Crisis Eating

What does a couple eat when one of the pair gets laid off and the other their hours cut back? More Raman noodles and hotdogs, apparently.

The Spouse will probably gripe a little about this blog, wondering why I feel the need to blab about our predicament all over town, but it's really not an uncommon problem these days, this work situation. He got the news Friday just before he left his manufacturing job for the day, and although we saw it coming, it still sucks, to put it bluntly. The usual jokes ensued about breadlines and breadwinners. The Spouse now claims he would like to be referred to as The Statistic. And it's no secret that I, on the other hand, as a Courier employee, am being required to take two unpaid days by the end of March to ease the company's financial bleeding.

So after exercising the time-honored, exhilerating tradition of filing for unemployment compensation, we did what any other self-respecting couple would do - we went out to eat. The Statistic had the Artery Clogger featuring loaded baked potato skins smothered in sour cream, and a side of cheesy bacon fries smothered in sour cream. I had a pork chop as big as my head. Fast forwarding to Sunday, our grocery trip this time included a gross of Raman (or a Raman of gross, which is how I think of them), and Oscar Meyer bun lengths. That's not to say that we're going to eat like that every day though. We're having stuffed peppers tonight, for instance.

What may very well suffer is our surplus normally used for restaurant meals. March could be a very cold month in terms of eating out for us, what with the wait for that first unemployment check, my two upaid days off and that damn water bill due (in which they estimated we used more than we ever have before, which of course we did not because hello, there are no outdoor plants to water).

Anyhoo, I can now tangibly see the trickle down effect the economic crisis is creating and the frustrations and tragedies it is causing. I'm sure The Statistic and I will continue to make a concerted effort to patronize our favorite eateries, particularly those that are locally-owned, but we're going to have to cut back a bit for now.

Are any of you doing the same or foresee that in the near future? Or are you keeping your fingers crossed as you gratefully keep ordering your favorite pastas and drinks and such?