My in-laws are visiting us this week – they arrived today, and they’ll be here through next Tuesday. I get on really well with them, and I’m excited that they’re here. This morning I got up early and went to the grocery store for lasagna ingredients. I already had noodles in the cupboard, so I bought a package of ground turkey ($4), ricotta and cottage cheese ($5 total), and two jars of spaghetti sauce ($6 total). I had an onion in the cupboard, and I picked a bunch of swiss chard and Italian herbs from our garden. I had a homemade lasagna in the fridge by 10am, ready to go into the oven tonight for dinner. And I spent $15 on it. People pretty much always like my lasagna, so I rely on it quite a bit – and it’s great to make before the guests arrive and put in the fridge. That way I have time to clean up all the prep stuff, so that the kitchen looks nice again. Then when it’s dinner time, I just put the pan in the oven for 45 minutes and make a salad. Looks like magic to the guests! And I love how easy and inexpensive it is (we’ll get two meals out of it, which makes the $15 look even better). I’m planning a picnic lunch on Saturday and a pancake breakfast sometime this weekend. My in-laws love to take us out to eat whenever we’re with them, which we really appreciate and enjoy. But I want to make sure that we take care of some of the meals aswell, and since I’ve got more cooking ability than money, I try to make some good home-cooked meals whenever they’re here. Now to think of some good picnic food… although I may just fall back on tuna sandwiches, since my MIL loves them.
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