Tuesday, January 6, 2009

When hubby is away...

and you are super poor (well, for another two days, anyway, we are paying some stuff off - HURRAY!!) - this is a GREAT time to really dig into the pantry, the back of the freezer, and come up with some kid-friendly meals (not to mention remain extremely frugal just like your sweet hubby asked before leaving to go speak at a conference.....good wife ;)

ANYWAYS, it has required a lot of me standing in the kitchen with my recipe box, pantry door wide open, peeking WAY back behind the usual cans and boxes. I even found some frozen (ok, *really* frozen, as in forgot-they-were-back-there) breaded chicken breasts that I convinced the kids were even better than chicken nuggets.

Granted, there's not a lot of fresh produce. But hey, canned fruits and frozen veggies work too! My little brood can work it's way through a loaf of homemade bread a day (or more).

We have "leftover" meals, which for some reason my son Isaac thinks are WONDERFUL!! You know, it kinda goes like this:

Me: okay, I've got 1 small bowl of oatmeal, who wants it?

Them: Me, me. No thank you. What else do you have, Momma?

Me: Well, I've got maybe 2 small portions of mac-n-cheese. STOP YELLING! Just two....you'll have to figure it out....

Them: Me. ME!! I *need* the mac-n-cheese, PLEASE!!

Me: Aaaaaaand, here's some pasta & meat sauce......oh, and some popcorn. There's one slice of raisin bread. Any takers? Come one, this is good stuff here!


Anyway, you get the idea. I dig around and find all the little bits of pretzels (why do some people leave 6 pretzels in the bottom of the bag?? Why??), last cube of cheddar, that last homemade frozen waffle we forgot about......It's a great meal!! They snack their way through dinner, sitting at the island in my kitchen, while we listen to music and I keep refilling drinks, getting out condiments, etc. It's all on paper plates and anything not eaten gets pitched. I guess it would work really well as a day-before-grocery-shopping meal, actually.


Well, this has been our regular meal around here for the past few days. I did manage to make it to the grocery store for pull-ups, eggs and pop today (speaking of which, I somehow ended up making it home with only 4 of the 12 eggs I bought NOT broken - grrr.....), yet with a few other errands added in, time just got away from us (this happens often! Time is *often* lost while wrangling 4 small children in a store....*sigh*). I stopped at the church on the way home, forced by the tearful pleas of my 7yob who was INSISTENT he had left his third lost tooth (in a nice wooden container, btw) in the 2yo room while I was getting some work done there today. As I walked down the hallway, I was struck by........anyone??.......yup, SCIATIC nerve pain shooting down my left leg. COME ON!!!! Like I need this right now?!?

There was no way I was going home, only to have to stand up in the kitchen fixing dinner (it was maybe 6:45pm anyways - isn't that close to bedtime? Somewhere in the world, right?!). Yet I had less than $5 on me (half of that being loose change). I managed to pick up 3 sandwiches and a small fry - which totally satisfied them - at least for tonight, it did. I need to go make a loaf of bread for breakfast......oh forget it, we've got three boxes of almost-gone cold cereal in the pantry. Sweet!!!

Hey, sometimes this is just how it goes....and that's okay!!

(a big ol' THANK YOU goes out to my mil who left us on Sunday with a $20.....that totally got us through the grocery store and our impromptu dinner tonight ~ THANKS!!! YOU ROCK!!)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hope the comment works this time, blogger has not been letting me comment!!

Anyway! Hope your leg is better! OUCH!!!

God Bless,
Shannon

Unknown said...

You sound like me! I've sooooo done that a thousand times. We call it "potluck" and set out a buffet and I bake a box of brownies, just like church.. the kids think its fun. :)

Dean B. said...

Well honey, let me just correct you on one note, we will still be poor in a couple of days as well. But we can at least get the groceries we need.

Love you and miss you dearly,

Your DH

Unknown said...

Poor is okay! We are *so* on a better track.....I love you~

Kelli said...

Sometimes if I am in a rut on what to put on the menu, I plan a leftover day. I especially do that on the day of or day before grocery shopping day.

Sarah said...

My husband is the one who leaves six pretzels in the bottom of the bag! *Gasp* When did he have time to go to Michigan!:) Poor is totally okay! I'm poor. Being poor gives you character! Times are tough, but God is going to take care of us. He promised!