We went to Irish Fest (downtown Indy) on Friday night and had a great time! The music was fantastic and it was so relaxed that we could just let the kids run around and dance to the music (of course!). It was a last minute decision to go - we found out on Friday that if we went between 4:30 and 5:30 we could get in for free! It worked out perfectly!
The boys' favorite parts (besides the music) were playing with Andrew's boss, Greg, and seeing puppies. Seriously, watching Calvin play with the cute puppies was practically the highlight for me - it was a good thing Andrew was there or we might have had a new addition to our family! :) (Intellectually, I know that adding another dog would be a HUGE mistake but the kids love animals and especially dogs so much that it's hard to resist. :)) I think the next addition will be a low maintenance fish or two. :) Since we went to the festival on Friday, we didn't eat our planned meal. So today we will be having a variation of last week's plan (since I still have all the ingredients!). We are having chicken fajitas with lots of fresh peppers, homemade salsa and guacamole, and probably an apple salad.
Here are a couple of thoughts - frugality/eating on a budget plays out differently for individual families. While I think it's great that some people are able to eat on very little money, I don't think that anyone should feel like they are less of a person if they don't achieve that same budget. I sometimes choose to spend more for a nicer piece of meat or an unusual ingredient and I like doing that. We also have a couple of cow shares which is more expensive than buying milk at the store but is what we think is good for our family right now.
For me, the biggest problem I was having was wasted food. In that way, menu planning is definitely saving us money! All that to say, make decisions that work for your family and don't feel guilty if it isn't what everyone else is doing. :)
2 comments:
I agree with you Alaina - every family has a different financial situation, different goals, and different priorities, so choices about where to splurge and where to be frugal are always going to look different from family to family. Most of the time I find blogs really encouraging because I get ideas on things to try, but sometimes I admit I get caught up in thinking I have to do everything everyone else is doing. I try to bear in mind that even people who seem like Supermom on their blogs probably have bad days too.
All that to say, I hope you keep posting on your meal planning and fresh market finds, I think it has been very inspirational!
You have been very inspirational to me as well. I often have that guilty feeling of spending too much at the grocery store, and yet we don't seem to waste too much. And in part, healthier food does cost more. Thanks for this post.
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