It's All About Perspective

Sometimes it seems that life is conspiring against our eat-at-home project. Over the weekend my husband was running regional choir auditions and ended up eating out a couple of times. He spent about $9.00 between two meals (one at McDonald's and one at Jack in the Box). In reality, that is a pretty low amount for eating twice, but he consciously tried to make the visits as inexpensive as possible. He even called before the first one and apologized for buying a burger. What a guy!

Here's the problem. Future choir trips, festivals, events are looming. The next one on the agenda is an overnight trip to Flagstaff which I am chaperoning. How are we to keep the expenses at a minimum for that trip? One might presume the trip shouldn't count against us because the money will be reimbursed by the district. (After all, we are taking the choir kids on a trip.) But, no such luck. In these days of heavy budget crunches, school districts are suffering as much (if not more than) most other entities and individuals. The days of reimbursed meals during school trips ended a couple of years ago. So, back to the problem.

As I see it we have about two days worth of meals to account for. We'll leave school at 8 a.m. on Friday and return to school between 4 and 5 p.m. on Saturday. Friday morning is a no-brainer since we will eat breakfast at home, as usual. Likewise, Saturday evening we should be home in time for dinner with the boy (who, by the way, is always happy to be left in Oma's charge for maximum spoiling action). The hotel we usually stay in offers a continental breakfast, so we should be alright with bagels and coffee on Saturday. By my calculation that leaves three meals plus snacks and beverages that we have to cover out of our pocket.

My thought is we should pack a cooler with soda, cheese sticks, and fruit to nosh when we're peckish. I would like to pack something more substantial, but I haven't made any decisions. I'm trying to approach this as a game of how can we actually spend a weekend away from home without eating out? My first thought was basic picnic food that doesn't need reheating. However, I realized the hotel has a microwave in the lobby near some small tables, which are nicely situated next to a large fireplace. (This is definitely a plus for Flagstaff in February.) This opens a larger realm of possibility. Perhaps something fancier and gourmet is order so that we don't feel put upon when the kids venture out to eat and we stay in. I can almost see it now. A small round tablecloth tossed nonchalantly across the two-seater in front of the fireplace; plates, flatware, and plastic champagne flutes from my Sunday-in-the-park gear; perhaps a chilled bottle of raspberry-apple cider to accompany shrimp scampi with cheese biscuits and a green salad. Perhaps the other chaperones will be envious of our lovely meal. Perhaps the firelight will flicker across the silver in my hair and hearken us back to the early days of our marriage. Perhaps the lobby will be filled with milling teenagers surreptitiously pointing and snickering at the two old fogies who brought their own food because they were too cheap to eat out.

Actually, I am reminded here of meals we have eaten in places where no kitchen existed. Once, when our house in Safford, AZ, was being built, my husband planned a dinner date at the construction site. He hired one of his choir kids (who is now an officer in the Navy and about to depart for law school followed by a JAG assignment) to serve us dinner. The two of them set up a table complete with white linens, flowers, silverware, and china. Matt, the student, wore his tuxedo (a.k.a. his choir uniform) and served us chilled cider in crystal flutes along with Kentucky Fried Chicken. There are many such days of silliness that my husband and I often recall amid laughter. Perhaps I can turn our weekend foray into another one.