Agnes L.
Maybe I am grumpy right now about the (lack of) usefullness of men, but if your son in law doesn't like the food, then don't eat it. he is getting his food free, isn't he? he (or your hubby bob) is welcome to go shopping with you and to suggest low cost meals.
agnes
We would be in the same boat about men right now Agnes... hee hee.. the ones in my home are a major pita. I refuse to worry about SIL, he is not losing significant weight , but at the same time it was bred into me to consider all members as equally as possible once age and health are factored in.
We just do not have reasonable BOGOs in my area, If I shop at the higher priced markets they have sales but since they were inflated to begin with most of the prices will not compensate for the mark up, for example Winn Dixie sells canned spaghetti sauce for a buck a can or (wow) 5 for 5.00 same sauce at the super Wally is 89 to 94 cents a can. Plus Wally will meet any advertised sale price. Going to a local meat market I get the dog's beef heart when they are overwhelmed with them and venison bone but I simply can not afford the cost of the butcher quality cuts with a family of my size. Once in a while I can get a decent buy on milk at CVS since we need a minimum of 5 gals a week IF I have koolaid and juice I try to watch for sales on milk at the drug store. I can save about 75 to 90 cents a gallon at times.
My spaghetti is really expensive since it is a recipe that grew as the family did. We had dinner at a friend's home and I admit it , it was rough. canned sauce over inexpensive noodles. They concluded it was a meat dish since the canned sauce said meat on it..???It was like eating school cafeteria food. We have gotten so spoiled, a home made sauce is not "right" unless it has all of the texture and flavors that go into ours. Meats are any decent ground with hot ground sausage added, then the fresh mushrooms, tomatoes, celery, onions, zuchinni..adding black olives, chopped marinated artichikes.... it is thick and filling, served only on whole wheat pasta with fresh grated parm, garlic bread and a green salad. I have tried leaving out a couple of items and while it is eaten there are remarks or complaints about how it isn't "my" sauce.... well duh. to serve one meal for 10 people this recipe and dinner costs about 45.00
I do a great meatloaf, an awesome chili, a tuna casserole that all began as "Budget" meals and over nearly 30 years of wedded "Bliss" were tweaked to encourage the young eaters, fill up the older eaters etc... The tuna casserole was a cheapie meal originally but now IT will run at least 20.00 with a simple salad for a single sitting for my big family. Obviously leftovers are at a premium when you have a large household.
I was thinking I have a hot dish, stir fried cabbage, carrots, onion , potatoes and sausage that used to be inexpensive. But darn it when I ran the numbers it is another 17.00 meal :0(
One of the rough parts about budgeting around here right now is when the daughter and SIL cook they routinally ruin the cuts of meat they may buy. The Hubs will eat but only with an obscene amount of blue cheese dressing poured on what ever it may be which sorry but I find both tiresome and offensive. DH can not handle dry meat, but I am ready to hurl when I smell the blue cheese anymore. He always felt chicken was nothing short of divorce food.... that is basically what he survived on when divorcing wife #2 before we got together.
The SIL believes mac and cheese comes only in a box and then complains when it cost roughly 4.00 to make 3 boxes... I home cook it and yes that means I am spending about 14.00 to make two large pans of it, again good cheese not powdered, whole grain pasta, butter not veg oil and lovely panko breadcrumbs...
Ideally the family would work with me on cost control but they have had some "issues" with that in the past year. So I had to get fairly medieval with everyone about it. When I leave it to them to self adjust and think I am sadly disappointed. And worse, the shortfall that will happen has to be addressed by someone who cares and it seems I am wearing that hat.
It was also rough to make folks understand with 3 kids in grade school they have to have lunches and snack before I am the least concerned about people's sodas, energy drinks , chips and salsa habits. When SIL works overtime I usually am not told until I have spotted the crap food collection, when I ask them to instead buy basic and stock up items they may buy a can here and a box of something there but nope they are not going to think beyond that "Score!!" feeling that makes them feel justified in buying ready made flans, gourmet cookies and chips.... good Lord the chips and sodas they consummed last year....just nuts. They are all losing weight but instead of feeling healthier they all seem to simply feel deprived.I spend a minimum of 500.00 a month at the house for groceries. Holiday months I will spend upwards of twice this amount. The largest part of my budget goes to fresh fruits, salads and veggies bought locally as often as possible. Thankfully the Alabama 5 were raised to prefer fruits over candy , carrot sticks over most chips... we did bisquit pizzas instead of hitting the Hut I think that ran something like 11 or 13 dollars to give the kids a treat.
I guess I am just tired of the economy right now. Having a family that is spoiled rotten has not helped I know. I find myself dreading one question more than any other..."What's for dinner?" it is enough to make me want to cry right now. We do not wear designer clothes right now, it is a book over video game house hold and I really struggle to keep positive about the finacial news. Anyone else just bummed about it too? How on earth did my mom do it?? There were 6 of us kids and Dad was never higher ranked than chief. I remember gleaning fields as a kid. I know we ate our weight in beans. but somehow I am having a mental block on mom's die hard tricks. I can not remember ever being hungry or feeling deprived in any way. sigh....
Bonita of Bwana