Things have been crazy around my neck of the woods the past few weeks. On top of several projects that Andrew and I are working on for both our business and for scouts, we are also trying to get a house fixed up for my parents. They’ll be here in less than two weeks and there is still so much left to do!
Today we spent the day finishing up the painting. Two rooms painted—including ceilings!—plus the baseboards and trim in the entire place. I ended up spending most of my day laying on my stomach on the hardwood floors so I could paint the baseboards without dripping everywhere.
Needless to say, by the time we finished up this evening we were famished. We were also tired, and that chicken breast I thawed out this morning just seemed like too much work to prepare. We just wanted to go home and veg. Fast food or pizza delivery began sounding mighty nice, and we probably would have indulged but we had already used up one of our eating-out allotments for the month and we didn’t want to use the other one yet. (We budget for two meals out a month. We usually try to space them a couple of weeks apart.)
The grocery store to the rescue! We pulled up to the grocery store planning to grab a couple of frozen pizzas for dinner. Cheaper than delivery but less work than ‘real’ cooking. We marched into the store, a paint-streaked, rag-tag bunch. That’s when the sign caught our eye:
Family Pack
8 piece Fried Chicken
1 side
4 bisquits
$7.99
We rarely buy anything at the food counter, and we were completely unaware of this deal. Sure fried chicken isn’t the healthiest of meals, but as a once in awhile treat that’s okay. (Everything in moderation, you know!) We snatched this deal up quite joyfully.
Even if we had gone with frozen pizza, we would have spent less than $10. If we ordered pizza it would have run around $25 after tipping, and the drive-thru would be closer to $30. With the chicken, we also have a few leftover chicken pieces and some of the potato salad that came with it, so lunches for two or three people tomorrow are covered for that $8 as well. A good deal for a fast-food style meal.
The lesson here? Some days you aren’t going to want to cook. Normally, you plan ahead for these days by having some freezer meals ready or by throwing something in the crockpot in the morning. But on those days when the best laid plans go awry, stop at the grocery store instead of the golden arches for dinner. Chances are you can get better food at just a fraction of the price of fast food. It doesn’t really take any longer to run into the grocery store than to sit in your car at the drive-up window. Even if it takes an extra 10 minutes, the savings are well worth it.
