Jill Pertler

My grocery bills have been a challenge recently, so I’ve tried to be better about planning. Quite honestly, it’s been fun. Well, some of it has been.

Because of the economy of grocery shopping, I’ve found the need for stricter strategies and more miserly meals. In this vein, I have three goals in mind: to meet my budget, put tasty food on the table, and keep motivated – as egg prices drive me right out of the quiche market.

To accomplish my goals, I look online for great ideas. I plan meals for the week while Googling “Best crock pot recipes.” I list meal ingredients and write detailed shopping lists, including plans for leftovers and do-overs. I price crunch and shop for the best deals. All the while, my mouth is watering.

I love to eat, and I love to plan. So this is right up my aisle number one.

Shopping for food is also sort of fun until it comes to the paying part.

But that’s not the worst of it. The worst comes later. Much later.

At suppertime, to be exact.

I have such good intentions at 10 in the morning. They continue through noon and even two hours later. But come five o’clock? Ugh. The dinner bug hits.

Because despite the best lists and plans, cooking involves work and making a mess at the exact time of day when I’m looking to relax and not create dirty dishes.

Food preparation? It’s a chore that I often find justification to avoid.

It’s too late to start the chicken. I forgot to defrost the fish. We just had meatloaf last week. I’m not hungry enough for hamburgers. Someone ate all the cheese that I planned for grilled sandwiches. And so on.

If preparation feels like a chore, I haven’t even touched on clean-up.

It’s death. Or, at the very least, a comatose state that feels like death.

I’m not sure why it’s more fun to plan meals than to do meals. I love the eating part, and isn’t that doing?

But making and cleaning? Ick.

So I contemplate my options. I think going out to eat might be the answer. Or maybe frozen pizza, but certainly not something that involves extensive preparation and cleanup – and we all know that as delicious as it is, spaghetti with meatballs most certainly fills that bill.

Speaking of bills, restaurants provide them with every meal, which negates the reason for my whole meal planning, money scrimping process.

But then again, restaurants do both the preparation and clean-up. There’s something to be said of that.

It’s a conundrum. Why is it so fun to plan but not execute? What happens to morning motivation at 5:00 p.m.?

I don’t have the answers. But I do believe my stomach might be grumbling with hunger, and that is enough to motivate even me into action.

Frozen pizza begins to sound better and better as the evening wanes.

I preheat the oven. And reach into the freezer.

I tell myself (with a justified smirk) that things could be worse. At least it’s not cereal. Or cookies.

Then again, cereal might be alright. Especially whole grain, with maybe a cookie (or two) on the side.

Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.

Jill Pertler is an award-winning syndicated columnist, published playwright, and author. Don’t miss a slice; follow the Slices of Life page on Facebook.