I had this genius plan to make turkey stuffed cabbage rolls tonight, but I unfortunately ran out of time while working on dessert. So when I called hubby to ask when he was coming home, he actually answered that it was about a half hour. Then I looked at the recipe and saw 65 minutes but the steps suddenly seemed overwhelmingly onerous (i.e. boil water, blanch cabbage leaves). [I can see somebody saying "wun-russ"?]
So in my haste, I decided that the butternut squash mix was going to become quiche in a hurry. I added two strips of bacon (could have used more), and egg-washed the frozen pastry, then egg washed the top with the rest of the egg, dumping it in. Baked it for about 45 minutes at 400 F and served it with frozen peas.
Tonight's dinner + hubby's lunch tomorrow = 3 meals
$0.20 = peas (I know that the big itself was $1.99)
$0.10 = onion (it was around half from the butternut squash mix)
$0.49 = eggs (there was some in the mix already and then I used 1 more)
$0.00 = butternut squash (rescued from parents' house as it was getting old)
$0.10 = bacon? I dunno ... there was only a little bit
$1.25 = one pie crust (I know this because I make a fabulous beef and vegetable pie and always wait for the pie crusts to go on sale for $2.50 each)
______
$2.14 / 3 = $0.71 per meal
Wow, it's really exhausting keeping this giant grocery database in my head.
Please don't think I calculate every meal that we eat. I only do it if I'm really proud of myself and can actually figure it out. And it's sort of my campaign to prove that you can eat healthily on a tight budget.
Friends of ours came over for dinner this one time, and I calculated it then, only because we usually go out and spend quite a bit with them. It turned out that I'd spent about $16 for the four of us to eat at our house. And then hubby played along and guesstimated (all by himself!) how much we probably would have spent had we ordered the same things at a restaurant.
It's so funny - he's becoming more and more Chinese as the months go by. He knows to save the "good takeout containers."
I was actually quite proud of hubby tonight. I was all in a huff when he got home because of my dinner cooking plans going off schedule (and off the week's menu schedule too). And just when I was about to freak out about how this isn't supposed to be my life for where we live, he became Super Duper Husband.
He:
1) did the dishes
2) set up the laundry
3) cleaned our master bathroom
4) didn't complain at all about having to wait for dinner to be ready
5) walked with me to the library
6) enthusiastically complimented the apple and pear crumble with real whipped cream that I made AND asked for it as a snack with lunch tomorrow
7) gave me cash so I don't have to go to the bank tomorrow
8) answered all my semi-leading questions with the right answers i.e. do you like not having to worry about food and meals? Do you like the surprise of finding out what's for dinner when you get home?
Sigh. Yes, what a keeper.
This is a get-out-of-me-being-mad-at-you-in-future-card, Husband.
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