Note to Self: The 9x13 Is Not Your Friend

One bad thing about a deployed husband and having no kids?  I have eaten the same chicken casserole for the past eight meals in a row.  I love the stuff, but dang.  It's hard enough to cook for two, but it's ridiculous to cook for one.

And my husband thinks his life is Groundhog Day.

You know, we hear this all the time, that our spouses are living Groundhog Day while deployed.  But sometimes our side of the coin runs pretty similarly.  Every evening so far since my husband left, I have eaten dinner (the same casserole), taken the dog for a walk, put the dog in the house, watered the flowers, watched a little TV, read a chapter of my book, and gone to bed.  Every night.

Our deployed loved ones don't have a monopoly on monotony!

Comments

[Semper Fi Wife]

I'm with ya, Sarah. With the girls at school, DP in Iraq and Lancelot globetrotting, that chicken tetrazinni gets really old about day 3.
And weekends suck...

[liberal army wife]

I called it the hamster wheel.. the days just went round and round and round... get up, LONG commute, work, LONG commute, dog out, feed dog, eat the same pasta/ratatouille meal or chicken breast and rice.. watch TV... sleep... and the wheel went round and round and round and round...

and now that I am off the wheel, some days I almost miss it, it was safe and I didn't worry about something new happening..

LAW

[Elisa]

That is why cereal and noodle bowls are your friend! =)

[Jewel]

I hear ya, but there are those times when I find comfort in my routine, you know? There were so many days when my DH was deployed that were full of surprises, and not the good kind, that when I had routine days, I cherished them. Oh, and the next time you make your casserole, why not divide it into smaller containers and freeze them? That way you won't have to eat the same thing 8 nights in a row plus you'll already have dinner ready for those nights you just don't feel like cooking.

[Andi]

How funny. We were just talking about this Saturday. I remember my husband calling me one evening when I was eating my Progresso Minestrone (something I did about three or four times per week when he was gone). He was telling me they had steak and lobster the previous evening, and he was contemplating what type of omelet he would have the next morning. I remember looking into my soup bowl and saying, "huh?" Heh.

I was truly happy that he was being fed well, but thought how backwards it seemed that he was eating better in the DFAC in a combat zone than I was in the comforts of suburbia...

[Mare]

I'm single so I can sympathize with this. What I do is either halve the recipe so I don't have to eat it all weekend. Or make the full recipe and them put in into those little disposable gladware things and freeze it in single servings. If you have a friend whose spouse is also deployed maybe you could trade some dishes. I agree the cooking for one thing really sucks though. Either you eat poorly because what's the sense of cooking for one. Or you eat the same things over and over.

[audette]

I find it helps to mostly cook things that freeze well while DH is gone. Then I can have it for supper, and maybe the lunch following, and freeze the rest in supper-sized containers for later grab, heat, and eat meals.

Other things, that I know won't freeze well, I cook, and then invite over a couple of the other spouses. That way, I'm not left with the same meal for days on end, and I get to socialize at the same time.

[aircrew fiance]

Andi-

I know EXACTLY how you felt! I was sitting at my desk at work eating one of those horrible frozen meals that look sooo much better on the box when i get a call, and hes telling me how he had lobster and steak for dinner.

On one hand i was thrilled he was eating something then a turkey sandwhich or MRE, on the other hand, i stared at my poor little microwave meal and wondered how they got lobster in a combat zone.

lobster or no lobster...he cant wait to get back to a home cooked meal

... its just me during his deployment, i end up spoiling ALOT of food, he was the one that would finish my plate and the left overs.

[Guard Wife]

Oh, the lobster and steak phone call. Yeah. I remember that one. LOL I had spent the couple days prior catching throw up from both girls, sneaking showers and trying to remember to eat--sick kids wear me out! Then, he called & told me about all the great food he had to eat the night before...eeks!

[ArmyReserveWife]

I am really bad, if it was just me, I think I would find a good healthy eating spot and become their best customer! LOL

[HomefrontSix]

I remember the "Lobster and Steak" conversation too! Only ours was ice cream. He emailed one night to tell me that the DFAC had unlimited, all you can eat, FREE Baskin-Robbins. Granted, they didn't have 31 Flavors but he had ice cream!!

At the time, I was stuck at home with a small boy who had a fever and an upset tummy. I wanted ice cream SO badly yet I couldn't go get it.

And, while I am a fan of routine and such, I don't like leftovers at all. I saved the bigger meals for when we had friends over rather than waste leftovers.

[Ann M.]

Oh yes. There were definitely times where I'd invite friends over for dinner specifically so I wouldn't be eating the leftovers for a week. Other times food would get frozen for a lazier day. But I did try to stick to the same evening routine that we have when DH is home. There's something comforting in it, I guess...

[Shanna]

Even though I have 3 kids, I still have leftovers because I cook for an army. So, I usually end up feeding a couple of other spouses or neighborhood kids. One thing I do enjoy for lunch, when the older kids are at school, are the Healthy Choice steamer bowls. They're really good and don't taste like a frozen dinner.

[Nonnie48]

I do not like cooking...I'll bake all day long but please don't make me COOK! So it's hard for me to make meals when he's here...forget it if he's gone. This deployment was so much better because my best friend here just happens to be the wife of someone in hubby's unit who also doesn't have kids. Oh and loves to cook. So we had an arrangement that we would have dinner together once a week. We did really well about not eating out too. She would make dinner for us one week and I'd go over and eat and vice versa the next week.

[KTide]

Man, did I need to read all this tonight. We married less than a year ago. . .before he found out he had a year-long tour. I just got used to living with someone. . .now I'm on my own again. I'm new to all things military and find it difficult to navigate through it all for the first time. . .especially without my DH. Have found holiday weekends (3 day weekends) to be torture. Thank you for showing me this is not my singular problem.