Hard times are hitting

My family is officially impacted by the rough economics of the country. The Painter's shop has been slow for the past few months. Until recently, we hadn't been much affected since he has a great boss that keeps him working. However, the shop is just plain out of bids for new jobs. As a result, the Painter has had several days of nonworking and other days of nearly nonworking which all adds up to a next to nothing, not-enough-to-pay-the-bills paycheck for the second time this month.

Now, I'm not a complainer and we've always seem to get things worked out to support our little family, it is just that this is the hardest hit we have been in four years. I'm a little rusty when it comes to scrounging out dinners with whatever we have in the can cupboard. It used to be we could go down the the Grocery Outlet and buy lots of stuff and be perfectly happy. However, I am a little spoiled for that sort of shopping now. I never buy those boxed dinners, those bags of processed junk food or that cheap white bread, or even those white non-organic eggs. Our food choices have really escalated in the past few years and we buy the best stuff that we can afford. We cook all meals from scratch, bake from scratch, buy fresh local produce, organic products wherever practical and buy next to nothing that includes high fructose corn syrup and/or chemicals/preservatives listed in the ingredients. I can't seem to bring myself to buy that cheaper stuff now that I am on very limited grocery budget.

Either the Painter needs to starting working full days again, or I am going to be forced to compromise on the food I buy!