Last night I walked into the wee hours in our local 24 hour grocery store.  I wanted something, I just wasn't sure what.  Since Morton would be home at 11:30-ish, I thought I would be a good wife and have something waiting for him to eat.  Really I just fancied something, just needed to see it to know.

Now my options were very limited.  I had four dollars in cash with me and what can you get when you are wanting a midnight feast for four bucks?  I avoided the fruit and veg department since my dinner (which had worn off ages ago) was a salad.  It was a generic and bland 25 cent salad.  In other words, bags of lettuce that were going bad were reduced to four for a dollar.  Seriously.

Wandering down the chip and pretzel aisle I started reading the backs of bags.  Even if they said 120 calories per serving, I was doing the math the RIGHT way and adding up how many servings were in the big bag.  Most of them had at least ten servings.  I KNEW that I would eat the majority of the bag (Morton would only get a tiny morsel) and thank goodness, I kept on walking.

The cheese department was really an eye opener.  There is no cheese that I can eat, plus add in my cheap crackers waiting at home and even a bottle of French wine wouldn't help keep these calories out of my system.  Cheese was not what I was looking for.

Heading to the opposite end of the store I checked out the dairy department.  I know that cheese should be in dairy, and the plastic variety is.  This dairy department was of no use to me.  I didn't even bother looking at the labels.  I knew this wasn't what I was after.

Frozen food aisle almost got me with two for four dollars healthy style dinners, but I really wanted something different.  A giant Chinese takeaway from our local place in Bonnyrigg, Scotland is what my head was tasting.  I knew that there would be no giant spring rolls (probably over 1000 calories each) in this store in Middletown, Pennsylvania.  Woe is me.

One more look at the chips that were on special and the brief thought of going back to the dairy department to source cheap dip were a bust. 

Disgruntled but slightly pleased with myself I lighted on the idea of just going home, keeping my four dollars and popping a bag of low cal, low salt microwave popcorn in our six dollar microwave that is set up on an end table in our living room.

Smiling past the poor cashiers who were in there until the sun was going to come up, I headed for home.  I was almost singing and walking on moonlight when I got out of the car and walked to the house I KNEW without a shadow of a doubt, I had just made a very brilliant choice.

Yippee!

Big ol' bag of cheap frozen veggies plus a cheap bag of salad shrimp would probably get you in under budget. I season with whatever spices I have around the house then steam. If there was a bit $$ left over for one serving of rice each, it's pretty darn filling and probably pretty low pointage. It ain't a Chinese feast but it might work.