There is a steadfast rule when it comes to grocery shopping. Never go when you are hungry. I remembered this rule as my stomach growled on the way into the grocery store parking lot. When you are hungry, it is so easy to succumb to the smells and sights of really good food that are whispering to you, “Buy me, you know you want me. Don’t worry that I am 5,000 calories per bite and cost twice as much as I should. I will love you more than anything else in this world.” My problem is that I was going grocery shopping because I had no food in the house. My son had made that abundantly clear to his teacher earlier today when the teacher asked him why he was spacing out in class.

“I didn’t really have a good lunch today,” he told him.

“Well, you might want to think about packing a bigger lunch for school,” the teacher told him.

“I couldn’t,” my son said matter-of-factly. “We have no food in the house.”

The teacher laughed and said, “Then you should get yourself over to a shelter and get some food.” He turned to me. “Isn’t it funny how kids can be so dramatic?”

I smiled weakly, still recovering from the teacher’s joke. I had just paid out a couple of unexpected bills that left my checking account in a precarious position, and any check I wrote today was going against a paycheck I hadn’t received yet. And the food situation in our house was at the bare ends since I had stretched it for as long as I could, which is why I was going to the store on an empty stomach.

You could say the economy is affecting this household. (Read more...)