It’s not that I can’t make homemade mashed potatoes. I can, I have, and they were delicious. My potatoes were prepared using only natural ingredients, making them more nutritious than the boxed variety. They were also significantly cheaper, especially since one of our local grocery stores runs terrific sales on Russet potatoes fairly frequently. All in all, my homemade mashed potatoes were a healthier, more frugal option than the boxed variety. So why did I decide to stop making them? Because, when all is said and done, I despise the actual process of preparing mashed potatoes from scratch.
Part of me felt extremely childish when I first admitted that to myself. I wanted to “suck it up” and stick with the more nutritious, less expensive process of making potatoes from scratch—even though I hated the work involved. However, I ultimately decided to make my life easier and use the instant variety. I knew I was never going to stop making mashed potatoes. Donnie and I both like them too much. I also knew I was never going to enjoy the tedious process of preparing them from scratch. So I chose to spend less time doing something I loathe and went back to the boxed kind, even though they are more expensive and less nutritious than potatoes prepared from scratch. I’m not necessarily proud of the choice, but I am at peace with it.
Doing things we strongly dislike just to cut costs is a bad idea. Sacrificing our sanity to save some money doesn’t add to anyone’s peace of mind or contentment—and doesn’t that defeat the purpose of frugal living?
Are there any areas of your life where you’ve decided to save sanity by spending more? Share your experiences in the comments!
Doing things we strongly dislike just to cut costs is a bad idea. Sacrificing our sanity to save some money doesn’t add to anyone’s peace of mind or contentment—and doesn’t that defeat the purpose of frugal living?
Are there any areas of your life where you’ve decided to save sanity by spending more? Share your experiences in the comments!
11 comments:
That is so funny because that is one convenience item that we buy. At first I felt bad about it, but my family actually prefers these over the real deal (which I find strange?) I figured if everyone liked them better anyway, why bother!
We feel the same way about boxed macaroni. My kids prefer the boxed stuff so I will just eat that instead!
Generic Mashed potatoes are a good buy because you can use them for other things like thickening soup or making refrigerator dough. I always have instant potatoes in my pantry- although I frequently make scratch ones.
My craziness:
To avoid getting my food processor dirty (because I HATE! cleaning it) I spent a messy hour grating a bar of laundry soap with a small cheese grater. Is that crazy when I could have spent ten minutes grinding and cleaning? I don't think so- I really hate cleaning that thing.
I always splurge on cleaning supplies. Dish washer cubes instead of powder, cleaning wipes instead of a rag, a swifter instead of a map.
Some of my recipes for mashed potatoes involve leaving the skins on and I guess more of smashed than mashed. (chunky) Less prep and time consumed -- but I am guilty of making instant more often because of time sake.... although I 100% prefer the real deal.
We eat boxed mashed potatoes at our house for the same reasons. Thank you for sharing, I'm glad I'm not the only one!
Thank you for your encouragement on the tote bags. They aren't hard to make I just decide how big I wanted it and put it together. I loe your blog you have a lot of great suggestions and links. If I may I would like to add you to my blog so that my friend and other people who look at my blog can go to your blog to check it out.
Thanks again.
I hate cutting up lettuce for tacos. So whenever I make tacos I buy the shredded kind. I choose the bag that has less of the "white" part of the iceburg lettuce and use that. I use the whole bag over the course of a few days because I eat the leftovers.
Whenever I have bought lettuce and tried to wash, dry and cut it up for tacos it ends up too wet. So my splurge is shredded lettuce.
http://www.urbanfrugal.com
I totally agree with you about the potatoes! I always say, "I peeled them-I peeled back the top of the box!" Thanks for sharing.
Now THAT is why I don't do haircuts anymore! I spent years cutting everyone's hair (five kids and occasionally hubby) and I hated that job. I am so, so very thankful to be able to take them for haircuts (and that two kids pay for themselves, two are girls who don't need much done and rarely, so it boils down to one boy with thick, fast growing hair).
I don't make mashed potatoes very often, but Grandma does on a regular basis, so it doesn't really matter anyway.
I'm with you on the instant potatoes-- the rest of my family likes either one just the same, so since I'm the only one who prefers the real ones, I rarely go through all that hassle.
Another thing I buy is bagged salad-- always on sale/ with coupons, but still, a head of lettuce is cheaper. The reality is that if I buy a head of lettuce, we're likely to let part of it go bad. With the bagged salad we're much more likely to use it up. So, it works for me. :)
I feel the same way as you do. My kids prefer the instant and I don't feel like the time it takes to peel and chop the real thing. But I hate the fact that I am not saving money. So to stretch my instant potatoes and minimize their cost I throw a couple of potatoes in the microwave. It only takes a few minutes to cook them and once they are cooked it is not that hard to scoop out the potato. Mix it up with some milk and instant potatoes and it's kinda like a compromise. I think it is funny that I am using something from scratch to stretch something that is processed.
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