Spike: Inflation is what’s for dinner, here’s how to fight back

There’s an old joke that goes, “Marriage is just two people asking what you want to eat until they die.” Or something like that.

Let me start by saying, I love to cook. One of my first “real jobs” as a teenager, and then again as a young adult, was working in the kitchen of a high-end restaurant. So not only do I enjoy cooking, but I’m also actually pretty good at it. And as I mentioned, the question I absolutely dread the most every single day of my life is, “What do you want for dinner?” I think we can all relate to that.

The challenge of finding new and exciting — and dare I even say tasty — dishes just gets harder and harder as time passes. And in this economy? I think every one of us can relate to the fact that our grocery bills have been headed in the wrong direction for far too long. The basic act of feeding your family has become a real issue, if not a concern, for far too many people. But all these things being said, I’ve had something of a pleasant awakening, where these two worlds are colliding and even blending like flowing water.

For me, one unexpected upside of this new food economy is the ongoing effort by my local grocery store to, whenever possible, offer some savings on loss-leader items in their store, especially when it comes to protein. This may not be new information to a lot of you, but it certainly is to me. If I’m flexible in my menu planning, there are real savings to be had when putting food on the table for the family. Killing two birds with one stone, if you will. And those birds can be served over a bed of wild rice with a nice lemon butter sauce.

I do all the cooking in our house, which also means I always do the shopping — which, by the way, I do multiple times a week (I’ve never been a huge, overflowing-grocery-cart kind of shopper).

Until recently, I’ve always gone shopping with a clear agenda of what I want and what it’s going to take to make this dish. But lately, in this economy, the store is telling me what we’re having for dinner by what they’re putting on special.

‘Loss-leader’ ingredients can lead to wildly creative recipes

I’m talking about those “loss-leaders” I mentioned earlier. The advertised specials are used to get us in the door. Pork tenderloin on special? Broiled with a spicy raspberry glaze. BOGO chicken breasts? Hey, look, a green chili chicken enchilada casserole! And this newfound “cheat code,” if you will, doesn’t just apply to protein. Recipes built on bargain ingredients can be just as enticing as something that looked good scrolling through Instagram food posts. You just need to be a little creative and a little flexible. Plus, and this might be the most pleasant surprise of all, not having to ask the “truly unpleasant Mrs. O’Neill” what she wants for dinner for the last few months has been the missing “ingredient” to a happy marriage.

I can’t believe it took me this long to figure this out. I’m sure some of you right now are saying, “Where have you been, Spike. I’ve been doing this forever out of necessity.” Well, my being late to figure something out is no way “news.” I would love to be the beneficiary of any other cheat codes you’re willing to share. Happy shopping, and bon appétit.

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