Whether you like it or not.

You know what? I don't like oatmeal. I can't make it (that's right, I can't make oatmeal... of all things), and it tastes like paste. I am sure if you add a bunch of other tasty foods to it, it rallies and becomes edible. But, when you have a limited budget, you can't afford multiple food items to put in oatmeal, so it remains a paste.
Oatmeal is a stalpe item and is one of the anchor dishes I had as part of my meals for the hunger challenge. It, along with tuna, canned green beans, chicken breasts and russet potatoes make up my food choices for seven days. As someone who doesn't care to cook, I am fairly used to eating bland foods from my own kitchen. But oatmeal takes the prize. I actually talked to the bowl last night, told it how much I didn't like it.
I have never been a breakfast eater, but I do understand how important that meal is. With oatmeal as my only morning meal choice, I skipped it yet again. But I know that, come lunch time, I am going to have oatmeal whether I like it or not. This is a situation that so many people face each day: "whether you like it or not." They don't have many choices, they make food purchase decisions based on what they know is less expensive, or the deal of the day. As Frank Finnegan put it, nutrition takes a back seat to bargains. Although not bad for you, oatmeal is an affordable but BORING food to buy. But, regardless of my personal opinion of oatmeal, it is going to be my lunchtime meal today. Whether I like it or not.