Changing how I do dinners, to meet "new" demands

When the old way of doing things no longer serves its purpose, then changes have to happen.

I haven't been feeling well, for many months. My energy is just gone most days. I'm still waiting on the results of some tests. For the time being, I need to make changes to some ordinary tasks, like dinner prep.

Growing up, my mom prepared a fresh, new meal, every evening. From a diner's point of view, this is very appealing. You get a new dinner every evening. Meals are freshly cooked, retaining color and flavor. And there's lots of variety in each week. From the cook's perspective, this takes a whole lot of time and energy.

So, I'm taking notes from some of you. I am cooking once, and serving 3, 4 or 5 times, and, in the same week. My Cheap & Cheerful Menus will reflect this. I get out my largest stock pots and cook BIG. And I cook EASY, like rice and beans, EASY, or a vat of soup, EASY. Complicated meals are completely out of the question right now.

If I had freezer space, I could freeze most of the servings, and have more variety on a weekly basis. For now, with my limited freezer space, we're just dealing with a lot of repetition. However, I do vary the side dishes, when possible.

The good news is, this is working. I am able to give myself more time off from physical work, as well as spare some time for appointments and various self-help practices.

I hope to get the results of those tests very soon. And then I can go from there and get on the road to a solid recovery.

Sometimes, food has to be just food.

Have you ever had to change your "old ways" to meet "new" demands? Life is a challenge, isn't it?
What are your favorite Cooking Big meals? Soups and casseroles are always good candidates for Cooking Big. Do you have a favorite soup or casserole recipe, that translates well for large amounts?

Feathering my nest on the cheap -- dinnerware

Is there anything more thrilling to a frugal shopper than a stellar deal on something they've already got on their must-have list?

I think not!

You know my passion for dinnerware. I love plates. I love bowls. I love tea cups and mugs and platters and serving dishes. I love it all! It helps our budget that I've stuck with the same patterns that I chose 35 years ago.

But pieces get chipped, broken and crackled. And my dinner parties get larger and larger. So, from time to time, I need to replace items or acquire additional pieces to expand our entertaining capability.

I could buy individual pieces through a traditional retail store, department and discount stores, shop vintage resale stores, or,

keep my eyes and mind open to bargain opportunities in thrift stores!


To give you a ballpark on the dinnerware savings I typically find in thrift stores:

• a soup/cereal bowl in Johnson Bros. Friendly Village pattern (the one I use fall and winter) retails, full price, for $12.50
• same soup/cereal bowl can be found on Amazon or in Marshall's for $6.99 to $9.99 -- good, yes?
• shopping the vintage resale places in our neighboring vintage district, I can find these bowls for about $5 to $6 each, better,
• or best (short of someone out right giving me what I need), the same soup/cereal bowl in Goodwill for $1.99

I realize that there's a bit of an ICK-factor with some things from thrift stores. But with dishes -- they go into the dishwasher and get sanitized in my own home, to my specifications, before I even use them. Think about it, you eat with forks, bowls, plates, glasses, mugs that have been used by complete strangers, every single time you eat in a restaurant! And you have no control, whatsoever, as to the cleaning and sanitizing of restaurant dinnerware. That's a pretty good argument against any case of cooties I imagine that I'll contract, by buying thrift store dinnerware, don't you think?

Now, you wanna see the dinnerware that I bought in August and September at my local thrift stores? Here it all is:

4 bread and butter plates, 5 soup/cereal bowls, 1 salad plate, 2 fruit saucers, 2 mugs and 1 tea cup. I paid between 99 cents and $1.99 per piece, spending a total of $25.93. All of these pieces, combined, retail for over $200.00, full price. My savings, by buying my dishes at thrift stores this summer, instead of shopping retail stores, was 87.5% off of retail prices! Woo hoo!!!

So, there is a drawback to thrift shopping for dinnerware. I can't just walk into any thrift store and expect to find pieces in my pattern. Many times, I scour the dinnerware section, and come up empty-handed. But I do know that eventually the dinnerware that I'm looking for, will show up. And I buy the pieces that interest me, then.

Just another feather for my warm and cozy nest!

An FYI -- when thrifting, I came across a lot of Christmas items. Now would be a very good time to check your local thrift stores for those Christmas-themed gifts or dinnerware, while everyone else is focusing on Hallowe'en and autumn.