Early November lunch round-up

Much of what I made for lunches this week was either made Sunday evening (the baking) or were leftovers from Sunday and Monday's dinners. I've been preparing a little extra 2 nights in a row, to provide enough leftovers to get through several days' lunches. I did spend part of Monday afternoon making the pudding cups and zucchini bread and cream cheese sandwiches. My family really enjoys the ease of opening the fridge and choosing from this selection, according to what sounds appealing to them. And I like not having to think about lunches for the week, after I finish making up the selection each Monday.

• apple chunk muffins
• cornbread
• Asian-style turkey-tofu-noodle soup
• bean and veggie burger patties
• baked apples
• "zucchini" bread/cream cheese sandwiches ("zucchini" is a tiny, under ripe pumpkin, peeled and grated)
• homemade chocolate pudding cups

Have you noticed the ads for Christmas yet? I know it's now November, and all, but I'd like to postpone thinking about Christmas for just 1 week.

I hope your week is going well.

Bit of a set-back with grocery shopping and autumn stock-up

So, Saturday (Nov.1) was the local produce stand's clearance sale. My usual is to really stock-up on good keepers like winter squash, garlic, cabbage, oranges, apples, and some nice to have items like avocados, kiwi and pineapple. That's what I *usually* get, at rock-bottom produce prices.

This year, I had something on the calendar that I couldn't change for that Saturday, the whole day Saturday. I had thought I'd hit the produce stand in the afternoon on Friday, and see if anything had been marked down yet, and buy what I could.

I had company at lunch on Friday, so spent the morning cleaning house. Then in the early afternoon, I received a phone call from one of my daughters. There was a lock down on campus, yes, another one. After the shooting that occurred last June on campus, this was worrisome for both daughters (as well as many of the students they were in lock down with). I stayed home for the afternoon, waiting for the lock down to come to a conclusion. By late afternoon, I had heard that an arrest was made, and the campus was secured. At this point, I simply didn't have the energy to drive down to the produce stand. And so, I have missed my opportunity for fall produce stock-ups.

Now, the challenge ahead of me -- finding deals on produce in other markets.

I know that there was nothing I could do about my circumstances. But still, this feels like a set-back.