For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for February 16, 2024

The takeaway that hits home

Freezer is more likely.

Plenty of leftover bean casseroles and maybe some leftovers from the Tex-Mex place.

Does Elizabeth get enough of an allowance to order pizza?

John can’t figure out how to cook a meal?

Just call out for a pizza and be done with it. Thdn everyone is happy.

Yeah, Elly—constant griping CAN be exhausting!!

Door Dash. We tried all the fancy restaurants during Covid that way.

Panel one, the problem with vegan dinners, you don’t get enough high protein to give you pick-me-up energy.

What a nice guy, John the family man is. Maybe Lizabeth is old enough to forage for her own food, but April I believe is only 3 years old, not quite 4 years old. Is it right for the little girl to be left to try and feed herself?John being a medical practitioner, shouldn’t his medical license be revoked for allowing that?

“So, what’s for dinner?”

“Yesterday’s dinner.”

Maybe if she didn’t have to clean up after everyone, hanging up all their stuff she wouldn’t be so exhausted she didn’t wanna cook.

Kids are a P.I.T.A.

Dad, are your arms broken?

Time for Breakfast for Dinner?

Or indoor camping… beans and wieners, a carrot and an apple. On paper plates of course.

Leftover Valentine’s candy? You just know there are a few private stashes around the house.

All I remember how to cook is top ramen

Has anyone ever seen a microwave in this strip?

I’m perfectly fine with Taco Bell. My sainted mother said “when your friends brag about their mothers’ cooking, tell them ‘nobody can open a can like my mom !’

As a kid there were times I was disciplined by my parents where they said that I would have to make my own dinner.

Something is wrong with Ellie …

This comic strip is actually a pretty clear reflection of what the Johnston life was like back in 1995. They had a housekeeper/cook named Janet who worked for Lynn from 1984 until Lynn left Ontario in 2015. Sometimes in her comments, Lynn refers to her as “Mavis.” (fake housekeeper name). Janet would make the food and leave it in the refrigerator for the Johnstons to get if they, perhaps, decided that they were not eating with the family but doing an all-nighter in their studio in order to meet a deadline.

When I see those wide-eyed looks on the Pattersons, it reminds me of a Sylvester and Tweety cartoon where Granny is out of the house and a great snow storm keeps her from getting home. There’s plenty of canned cat food but Sylvester can’t find a can opener. He yells “I’ll starve!” with that very same look on his face. ;-p

Once everyone has made a choice, John will throw it all together in a sort of hash.

When I don’t feel like cooking we have take out either from the refrigerator or the local coop deli.

Look at all the choices!

Bean Meal #1

Bean Meal #2

Bean Meal #3

Bean Meal #4

Why should John do it? He is the bread-winner. Elizabeth, on the other hand is a teenager who accepts no responsibility at all. Time she pulled her weight around the house and helped…for a change.

8 different items of leftovers, none of which tastes good when mixed with another one

A wise and conscious choice John. 45% of food is wasted in the US and 60% in Canada, and yet whiners have to whine about high prices at the grocery store. The maxim of old “Willful waste makes woeful want” was shortened to the now more familiar version of “Waste not, want not.”

I wonder if they have any leftovers. We’ve seen Elly pig out on what is left after a meal.

Fridge Take Out…. a lot cheaper, too.

My daughter calls that “random dinner”. Her kids love it.

Hah! I like this answer, and I will very much have to use this with my kids, who, like her, are definitely old enough to feed themselves! :D