We are back together again! And we are craving real food!

 Yes, Bryan made it home around 1pm yesterday.  

We both had a nice afternoon on the couch watching TV and had frozen dinners.  Talked to one of the kids on the phone. We had "Easter Breakfast" this morning at the Moose Café here in town.   That was the extent of our Easter.  

Fuel was more expensive this trip.  Not sure why, perhaps the weather.  Bryan said it was super windy.  And also because of the side trip up to Phillips to visit the grocery store where Bryan might be working.  That was an added 3 hours.

He had a lot of stuff rattle loose on this trip.  My armoire rattled completely apart.  The meat smoker lost its chimney and rattled apart.  The bed liner in the pickup rattled apart.  He says the ignition in the truck is somewhat rattled.  His brakes got stuck on, on the trailer at one point.  I sure hope this whole rig stays together for two more trips (one with the big trailer, and then Bryan has to come back for the little trailer.)

He experienced snow for a lot of the trip.  But he made it ok.  

Today, he's out there sweeping the trailer in anticipation of filling it back up again.  I am doing office work and school work.  We will move furniture today.  Carpet cleaning is Wednesday, and whole house cleaning is Friday.  

Other than that, the beat goes on, and we are 10 days from leaving this place.  

I want to talk about food!

I quit cooking somewhere around February 12.  I wanted to clean the wretched stove.  Not that it was that dirty, it's just the hardest thing to maintain!  I really hate this stove, and am hoping for a better one when we get moved.  I cleaned it to within an inch of its life, and I bought new burner reflectors for it, because they were circa 1970 and beyond any cleaning.  I wanted the stove to be clean for the home showings, and I was NOT going to clean it again.      

Also, I had a freezer full of meat and other items.  As of April 10, we will be homeless, and God only knows how long we will be without basic services.  I am moving somewhere between 16 and 18 hours away.  Stuff in the freezer is not going to have much of a shelf life after the 10th.  So, I started months ago knowing I had to get this stuff gone, one way or another.  

As you all know, I'm on a super low sodium diet because of my heart failure.  Eating out is pretty much out of the question, and most prepared foods from the grocery store are packed with salt.  

So I thought I would make my own TV dinners.  I had an abundance of black plastic trays from my Bistro Box days (a heart healthy meal service I used when I first got back from Maine and went to work after my heart failure).  Bryan also hit up the sales at City Market and got a bunch of Rubbermaid trays of the same size with lids.  

I was doing meal prep anyway, since my diet called for it, and because we are in the habit of eating at home, rather than out, for monetary reasons.  So I would make a few extra casseroles. 

When we grilled hamburgers, steaks, or pork chops, we would grill the whole package.  I would get potatoes by the bag full, and chop them up and roast them.  Some for dinner and some to freeze.  I did the same with bunches of sweet potatoes.  I also put a whole bag of frozen chicken breasts into my instapot and cooked them on the "meat" setting, so there was plenty of chopped chicken for our favorite dishes.  

At the end of the week, I always had extra servings of all of this.  So I would put the extra food into all those plastic trays.  (the Bistro Box ones fit into a gallon size Zip Loc bag, so that's how I covered them).  (I found out Debra's Mormon Salad freezes well, so I had portions of that, and extra potatoes, to go with the grilled meats.  Or I used plain frozen vegetables.).  I know I had at least 30 meals frozen by the time I was done.  

I made several batches of chili.  Chili over roast potatoes is really awesome!

I also made bunches of frozen breakfast sandwiches with fried egg, swiss cheese, and my Sarah Lee 45 calorie bread that has low sodium.  No sausage or bacon!  

I made several containers of BBQ pork and taco chicken too, for burritos and sandwiches.  

Anyway, I just ate the last meal yesterday.  I made it to within 10 days of our moving.  And the freezer has only one shelf of items we need to take with us.  I'm not throwing much out, needless to say. 

I think I will continue that practice of making my own TV dinners once I'm where I can cook again.  It worked out so well, and my meals were so convenient.  Compared to Bryan's Hungry Man dinners, which is what he ate while I had my home made ones, there was more food, and they were cheaper, and much healthier.  I'm really glad I did that.  Bryan was sometimes jealous because my home made meal looked better than his Hungry Man dinner.  

Now I have some Healthy Choice dinners from the grocery store.  They are....ok....for the most part.  You don't get much food in them, and they are expensive.  But the sodium content is low enough, and it won't be for long. 

I will have to suck it up while we are between homes.  I kind of know what I can and can't eat at the fast food outlets, and as always, I bring lots of hearth healthy snacks that sub for breakfast and lunch.  I don't think I will be without a kitchen for more than 2 weeks tops.     

So, with all said and done, I'm tired of eating like this.  I can't wait to cook again!  I want to buy normal groceries and make yummy dishes.  So I will keep you posted on how this food business continues!