Usually I like cooking, but lately I've been in a real funk about it. I'm talking about the ordinary, what's for dinner on the weeknight kind of cooking (with two hot lunches on the weekend) That comes out to seven meals a week. It shouldn't be that difficult to come up with seven meal ideas a week, but my culinary Muse has forsaken me. I'm sick of my own cooking and bored with my recipe repertoire.
My past strategy was to have a kind of loose "schedule" -- pasta night, chicken night, meatless night, etc -- and fill it in using whatever was on sale at the grocery store. It worked for a long time -- it was a good way to stay out of ruts and stay within budget. Lately, though, the sales have gotten less and less helpful -- sorry, $1.00 off ribeyes or fresh lobster isn't going to help me that much -- and the selection at the markets continues to shrink. The cases are packed with the special of the week and precious little else. (Let's see, what kind of chicken would you like? Thighs, thighs, or.... thighs?)
I am also getting really, really irritated with the Invasion of the Brine at the meat case. I just came back from the supermarket, where they had a nice price on turkey breast. I was all set to pick up Sunday's dinner until I saw that the turkey was "self-basting." Sorry, I'm not paying good money for salt water. Same thing goes for all that pork injected with "flavor solution" and ground poultry with "up to 15% flavor solution added." Isn't there anything left for people who want to do their own cooking?
I'd love to shop at Whole Foods more often, but I'm trying to keep our grocery bill under control and I hate the creepy, "Earth First" vibe of the place. There's also the little fact that I really should be making an effort to cook more healthfully, but a lot of the "lean" recipes I come across rely on processed foods (fat-free non-dairy whipped topping?) or very expensive tidbits (yes, filet mignon is lean, but come on!)
So now it's 5:25 PM, my hungry husband will be rolling in in 20 minutes, and I have no idea what I'm going to fix. I did "breakfast for dinner" yesterday, so I don't want to try that again. Maybe I'll thaw out some pesto. No, that won't work -- I forgot the Parmesan cheese.
