Temporary belt-tightening

Well, I'm assuming most people are aware of the impending government shut-down, but for those of you with your heads in the sand, the government may close up shop very soon unless our fearless leaders can come to an agreement. The final sticking points of the budget debate are truly frustrating (Planned Parenthood has been receiving government funds for years - and not for abortions - why shut the government down now because of it?), but let's ignore that for a moment and assume that Dave might be on unpaid furlough for a freaking month.

Oh, and did I mention that we have a huge tax liability because of my independent contractor jobs in 2010? Yeah. That, too.

So Dave and I talked it over and decided we'd do some culinary belt-tightening this month - and not just for calories, but for cost. I figure the easiest way to do this is to pick a few low-cost meals and repeat them on various nights of the week to make it fun. Here's what I came up with:

Monday: Black-eyed pea salad night
Tuesday: Grilled cheese night
Wednesday: Green salad night
Thursday: Spaghetti night
Friday: Taco night

Of course, I can do variations. I plan on adding different things to the grilled cheese, like grilled onions or ham, as well as doing different toppings for the spaghetti and salads. And on the weekend I can cook up huge batches of Indian-style legumes to enjoy.

Anyway, hopefully this will allow us to absorb some financial hits and even to think creatively about some meals I haven't made for a while. But I'm still hoping that the shut-down either doesn't happen or that it is very, very short. Sigh.