Going Broke For a Good Meal {Thank you Mom}

We are living on one income, as most people are these days. We as a couple are fairly frugal, we didn’t grow up with a lot and as a whole, it prepared us to not waste our money on things we won’t use or don’t need.

HOWEVER!

I love to eat – and I would rather go broke than to eat bad food. My mother had the same attitude. We didn’t eat normal food growing up. Instead of a PB&J in my lunches I would get portabella with marinara. Instead of pot roast for dinner, we would have paella. Try explaining these exotic dishes to your friends!

For the first five years away from home – I ate what one might call “normal.” Chicken, veggie, bread dinners were the norm. But then in 2000 I landed a job at a Ritz-Carlton Club in an exclusive neighborhood in Atlanta called The Vinings Club. I had access to a kitchen that housed with chefs educated in Paris and New York. Chicken now was followed by words like “Provencale”, “Coq Vaughn”……Vegetables we now either steamed or grilled…..Bread; my eyes were opened to a whole world of Focaccia, Ciabatta and Muffuletta. When I lived at home, exotic food was a bummer and embarrassing. But now – I started to understand that with a little flair, food could be more than food – it could be an experience. I started to understand my mom better.

Now that I am married and have taken on the responsibility of chef for the household I have recently noticed something about myself. If there is one thing I could go broke for, it’s food!

Say I am at the store and there is a sale on store-brand cheese. It is priced at $.99 for a brick. It is the kind of cheese that some might call government cheese. The kind that “melts well enough.” I know that I can make a decent grilled cheese sandwich with it, although I know that once it heats it will take the consistency of liquid. I would forget the sandwich soon enough and it would do the job. But then beside it are authentic farmhouse cheddars, aged at least 8 months. The grilled cheese that I can make with it will have a soft crunch to it and will have a definite break to it when you pull the sandwich apart. I will want to make a grilled cheese sandwich everyday for a week. Maybe one day with a roma tomato a little basil or I could pair it with a nice salad or serve it with tomato soup. I will think about this cheese and make a special trip to the store to buy it. The cheese is priced at $7 a lb. Now times this example by 20 and you could see how my grocery budget is a little larger than it could be.

I have a need to eat well, Jason has a need for us not to go broke {I have that need as well – but as you can see above my priorities not in the same order!} This whole post is somewhat anticlimactic and there is not really a point. But, I was thinking about my mom today and it was her who put that thing in me that would make me analyze the benefits of buying the good cheese and enjoying every meal.

I love you mom and I miss you dearly! If you were still here I would share my pricey grilled cheese with you. Afterall, you are the one who made my first one and taught me how to make my own.