Nearly Out the Door, but Stirring Something Up

Welcome to From Layoff to Ladle

I’m so glad you’re here. This blog is part personal journal, part kitchen experiment, and part survival guide for anyone navigating unexpected change. Whether you’re here for the budget-friendly recipes, the reflections on starting over, or just a bit of solidarity, you’re in the right place. Let’s figure this out — one grocery flyer, one meal, and one moment at a time.

This isn’t just a blog about food.

It’s about my journey of starting over. I’m at the beginning of that journey — not one I exactly chose, but one I now find myself on.

I work in the Canadian post-secondary sector, which, frankly, is not the most stable place to be right now. Domestic tuition has been capped — a win for students, but a challenge for colleges and universities that rely on that revenue. To fill the gap, institutions turned to international students, who pay higher tuition fees. But international students have increasingly been linked — fairly or not — to Canada’s infrastructure strain (e.g., the housing crisis). In response, the federal government capped international student visas. Another financial blow to post-secondary institutions.

And now, I’ve been offered a “voluntary” exit. I put that in quotes for a reason — if I didn’t accept, I could have faced immediate layoff. So now I have until August until I'm "out the door." A choice, technically, but not much of one. 

So here I am: not quite forty, not quite sure what’s next. I need to make sure I can support myself in the short term, while also wrestling with bigger questions — mid-life, existential, “what now?” questions.

I decided to start this blog as a way to process and document the change.

Why a food blog?

Well, for starters, I love food — probably a bit too much. Part of this journey is about learning to eat more mindfully and, hopefully, shedding a few pounds along the way.

But more importantly, I need to learn how to live on a tighter budget. I know I’m not alone in this, and I hope that sharing my experience might help others who are also navigating uncertainty, trying to eat well without overspending.

Food nourishes the soul. Even in hard times — maybe especially in hard times — it’s important to find joy, to persevere, and to eat well.

One unexpected benefit of working in post-secondary has been access to affordable courses. I’ve been taking culinary classes through the institution where I work, and I plan to use those skills — along with my background in project and change management (and yes, lots of budgeting) — to support myself, and hopefully support others, as I work through this next chapter.

Photo: Lighthouse on Lake Huron. Taken by me.