Thursday, August 9, 2012

Make Them Last - UPDATE!


When The Murph and I were children, one of the many things we had in common was our parents telling us to "make things last."  My mom went to the grocery store every other week to purchase food and snacks and it had to last until the next time she went.  She never made extra trips.  Grocery shopping was every other Saturday, period.

Even though The Murph's mom went to the store every week, they had a house full of growing boy's so one package of cookies rationed three ways didn't last very long.  Therefore, snack foods purchased (if they were purchased at all) had to last until the next time mom went to the grocery store or you did without.

Personally, to me this was tough.  The first week we had limited snacks.  The second week, the pantry was barren.  Combine this with the fact my mom liked to cook gross stuff for dinner like liver and onions, hamburger helper and macaroni and cheese with diced spam and you can see how my childhood culinary experiences were very traumatic.

For years she told me and my brother that the liver was actually steak so we would eat it.  It wasn't until I was in first grade that I discovered the truth about the "steak".  It wasn't steak at all.  It was an organ that came out of a cow.  Ick!  I felt so deceived!

Where is all of this going, you ask.  I don't know except for the fact that now The Murph has decided that I need to ration out my animal crackers so they will last until the next time we go grocery shopping.  He suggested I count the animal crackers in the teddy bear container and divide that number by 7 so I will know how many I can eat per day to "make them last."

Suddenly, I'm being thrust back to the horrific days of liver steak and spam and hamburger helper.  The days where one package of Oreo's or Chips A'hoy and a box of Pebbles or Lucky Charms were purchased on Saturday and expected to last until Saturday two weeks later, but never made it past Wednesday of the first week.  The only things we kids considered worth eating were gone in half a week.

Oh, the suffering!  I need some serious counseling sessions now because of it.  When I became an adult and was on my own, I vowed to never sacrifice like this.  The only time I would sacrifice like this was when I refused to eat anything because I thought I was too fat.  Once I started eating again, I didn't "make things last" if I wanted to eat them right away.  No way!  If cookies purchased on Saturday ran out on Wednesday, I purchased more if I wanted too.   Maybe a different kind, but cookies (or whatever ran out) just the same.

The Murph knows this and is only doing this to torture me for fun.  He is just like me when it comes to food, except he's not into cookies.  He doesn't make things last anymore than I do.   I've never seen him counting out how many beers he can drink per day to make his last until the next time we go to the store.  I would just love to see him make those two 12 packs of beer he purchases at the grocery store last for an entire week.

The beer guy can attest to the fact that this doesn't happen.  We've had at least three extra runs to the beer store just this week.

I will make a deal with The Murph.  I will make my animal crackers last for the week if he will make his beer last for the entire week.  This is the only way because I'm not counting all those animal crackers in that giant teddy bear container any time soon.  Besides the fact that it is the end of the week and I still have cookies left.

Deal?

I didn't so!

UPDATE:  My mom just informed me that it was NOT spam in the mac and cheese.  It was corned beef.  Sorry mom!

She reminded me that she did, however, feed us bar-b-cued spam.  Double Ick mom!

8 comments:

  1. I know what you mean Kristy. My parents always wanted me to make things last, but it was impossible. My mom didn't make liver, but Mac and cheese were common.

    Now I just buy everything and I often make multiple trips to the grocery store, ultimately spending half my pay. But I only have one child and I want him to eat what he wants. He's way to picky to make him wait a week for something. And we both love cookies too.

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    1. I always made multiple trips to the grocery store too. I don't know how people do just one big trip.

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  2. You poor thing. That sounds disgusting. I don't think you should have to limit your cookie intake at all. You are so active that it doesn't matter. BTW- You should start couponing. Before you know it you would have a pantry full of delicious food and you won't have to worry about running out;D I myself and munching on some Chex Trail Mix. I have like ten more bags in the pantry....and no fear that I will run out;D haha

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    1. You're right! I work out just so I can eat cookies. Animal crackers don't have that much sugar I don't think. Too much sugar is very bad even when you workout. I like the idea of couponing. I use to do it many years ago. I don't even know where to find coupons anymore though. I use to get them out of Sunday newspaper, but haven't gotten the newspaper in years.

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  3. I think you should eat what you want and restock as needed.

    That once per week grocery shopping seems odd to me now. It's what my mom did when we were growing up, too - and always on Saturday morning. Sometimes she made me go with her, which was dreadful.

    Because it was how we grew up, J and I shopped weekly for years. But we stopped that when we moved to the islands. That was because we had to shop with an open mind and return often to find the items we wanted. To this day, we shop as needed. It makes for healthier eating and more satisfying cooking, as you are more likely to buy what's fresh instead of depending on processed/canned/frozen food.

    Since a trip to the local grocery stores is bound to be unpleasant (almost as unpleasant as island grocery shopping) due to finding parking and then maneuvering through the herd (people here do love their groceries, lol), I've decided I can't stand to shop between the hours of 12 and 8 pm, and not on the weekend unless absolutely necessary.

    Anyway, I got off track. Maybe I need therapy, too, for years of unpleasant grocery shopping experiences.

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    1. We usually grocery shop during a weekday morning after working out. It's great cause not many people there. Weekend shopping is a nightmare! We do most of the weekly shopping on Friday, but always have to go back at least once, sometimes twice during the week. Usually to replenish the beer and wine. lol

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  4. Cringing at the liver comment. Yuck!! I remember my parents trying to trick me into eating venison as a child. My dad would always gut it and hang the deer. I still have nightmares to this day! And no, I won't eat venison ever again. How tricky parents can be. lol

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    1. I was tricked into eating venison as a child once or twice too. Once again it was called "steak". I really don't understand why anyone would want to eat Bambi. Why were our parents so tricky I wonder.....

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