Did I ask for Parmesian On My Puttanesca?

Yes. Yes. The economy is crashing. The world is coming to an end. Bla, bla, bla. I feel cliche starting off with the line, "As you know, times are getting tough" but with this blog post, it's the basis of cold reality. Of course they're getting tough. When has it ever been easy?

Personally though? I am in a history 104 class and we are studying the roaring 20's right now and needless to say, the great depression started on huge credit debt, over-expenditures, and government mistakes. Sound a bit too familiar? But this isn't supposed to be a preachy blog telling you to all be better and have no debt and live within your means... that's your own decision.

However, as many of you DO know, times are getting tough. So with every dollar stretching as far is poor George possibly can, I have decided to find some cheap meals on the Internet that I can make. However, I am still newly married and my 5 meals I can make consist of less than ideal quality. It's not because I am not able to make delicious meals, it's because it's expensive and to be quite frank, neither Tyler nor I care about quality unless we pay for it at a restaurant. By the way, I didn't make the nasty concoction to the left.

So as I search for easy cheap dinner's on the internet, I was a little distraught by what the search engine produced. Here is one example of a "cheap" meal from http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food/entertaining/cheap-meal-ideas Seriously?

Warm Lentil Salad with Shrimp, Apples, and Mint ( First off...Ew)

3 tablespoon(s)olive oil

3 tablespoon(s)cider vinegar
Salt and pepper

1 pound(s)fresh or frozen (thawed) shelled and deveined medium shrimp
1 cup(s)lentils
6 cup(s)water
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup(s)(loosely packed) fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 Golden Delicious apple, unpeeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 stalk(s)celery, thinly sliced

I don't know about you but I don't have lentils, shrimp and cider vinegar just laying around my house. What am I, upper society? Second, I am not too familiar with the price of these ingredients but starting from scratch, buying a small bottle of olive oil is at least $5.99. I might as well go and buy 5 mac n cheese box dinners that would last me a week... Okay so that's an exaggeration.

I was expecting a recipe that went something like, " take some potatoes, onions, carrots and hamburger and mix it all together with some cool Italian seasoning and cook in foil for, like, 30 mins". I guess I will have to make up my own goulash meals until I find a cheap meal website that fits our needs.