A couple of weeks ago in premarital counseling we practiced being assertive (asking for what we want) and actively listening (listening to the their wants and reciting back to them what you heard).  Through the course of this exercise, I found out that what Bird wanted was for me to help out in the kitchen, specifically, to make dinner more often.  That is, a dinner which involves a recipe and ingredients.  Frozen pizza or a can of soup does not count.

I spent part of my day at work perusing food blogs and googling various ingredients.  I found the basics of what I was looking for and figured I would just tweak it to make it work with what I had on hand.  Eventually, I decided I needed to get some additional groceries so I stopped off at the store after work.  The total bill came to $28.41 but I bought a few things that were not for dinner.  Actually, almost a third of the bill was for a bouquet of flowers which I thought would make a nice centerpiece for dinner (they did).

Long story short, I ended up making grilled stuffed peppers and grilled corn on the cob.  They were a big hit.

I need to work on my presentation photos!  Haha!

I had good intentions of trying to live a little healthier starting in June. This would include eating better and maybe exercising more. However, it’s only the 5th, and I’ve already eaten out twice. Sunday night a friend treated at Applebee’s which didn’t hurt the wallet, but it surely wasn’t very healthy. Tuesday night, I was lazy and didn’t want to go to the grocery store so I got Jimmy John’s with a friend which cost me $6.11.

And yesterday, I rewarded myself for having sat through perhaps the most boring two hour meeting ever by buying a cookie and a Pepsi. That cost me $2.37. I wasn’t only rewarding myself though, I was also really hungry because I didn’t pack much of a lunch due to my not having gone to the grocery store.

So I don’t feel like I’ve gotten off to a great start in June as far as my healthy living kick. But I also haven’t spent much money, so I guess that’s a positive.

I wrote that last post because I wanted you to get the overall sense that I’m just not that into food. I don’t know if that came through or not. Either way, I think there’s actually a lot more to it psychologically and even physically (I think something is up with my sense of taste), but I’m really having trouble unpacking it. I don’t know how to write about it.

Essentially, I thought it you might be surprised to learn that while I don’t care much about food, I love to go grocery shopping. Mostly, I love grocery stores.

A couple of years ago, when I first moved out on my own after college, I used to go grocery shopping every Sunday night. I’d go late, when most people were in bed and the late-shift workers were restocking the shelves from pallets of boxes that filled the aisles. I’d walk up and down almost every aisle, just looking, taking it all in. Absorbing the colors, images, shapes and sizes. Grocery stores are like the epitome of organization. I can appreciate some good organization.

It would end up taking me about an hour and I’d only pick up a half dozen items or so, but it was one of my favorite parts of the week. Just a time to decompress the week that was and gear up for the week ahead.

Somewhere along the line I lost that…and I miss it. It ‘s probably because I shop at Super Target now (which doesn’t quite feel like a grocery story and isn’t open late enough for the crowds to ever die down, but it’s so very close to home).

All this to say that I got groceries tonight. Traffic was terrible on my way home, but I knew I was out of my essentials for lunches, so I stopped by Target. After the long day at work, I was ready to get in and get out, so I just picked up what I needed and was out of there in 10 minutes. I ended up spending $33.34 on nothing special; some bread, milk, broccoli, carrots, apples, cereal….that kind of basic stuff. My one exotic (so-not really exotic!) purchase was a box of Thai noodles where you just add water and microwave it. I had it for dinner tonight. It wasn’t great…it wasn’t terrible. I feel like I would say that about 85% of all the food I eat.

After writing this post, I’m thinking I would really like to give my old grocery routine a try. I really do miss it. I wonder how it will affect my spending. Currently, I grocery shop whenever I need to, so it could be once a week or once every three weeks depending on a variety of factors including how much I eat out and how much food I eat at home.

One obvious problem I foresee is that I don’t currently know exactly what I spend on food per month. So it might be hard to compare, but whatever, I’ll just keep you posted on what happens.

I got a cookbook for Christmas, mostly because I asked for it, but I’ve yet to open it even once. Every now and then, I’ll get the notion that I’d really like to get into cooking. I’ll watch the Food Network for a week or so and then my interest will fade. So I’m not much of a cook. Maybe I’m just a stereotypical bachelor or maybe it’s the fact that it can be difficult to cook for just one, but I tend to favor convenience when eating at home.

I don’t eat out that much, but I do enough that it’s one of my highest expenses every month. Eating out is part of the Thursday night entertainment before we head over to someone’s place to watch Thursday night TV (Office, 30 Rock, LOST). I’ll also inevitably end up eating out a couple times over the weekend. I’m in that place in life where social events most often revolve around eating out, so while I realize it’s a large expense, I lump it with entertainment and I try not beat myself up over it.

In conclusion, I eat out more than I should but I don’t mind that I do. I’m not much of a cook but sometimes I like to think I will be someday.