Another Tuesday, another episode of Senior Citizen Discount Grocery Shopping. The main theme of this trip was purchasing food for the New Year’s Day meal. Our family traditionally has sausage and sauerkraut with mashed potatoes. Pork is believed to bring good luck. As a child and well into adulthood, I consider it poor luck, as it was accompanied with the sauerkraut gravy.

Most of the recipes that I can find online for sauerkraut and sausage use smoked sausage links or bratwurst. Mom’s recipe uses loose sausage, essentially breakfast sausage. It’s fried up. You make a white gravy with the fat, and dump in a huge container of sauerkraut.

One year when I was in college, I became wise. None of us ever liked this meal, though I actually don’t mind it now (but that’s another story). So I quizzed mom on what the element was that caused “good luck” and was able to argue that we could have pork chops for those who would rather die than eat sauerkraut. Thank you, analytical skills!