Back to the Kitchen

The economic news is so bad that we might as well wallow in it.  The latest report from the Department of Commerce is as compelling a read as the Tax Code.  It uses expressions like “coefficients of variation” that make me have flashbacks to the algebra class I took in college because a cute guy in the registration line was signing up for it.  It was the beginning of my lifelong fear of numbers and cute guys.

Fortunately, the cleverly titled “Advance Monthly Sales for Retail Trade and Food and Food Services” has pictures that even those of us with Fear of Finance can understand.  

Take the bar chart of the decline in economic indicators, for example.  All the bars are below the line, making the chart look like a cross-section of the coal mines in West Virginia.  Like the miners, the economy may not see daylight for months, or even years.

Get this:  October auto sales were down 23.4 percent from the same period last year.  Clearly, when people are afraid of losing their jobs, they do not buy a new car.  On the other hand, it’s a great time to do some maintenance on your old one, and I’m not just saying that because my son is an auto mechanic.  Seriously, go get your brakes adjusted or something.  The boy needs to eat.

Americans are also not buying furniture.  Sales are down 13.5 percent and it is not a happy time at Furniture World.  I’m doing my part.  Thanks to my purchase of a new dining room table and chairs so that I can host Thanksgiving dinner, the numbers should spike in November.  

There is one bright spot.  It seems that Americans are actually spending MORE at one place: the grocery store.  Sales at food stores were up 4.8 percent in October, compared to this time last year.   

Analysts have done an exhaustive study of the causes of this phenomenon and have issued the following statement:  “Hey, people still gotta eat.”

Yes, Americans are finally using those fancy kitchen appliances they bought in better days.  They’re discovering that their restaurant-quality stoves and sub-zero refrigerators are good for more than impressing the neighbors.  They actually are handy in the preparation of meals, which heretofore were obtained by sitting at a table and having someone take their order, cook it, and bring it to them.  And yes, dishwashing is possible at home as well.

During our own kitchen renovation, we were forced to eat out for every meal, which soon prompted stupid arguments about whose turn it was to pick the restaurant.  

“It’s YOUR turn.”

“No, you have to pick tonight!”

It became such a burden that we cut back to one meal a day.

Now that I have access to my spiffy new galley kitchen, I’m a cooking fool.  So, I’m not surprised that more people are opting for preparing their meals at home.  Not only is it more economical, the choices are simpler:  Hungry Man or Lean Cuisine?