Thank goodness for grocery lists and meal planning. No, seriously. A few months back I made up a master grocery list for the house and started planning our weekly meals. This was all in attempt to save money and have less wasted food at the end of the week. Lo and behold, week 5 of The Kitchn Cure asked us to do just. Glad I could cross that off my list easily and it sure proved itself this week.

After our lovely day on the farm I settled in for a rainy day with the girls, my last on maternity leave. Late morning came and The Monster was just attacking her arm and being beyond fussy. Close inspection revealed a bicep that would make Popeye jealous and a mysterious bite. Knowing a thing or two about bad infections we rustled the neighbours into babysitting Smilosaurus and headed up to the ER. So much for baking cookies and painting.

So after a week of me back at work, no nanny, and many a trip to and from the hospital for IV antibiotics I was really thankful for a stocked pantry and some pre-planned meal ideas. Okay, so I didn't exactly stick to my menu plan. In all fairness, I wasn't planning on arriving home at six every night. But I knew we had some good enough stuff around for sweet and sour meatballs and mac and cheese. Besides, how could I compete with hospital popsicles?