The Bargain's in the Eye of the Beholder

I thought it was a joke when I saw the giant produce box of over-ripe bananas sitting on my counter.  I really did.  But I should have known better.

"Only a dollar!" Mr. Wicke brags.  There is nothing my man loves more than a good bargain.  A close second is food.  Now you put those two together, and we are talking about a heady kind of euphoria. 

He shops a grocery store as most women browse the mall, picking up whatever catches his eye.  There are things I never, ever buy and yet we are always stocked (or overstocked) with cold cereal, ice cream, jello, cake mixes, canned frosting, cottage cheese, cool whip, and Kool-Aid.  Some of these items don't even register in my consciousness, but one look at my pantry would convince you otherwise. 

Stopping by the grocery on a whim or to pick up a real steal, Mr. Wicke will return home from work with bags of goodies; then the real fun begins.  We get to play the game, "Guess How Much This Cost?"  It goes something like this:

"Guess how much this cost?"

"Uhhhh, $25.00."

"No!" he crows, joy radiating from every cell in his body.

"Uhhh...$18.00."

"Lower!" he nearly sings.

"I give up."

"$3.00!  And guess how much I saved?!"

"I don't know."

"Four hundred and eighty-three dollars and ninety two cents!"

Something like that, anyway.  And then the real fun begins because I get to play, "What the Heck Can I Make With This Stuff Anyway?"  Inside the bags will be rice, motor oil, nutmeg, Jell-o, and Kool-Aid, of course.  So then I have to go to the store and spend the $400 he saved so we can actually eat.  But it makes him happy, so...whatever.

But the bananas?

"A dollar?"  I repeat far less enthusiasm.  "What am I supposed to do with an entire box of rotting bananas?"

"Banana bread?" he gapes as though the answer was so obvious.

"Two loaves of banana bread takes 3 bananas.  There are like 15 bunches in there!"

And did I mention that this is the Friday before Halloween?  As if I have time to makes loaves of banana bread!  I've got a school party to run, costumes to pull together, candy to buy, cupcakes to make, a side-dish to make, decorations to gather, pumpkins to carve and now banana bread?  Loaves and loaves and loaves of banana bread?  Who needs this kind of pressure?!

Oh, and I know.  You can freeze bananas...but only if your freezer isn't full of FIVE GALLONS OF ICE CREAM!  There was not even enough room for the NINE LOAVES of frozen bread dough that he ALSO brought home because IT WAS SUCH A GREAT DEAL.  I had to cook those up on Saturday and take them to the church Trunk-or-Treat just to get rid of them.

I am drowning in good deals around here.  Good deals and loads of bananas.  And those great deals are costing me my sanity.  I'd take time for the breakdown I deserve, but I've got banana bread to make...and banana muffins, and banana chocolate cookies...and banana....well, you get the idea.