Thank you MonkeyMama, who I'm sure is very busy during tax season right now, for diverting some of that precious little time she has just to link a recipe for me.
I've only attempted corned beef one other time in my life, and for some reason, I completely bombed it. But then, perhaps some of you SA residents might recall, you're also talking to a guy who neglected to take the absorbent pad out of meat packets. So... yeah.
That was many years ago though. This time around, I was determined to follow the recipe as closely and faithfully as possible, well, with two exceptions. The first is that, due to my health condition, I can not or at least should not eat potatoes. Instead, I substituted potatoes with mushrooms. I like mushrooms and I found a pack on clearance for only $1 instead of the usual $5.
The other exception is, well you see... I don't drink, and I have never bought alcohol either. I don't like the taste of it. I don't like the cost of it. And now, alcohol also very negatively reacts to one of my medications. In other words, I basically have zero experience with alcohol.
So, when I finally decided to visit the alcohol section of the grocery store, I was overwhelmed by all the different choices. What is gin? What is port? What is lager? What is stout? Even the wines, what are they are how are they different? Instead of trying to decipher all that, I changed tact and looked for the cheapest thing I could find, which is an extra large can of Miller lite I think for like $2+ USD? I stood there wondering if I even really want to spend on that? Why don't I just throw in a can of french onion soup that I already have in my pantry?
So those are the two changes. Otherwise, I was faithful to the recipe, and contains carrots, onions, cabbage, and mushrooms along with the corned beef. And the result? IT'S FANTASTIC! I feel like I have been missing out, and how appropriate for the month of March right? Oh, and while it's not much look at, here's a pic for fun anyways:
This being SA though, let's talk cost real quick. The entire thing costed me roughly $35, but it's enough to feed 2-3 people, so let's just say it's more like $18 per meal that will last me two days. Extrapolate for 30 days, and assuming I can keep this up from now on, grocery budget should be roughly around $550 USD per month or so. That certainly won't put me into the same bracket as the rest of you veterans, but for me, it's still a solid step foward. And once again, I am just loving this recipe! I am definitely going to have to make this again.
March 2nd, 2025 at 03:51 am 1740887462
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March 2nd, 2025 at 06:29 am 1740896994
But I suppose it's relative. I don't miss the technical difficulty of tax, demanding clients, etc. Overall, it does feel like a step down. Getting my Saturdays back for 4-5 months out of the year, that is nice too.
March 2nd, 2025 at 06:50 am 1740898233
Ok, at least that kind of filled in the blanks for me, when I returned here, and read something about you mentioning having assistants or something that were disasters.
On the bright side, it does sound nice to have your weekends back during tax season.
March 2nd, 2025 at 07:25 am 1740900337
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