month or two.  So I stock up, and we go through a bag every 2 weeks or so.  Cereal is SO expensive here, normally $4-5 a box, depending on what you get, so that gets passed up for eggs and bread.  Or oatmeal.  And I fill a casserole or pasta/rice dish with beans to pack in more protein and fiber, and that allows me to be able to serve a little less meat.  Any little bit of healthy filler helps.  And it also helps that Matt likes pretty much everything I've made, or I'd be totally frustrated with trying to please him and our wallets.

I normally shoot for a $5 per person per day food cost.  That's $250 - $300 per month for the two of us.  I guess that's not too bad depending on who you ask.

And tonight: I'll make oven-roasted fries for later this week (have to do *something* with the potatoes) and some sort of baked sweet.  It's been 48 hours since we've had baked goods in the house, I might get divorced if I don't correct that soon.  Since I found 500 bijillion tons of nuts while rearranging the kitchen this evening, I think it'll have nuts in it.  And chocolate.  (But that goes without saying.)

Shop on.

You Can Have Whatever You Like

(In case you're wondering, no, I don't like TI, who wrote the above lyrics. He just got arrested for weapons or something related to them. But my coworker's cell phone rings with the above lyrics, and so I frequently have the song in my head.) [shrug]

With the recent craziness of our small household, I've lost myself in a little bit of thought of what I want for our future. Most of it is different than most peoples' wants, I suppose.

I would love to live in the boonies, on a little homestead, Little-House-on-the-Prairie-Style. Just, you know, with electricity... and running water... and my internet. I do enjoy Google and Wikipedia. But I'd love to make my own soap, which I can't do now for lack of time and space. I want a garden big enough to take care of at least some of our winter food, and learn canning -- again -- lack of time and space. Enough kids that we have a good sized family, but not so many that we can't have a decent lifestyle (no, I don't know what that means yet). I want to have a house that is clean and fresh, with our own home grown flowers adorning the big dining room table. I want a kitchen open enough to the rest of the house that I can be there and not cut off from friends when they are over for dinner. I want a pretty but eclectic tea set that I can haul out after dinner, with enough time to be able to actually relax and enjoy it. I want chickens (I think). I don't know if I'd like to homeschool our kids, but it's a possibility. I like baking bread -- even though I don't quite have my method down pat yet -- and want to bake more.



I never imagined saying this, but I get some silly satisfaction out of taking care of the home. I remember glorifying the 1950's housewife lifestyle when I was a kid, wishing to playact in it for a time. And I had started doing that after getting married, but thought that I had to be careful in setting up that soon-to-be-cemented expectation in Matt that this was the way it would always be. Then I realized -- this was enjoyable. I liked this. Huh.

So I've found myself enjoying that simpler life that I've talked about for years. Buying fewer things, making more of our own household supplies (baking soda is AWESOME at de-griming a bathtub), trying to keep a slower pace. I always talked a good talk, but I'm finally living it. Well... okay, kind of living it. As much as one can when living in a huge city in a small apartment working at a desk job. I've gotten rid of debt, I don't spend as much -- or when I do, I spend intelligently on something I plan on having for a LONG time.

I finally feel like my religious search has mellowed, too. I have finally settled back into a version of a mindset I had years ago, just more Abrahamic-based. I feel like I can look to God for the stability I need, but know that I can't expect any help unless I first get my own rear in gear. I'm not perfect, but no one judges me except for Him, through the eyes of the One who gave me this life I lead. As long as I'm doing the best I can -- and actually doing my best, not just faking it -- I'll be fine. I hope that I can bring light to everyone in my life.

I know that in the past I looked upon people who were "simple" and thought they were missing out; it was too bad they didn't see all that life had to offer. If only they would reach out from their small lives, spread their wings and fly! Think critically of life and of the people around them, expand from where their families came from! I've finally begun to realize how wrong I was -- not necessarily for everyone, but for me. Maybe it was a stage I was going through, or maybe it was just me trying to make good on all the good education given to me by my parents. But simple isn't necessarily less. I can't preach it to everyone, though I hope that I can subtly influence other people to make similar choices. We can have whatever we want -- and if simple we want, simple we can have.

But living simply doesn't mean you can't have and enjoy these every now and then (as long as you get a good deal).


I love my life. [smiles]


Yours in Simplification.