Another Frugal Non-Cook Kitchen Adventure

Now, I usually have to go around the barn to get where I am going.

I went to heat a cup of water in the microwave last night and when I hit the start button, the microwave shut off or maybe blew a fuse, who knows what, but it no longer worked. Using another outlet proved it was the microwave unit and not the outlet.

I boiled water on the stovetop instead.

In the morning, I went to the apartment office to let them know about the microwave. I live in Mexico and I have not learned enough Spanish yet to say:

"I wanted to let you know the microwave stopped working."

So, I used my iPad and Google's translate to translate the sentence into Spanish.

"Hola, buenos días. Quería hacerle saber el microondas dejó de funcionar."

The office clerk understood me and used my iPad to tell me that a technician would come by today and would I be home all day? Si, gracias.

The technicians came in 30 minutes and replaced the microwave.

But, there was one special instruction they gave me in Spanish.

Push this red button (Inicio/Mas Tiempo) to use the microwave and push this red button to stop the microwave (Pausa/Cancelar).

I could not use any of the other panel functions. We spoke in SpanEnglish and sign language.

So, when I push the red ON button, I get 1 minute of power. If I want more minutes, I keep pressing the red ON button. To stop the process or clear the minutes, press the red OFF button.

As a non-cook, this is not a major inconvenience, yet. I had hoped to make a tuna casserole, so we shall see how I will use the red ON button when I try to cook the casserole.

All this happened while I was trying to plan my grocery shopping list. This is not as easy as it sounds.

If I buy lunchmeat, I have to freeze half of it and then have lots of lunchmeat sandwiches so I eat it the rest before the lunchmeat goes bad.

That is why much of what I buy is canned or packaged. The items keep longer.

If I buy fruits or vegetables, I have to plan dishes where I will use them within a week or two, before they go bad.

With some of the vegetables like onions, celery, or bell peppers, I can slice or dice and freeze some for use in crock pot recipes.

When I was in the states, I had achieved my goal of making my meals for less than $1. I have yet to achieve this in Mexico. Things are a bit different here.