My nutty neighbor did it again.

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I've spoken here about my neighbor, who buys things constantly--she is a wild shopaholic and likes to order things online as well. Often, this backfires and she gives it away when she discovers she doesn't like it. I have tried to gently tell her that she is wasting her money, and so have others, but evidently she doesn't listen, she doesn't care, or she has more money than any of us realize. She restrained herself for 2-3 weeks, I think. Today, she called and said ''I have something for you!'' I braced myself thinking, who in the world knows what it is this time, as often it is mass quantities of the same thing, usually food. I have routed a lot of the food to the local food pantry, as she has ordered ridiculous amounts of stuff in the past--50 lb. lots of rice, cases of this or that, etc. because--''It's on sale!!'' She fell for those expensive meals you can order online to be delivered, called Factor. The cheapest meals are $12.99, but most are $15.00...EACH. To put it in perspective, think of a frozen individual meal like a Stouffer's or some such brand. The difference is, Factor is fresh when delivered, and supposedly will last 7 days in your refrigerator, or you can freeze them. She brought 4 of the meals over here. She wanted me to take more, but I did not. I mistakenly thought since these were so expensive, they would be good. Wrong, wrong...think massive amounts of cumin, turmeric, pepper, etc. We cooked two of them, she gave us different types--one was a weird combination of mac and cheese with stewed beef pieces, with carrots on the side that were swimming in a very strange, extremely peppery sauce. It was a big no... we aren't that picky, but it was not very good. The other one was even more strange--African peanut curry with tofu, a very strange rice mixture loaded with yes, more cumin and turmeric and a hot pepper or two, which neither one of us can eat, as we are allergic to hot peppers. I put the other two in the freezer for now, until we get brave enough to try them. What a weird and strange way to waste money, but no matter what she can't seem to stop. She said she has tried 5 of them, all different, and hated all of them. So, it's not just us. I talked her into giving them to the food pantry, I know lots of people love hot and spicy foods, but we simply can't eat them here. I do hope she got her excess buying urges out of the way for a time, but who knows? She's a nice lady, very sweet and kind--but oh, can she ever go through money to buy things she doesn't need.