Grappling with newfound adulthood can be difficult. Facing a less than ideal job market, rising cost of living and typical early-mid 20s drama can make for a stressful day-to-day life. Still, there is one good thing about everything going wrong — when something doesn’t, it automatically becomes the greatest thing in the world.
23-year-old Zach Nichols knows this feeling well. He doesn’t really like his job, his friends have gotten much busier since college and the prospect of a girlfriend seems miles and miles away. But on his weekly shopping trip, which primarily consists of snacks, he went out of his way to treat himself to something special. Namely, Heinz Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce.
“I eat chicken nuggets basically every day, and I know I’ll never get sick of that. But at a certain point, I do start to get kind of sick of my dipping options,” acknowledged Nichols. “I’ll never deny my love for ketchup or honey mustard, but I really felt like my life was ready for a change. This week, that meant barbecue sauce.”
To many, this may seem overly dramatic. After all, all condiments run the risk of ultimately being forgotten in the back of the refrigerator. For those with a meager grocery budget, though, there will never be enough food available for anything to be out of view.
In fact, Nichols has discovered a very important principle — if eating the same thing starts to feel old-hat, just put a new kind of goop on it and it will be renewed. It takes very little effort to turn a bowl of rice and beans into a bowl of rice and beans with Frank’s Red Hot in it.
“This opens up a whole new world of possibilities,” remarked the junior marketing coordinator. “A hot dog? Now it’s a hot dog with barbecue sauce on it. Can of tuna? Slather it on there. Marshmallows? Weird, but it’s something new to do. Really any food, the principle still applies.”
For all the good it will do, the $3 Nichols spent on the condiment is still nothing to scoff at. Being financially responsible, as people his age are known to be, the freshly-minted adult has already sorted out how he’ll work it into his budget.
“I usually go to City Bar on Thursdays because they have $3 taps. But if I get a pitcher for $9 instead, I’ll probably get a little more out of it and end up spending less at the end of the night — that’s just business,” he explained.
If Nichols wanted to, he could even skip going out and play PS5 — which he notably disregarded in his budget — then use the money he saved to buy even more condiments. However, it seems like Nichols has other plans for any extra money rolling in.
“I’m going to see Cocaine Bear with the boys on Friday. Maybe they’d be down to split some popcorn! I wonder if we could pool our resources to get the biggest size so we can get a free refill. I wouldn’t even need to eat the rest of the day!” beamed Nichols.
If there’s one important thing for people in the same boat as Nichols to remember, it’s this — it’s all up from here. Unless it gets worse, in which case, it will have to stop getting worse at some point.
Photo courtesy of Bretwa via Wikimedia
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