Being the only one who cooks in my family, I try to make things that everyone will eat.  I don’t completely cater to my three-year-old’s tastes, since I think it’s my job to expand his palate.  And I couldn’t stand living on only grilled cheese, mac-en-roni, bananas, cereal, popcorn, broccoli, and goldfish.  But I do cater to my husband’s dietary eccentricities, since I figure if he won’t eat it, what’s the point? 

So with him being out of town, I thought, now’s my chance to eat beans!  I bought a can of vegetarian chili, tortilla chips, cheese, iceberg lettuce, and a tomato today and had what used to be one of my favorite meals - chips n’ chili.  I ate this meal a lot in college.  I used to make my meatless black bean chili in the crock pot, and live off of it for a whole week.  I was super tight on grocery money back then, so I’d try to make it on about $20 a week for food.  Beans fit that bill perfectly.  The only expensive part of the meal was the cheese, but I remember my mom buying me a 3 lb brick of cheddar at the beginning of the semester and it lasting a couple of months. 

My other staple was spaghetti with sauce from a jar and zucchini.  I’d cook the zucchini with the pasta, pour the sauce on top, and call it a meal.  I remember my room mate and I having this lots of times.  Other than that, I have no recollection of how I fed myself in college.  Especially not what I ate for lunch.  I’m pretty sure I couldn’t afford to eat out much, but I also don’t remember packing lunches, so I’m at a loss as to what I ate.

Then when I got married during my senior year of college, I started making real food.  For one thing, my husband had this fantastic TA gig where he got paid $14 an hour!  That seemed like rock star pay at the time.  So now I had virtually any ingredients at my disposal.  I got a copy of Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything” and started trying things.

If I had only myself to cook for, I doubt I’d go to the trouble of making something that required a recipe very often.  I’d like to think I wouldn’t start eating frozen pizza and cold cereal all the time, though.  That’s what my son and I had for dinner last night, but hey!  I’m on my own for a few nights, I’m going to take this chance and relax a bit.  Tonight’s chips n’ chili was easy since the chili came out of a can.  I would have much preferred my vegetarian black bean chili, but it seemed like too much trouble.  Now, if I can’t feed something to at least 3 people and get leftovers out of it, it’s just not worth my time.