What Did That Label Say??

Around here, we are trying to eat better.  Which is often hard to do because my hubby is rarely home early enough to actually cook himself and I am struggling to learn how to cook more than ground beef.
His opinion, ground beef or beef of any form is perfect.  Beef and potatoes. Who really needs anything else?

I do!

Back to my story... I'm trying to learn to cook a bigger variety here and slowly finding new favorite dishes. Some, also, that are just not good. BUT, I'm making a point of keeping track of these things. My cookbook collection is actually starting to look used. Food splatters and notes on pages.  Occasionally, though, we do have rushed dinners, even now. I'm not that good at planning a menu for 1 day, how could I possibly plan for 3 or a week or a month! (amazing moms out there do it!! I'm not one of them)  There are often days that I have forgotten to take something out of the freezer or just simply didn't feel like whatever it was I had planned. Whole family home for dinner and no one knows what to eat.

So we whip together ground beef, mushroom soup and rice. Not much to it, but if you spice it right, it does taste okay. At least, it will do in a pinch...
Last time I decided that I was going to work super hard on a project for my job, I realized again - MUCH too late - that I had nothing out for dinner.
I ran down to the freezer to grab the ground beef. I checked the cases of soup in the pantry and grabbed the mushroom soup. Quick defrost in the microwave to at least start the ground beef and then into the frying pan.  Back and forth, between kids, work and dinner, until the meat was browned. I got my rice ready and everything seemed to be going well. Drain the meat, open the soup and almost lost my lunch!  Why on earth does mushroom soup, in a can, turn yellow when it goes bad?  I don't think I've ever had bad mushroom soup! Though there were a few cans that we forgot in the camper over the winter last year.... I marked them all when I brought them in the house this fall. Just in case. Guess this was a bad one.
Hmmm....
Ran back down to grab another can and realize that this couldn't be from the camper. I took it from the new case! It's new!?!? Why is it this awful color? Sure doesn't smell like mushrooms either.  Opened this up and it was normal. PHEW!!! Dinner saved!
Mixed all my ingredients, left them to simmer while I tidied up the rest of the kitchen. I'm a recycler, so I figured I best dump the bad soup and wash out the can for the recycle bag.
Then.... and only then.... did I look at the can....
My mushroom soup is fine. My eyes are not. I had carefully checked the cases and grabbed a can from the chicken noodle case....
Sometimes, dinner does turn out the way I want it to. But the road to the table is bumpy at best.