The Battle of the Cheez-its

Since we've moved in together and since we got engaged, both T and I have tried our best to eat a little healthier and to be a bit more frugal with our grocery bill and spending. Of course, this isn't to say we're perfect (see my post from a couple days ago where I'm going on and on about my favorite dessert), but we're making a good effort. (A is for effort, right?)

So one of the big things we've both been doing is bringing our lunch to work. It can be annoying sometimes, having to pack it the night before or rush to pack it that morning as we're leaving for work. But we make it work. I am definitely not a cold cuts sandwich person so that's usually T's thing. So with the lunch, he packs some kind of chip/cracker item, dessert and fruit. And this is where our battle lines have been drawn...the damn Cheez-its.

No matter how hard I try, we're always butting heads on the whole proportion thing with food. He thinks "hey, if it fits in this sandwich bag, it's the correct portion, right?" Um...yeah...not so much. It's like 1/3rd of the box that the boy manages to get into one bag. Or on those lucky days where we have enough leftovers from the night's previous meal, I'll be nice and say "you go ahead, honey, and take that for lunch." And it's usually something substantial, too, like a meal with a salad. But he still persists in putting a bulging bag of Cheez-its in with his lunch, despite how much he's already packed.

So I eventually started calling him on it. Mostly because 1) I pay the grocery bill and going through a box of Cheez-its in one week's span of time can be a bit much; 2) the stuff isn't really that good for you anyway with a bunch of salt, saturated fats, etc. and 3) I want him to be around a good long time so I want him to be healthy (am I a nice person or what?) So any given day, he'd be packing his lunch and I see him putting in a huge bag of Cheez-its with his leftovers. I'd ask him why the need for the extra carbs, and he'd respond with a "but I get hungry!" To which, I'd respond by taking the Cheez-its and replacing them with a fruit item saying, "here's a good snack, try this!"

Well, the boy's gotten smart on me. He now waits until I'm out of the room and getting ready in the morning to pack his lunch, and he sneaks it in. Sneaky, T, very sneaky...but one of us is sneakier.

So one day, when I was going to be the doting fiance' and put a little note in with his lunch, I open it to find a huge bag of Cheez-its shoved in there. So I quietly take them out and write him the sweet note but include at the bottom of the note: "Missing some Cheez-its?" And would you know it...I get a text from T around noon that day inquiring the whereabouts of said Cheez-its.

The battle has reached an all-time high just last week, as T was getting ready, after packing his lunch, I inquired what he packed. It was standard items - leftovers from previous day, salad, fruit and dessert. I asked," Do you have any Cheez-its in there?" He responds "No, I didn't put any at all in there. You can trust me." So I ask "ok, so hypothetically, if I look in your lunchbox, will I find some Cheez-its in there?" He goes "Dont you trust me?" in the sweetest possible voice to convey his innocence. So I can't help it...I took the bait and looked, and what do you know? Cheez-its! Drat! But it was early, and I was tired so I let it slide...

Of course, this is all in good fun, so don't think that this has become a huge issue in our household and send me referrals for premarital counseling. I do genuinely care about his health, and we've both been instructed by our respective doctors to have the whole low sodium, low carb diet for our blood pressure, so to compromise, I went and bought one of those packages that has the 100 calorie portions. See, he can get his Cheez-its but in moderation, right?

But that only worked for a little while because those suckers are quite expensive! Plus, he'd supplement by throwing something else in there with the lunch which would defeat the purpose.

Every day when I get to work, I would share my tales of Cheez-it battle with a coworker of mine, who finds this hilarious, of course. "Give T the Cheez-its!!!!" she says. So we had her over for dinner last week, and the traitor has sided with Team T and bought him a 3 lb box of Cheez-its. This thing is HUGE. It cracks me up, of course, so there you go...but in my estimation, this box should last him about two weeks. We may need a bigger box.

What's a silly thing that you and your spouse go back and forth on? (Or am I the only nutcase in the room? :-) ha)