I proudly declare, last week, I went 6 straight days without purchasing dinner; I even took my breakfast to work 2 days. My justification for eating normally goes like this:

• It takes time to cook, and my hourly rate to prep, cook, then clean, is a negative payoff
• Its challenging to cook small portions for a single person. . .it’s not like ground beef comes in 1/4lb packages
• I get tired of eating the same thing after the third time, so the money saved by buying groceries and cooking is sunken when I ultimately end up throwing food away because it’s going bad.

At the mark of a new season, it’s time for me to take a break from the restaurants and eating out so that I can re-calibrate. . . and work on loosing these 10lbs I gained last month from using prednisone. (Prednisone is a medication I was prescribed to give my lungs some assistance since I was having difficulty breathing). Sure, I’ll have to spend a more time in the kitchen, but I think my budget will benefit from the few extra dollars for the next month or so.

Now that I think about it, I don’t mind cooking now that the weather is cooler. 95 degree heat and a hot house was Another deterrent from cooking. I also didn’t want my air conditioner running over time trying to cool down a house that’s getting even hotter as I cook. Tonight, I cooked stuffed bell peppers I wasn’t too overwhelmed because the house stayed cool! Made them with butterball ground turkey that was on sale for $1.99/pound. . . normally about $4/ pound. I knew the recipe would make a lot, so I invited a neighbor over so that I wouldn’t be wasting food.

 I’m also in the cooking mood because the holidays are approaching. I’ve already started planning my Thanksgiving meal and I’m super excited about this year’s meal because I have a new electric pressure cooker! no, it’s not the Instant Pot; it’s a similar device made by GoWise, it has the same functionality, but this one was “free” from the job. I used my employee recognition points to get this $120 pot for free and it’s much larger than most instant pots at a whooping 12quarts. I’m totally going to try putting my turkey in that bad boy. LOL