I would like to share my smugness. It is not fun to be pleased at your own cleverness if you can't share it with others and know that they too are pleased and impressed with you. It's a shame, but it's true. Why be smug, if you can't also gloat?
We often shop at Whole Foods. With the kids allergies, and the slight hippie-ish streak that leads me to order things like tofu & sprouts bagels (only made that mistake once), it's a natural fit.
One grocery bag at Whole Foods, the way I fill it = roughly one shopping cart at Kroger's in terms of price. Bummer.
However...
Every Friday night Jon picks up a Whole Foods family meal-to-go on his way home. I teach until 6 on Fridays and by that point in the week, we've already had a crockpot meal and spaghetti on my other late nights, so it's really the easiest option. And it's much better for us than fast food and actually cheaper than McDonalds. For $15 you get an entree, two sides and a huge salad. There are usually two or three really yummy choices like baked spaghetti, and the allergen-free choice we have to go with. The Friday night menu seems to be rotisserie chicken, green beans and roasted red-skin potatoes. Not the most exciting option. In fact, after three weeks in a row, we were about to revolt. We considered breaking from the month-long meal plan and tossing Whole Foods in on a Tuesday. But I am nothing if not a creature of habit and routine. Ha! But then, in a fit of genius, I realized just how far I could stretch the meal. Tonight, I ate this week's Whole Foods meal with glee thinking pridefully of my own frugality. I'm not sure how you can be just as proud of being cheap as you can of your material wealth, but I know personally that it is possible.
Last weekend we ate the meal, as is, on Friday night. Saturday and Sunday I ate the salad for lunch. Monday, I used all of the leftover rotisserie chicken to make a delicious crockpot chicken soup. That is two dinners for the whole family and two lunches for me for $15 total, and very little work on my part.
So, next time you're driving by Whole Foods...pull over and get yourself a nice meal, or ten, and know that it doesn't have to break the budget.
