Saturday Night Supper - Ian

Cabbage, potatoes, and...Italian sausage?

It's Saturday night, and our usual entertainment, going out to dinner, is not an option. Planning to take advantage of Key Food's St. Patrick's day sale, we decide on cabbage, potatoes and corned beef. The cabbage is especially enticing because few vegetables are within our budget. At 19c/lb., it poses no problem.

There is one hitch, however. Advertised at $1.49/lb. the corned beef looks like a steal. The problem? The poor need to shop retail. All the packages of corned beef we find are two to three pounds or more. The smallest, which holds about 1 3/4 pounds costs $2.75. While that might last for more than one meal, it's about a third of our combined $8 daily budget.

It turns out, the cheapest thing we see in the meat aisle (besides chicken necks and liver) are four Italian sausages for $1.10. Priced at $2.19/lb., the sausages are about 30% more expensive than the corned beef. But you can buy just half a pound. While we are tempted to tell ourselves we can trim tomorrow's budget by eating corned beef for leftovers, we decide the best way to save money is to not spend it in the first place.

I am a little disappointed our Irish feast will not come to pass. But since our main condiment was going to be the Trappey's Indi-Pep West Indian-Style Pepper Sauce I bought today -- $1.29 for a 6 oz. bottle -- it probably isn't too much of a loss.