Fend For Yourself!

Tonight is a fend for yourself night, or FFY. My "night off" from cooking. These nights are a saving grace for me, helps me keep my sanity, helps with the pocket book, and helps clean out the fridge. But does it really mean that I don't fix anything??? Not really. So what does FFY look like with my boys, seeing as they are 1, 4, and 6? Obviously, the 1 year old doesn't have to make his own dinner, but the other boys do. So FFY usually is a PB&J for my 4 year old and a Ham sandwich for my 6 year old. The hubs (when he is home), baby and I enjoy leftovers of some sort. Having a left over night is not always a favorite, but it is an necessity. We almost always have left overs of some sort. If it isn't in the fridge it is in the freezer. When I pack up left overs from a dinner, I will put it in the fridge. If after 3-4 days we haven't eaten it, I will usually pack it up and put it in the freezer, saving it for a night when I am really short on time.

Sometimes if they are lucky I may make a trip through a drive though, but I really try not to do that. I remember when I was a kid, even a teenager, actually all the way until I was about 28, I thought that fast food was cheap. That was before I started to really enjoy cooking. Now, I have come to realize that those golden arches really are made of gold. Even though $1 burger sounds cheap, you can't just have that, so with the fries, and maybe another burger and a drink you are up to $5. Then you have to add in the hubs meal (another $7) and the kids meals (about $8 for 2), and we are looking at $20! That as much as I spend on groceries some weeks!! I can make the whole family burgers (about 10) with fries and a drink for about the same cost as one meal, and it tastes a whole lot better. Anyway, that is why we don't eat out nearly as much as my boys would like.

So, question for all of you... Do you have a FFY night? What usually comes of it in your house?