Tonight was our Family Home Evening and we decided that #3 could have a treat with us. His brothers got to join us for potlucks and a birthday dinner with dessert, so this might be the happiest he looks the rest of the week. We also played a blind version of Apples to Apples. We weren't allowed to look at our cards before we put them down. That way our 3-year-old could play and we would all have the same disadvantage. Speaking of, she keeps asking when she gets to buy her groceries and even resorted to taking a handful of her brother's "delicious" mac and cheese and ate all of #2's gum.
Yes, I said "ate". Not chewed. We have had to tell the boys repeatedly that anything within her reach is not a good hiding place and I even organized some high shelves for them with their own containers for keeping stuff away from her. We might have a pretend challenge for her or a modified version.
And this is the "disgusting" thing we had for dinner that #3 didn't have to eat. Breakfast Casserole. This time I used bacon. Just as I was about to fry the potatoes and onion in butter, I realized I had bacon grease.
Breakfast Casserole
5 red largish potatoes (poke holes in them and microwave for 12 minutes if you're lazy and do this first because they need to cool off before you cut them)
1/2 sweet onion, diced
1 pound of either cooked sausage, bacon, or ham
1/4 cup butter (half a stick) or super unhealthy but delicious, reserved bacon grease
1 to 2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
12 eggs, beaten
Freshly ground pepper to taste
While your potatoes are cooking, fry up your bacon or sausage (or cut up some fully cooked ham). Place on a paper towel on a plate to drain the grease so you can make yourself believe everything bad for you has been magically removed.
Dice the potatoes. You don't even have to peel them. Heat your butter or evil bacon grease on medium in a pan, sautee the onions for a couple minutes or so, add the potatoes for another couple minutes, and spread it on the bottom of a 9x13 pan like this.
Add the meat. Or make your toddler add the meat.
Add the cheese
Then the eggs and pepper.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Did I mention this is also a gluten free meal? I have some gluten free friends, so I like to watch for meals that might counteract any feelings of deprivation. You could also garnish this with some green onion and serve it with a side of fruit, top it with salsa, etc.
Or you could yell, "BLECH!" and eat a nasty can of Chef Boyardee Mac & Cheese.
P.S. You can also put this in the fridge the night before and pop it in the oven for breakfast.
"Mom, this is so good! Can I have it for my birthday?"
#3's birthday is in about 10 months and he's already looking forward to eating Chef Boyardee Mac & Cheese.
And in case you were wondering, this is how we're keeping the non-refrigerated food separate. #3's box is the heaviest because of all of the canned goods.
#3 is feeling so much better and so we went shopping tonight! Tomorrow his challenge will start at breakfast, so he gets to enjoy one last dessert with us.
His meal plan was interesting. #3 is my pickiest eater, but also likes a few things no one else in our house likes. He likes plain foods and he will eat some foods every day if you let him. Every day at school, he has a plain cheeseburger. I was pretty sure he would have the most money left because he wouldn't want condiments and other extras. One interesting thing he wants with his dinner is celery dipped in peanut butter. I was shocked one Thanksgiving to discover he likes celery. Another day he saw a grapefruit a neighbor had dropped outside and he asked, "Is that grapefruit? I love grapefruit! I tried it at school." I had no idea. This is my kid who exclaimed, "I told you I hate juicy meat!" I made the most delicious rosemary garlic pork roast. It was so moist, but he was repulsed by it.
We were in luck! A peanut butter sale.
#3 wanted Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, but the Fred Meyer brand was 50 cents a box. Then he saw some canned macaroni and cheese, which was $1.50 each, but he didn't have to buy butter with that. The butter was $2.99. He kept his eye on the prize, wanting lots of money to spend on treats next week.
I stepped on this calculator today because it was in the middle of my kids' bedroom floor, but amazingly it still worked.
My husband grew up on "macaroni and tomato juice". I can't bring myself to eat it, but all of my kids like it. He adds cheese too, but #3 said he could go without it for the sake of saving money. This will feed him for at least four days. The other few days he will be eating 89 cent "spaghetti rings" with his celery and peanut butter. He bought a box of brown sugar and cinnamon oatmeal for $2.59. It has 10 pouches, so he can eat that all week for breakfast. That was his most expensive purchase.
He really wanted to have oranges with his lunches and last night I saw them at QFC for 88 cents a pound. I thought it would be worth it to buy them there. #2 spent half of his leftover money on a pack of gum to chew during the MSP next week (state testing) because they say it helps you concentrate better. He cracks me up. At QFC, he found Toblerone bars for a dollar each. That was $1.99 off the regular price. He also pointed out some Fuji apples for 78 cents a pound. "That's a good deal!"
See how happy he looks? Wait until you hear the grand total.
#3 spent $20.89! He has $12.11 to spend on whatever he wants. He's hoping he can find a cheap movie and buy candy. He has some birthday money to add to it.
Now comes the hard part. #3 asks me on a regular basis, "What's for dessert?" "Since when is dessert a regular meal?" I ask. He has a major sweet tooth. He had one last bowl of ice cream and asked if he could have two scoops instead of one. "No!" I laughed.
Milk, celery, peanut butter, bananas, canned mac and cheese, spaghetti rings, oatmeal, oranges, and macaroni and tomato juice. He'll be in Heaven not having to eat any of my "disgusting" food. I'll be in Heaven not hearing him complain about what's for dinner. But the thought of eating what he's eating makes me want to hurl.
It's funny the stuff I get excited about as an adult. As a kid, I never would have imagined being overjoyed at finding chicken thighs for a $1.09 per pound at Costco. Magic chicken is one of the few things my whole family likes to eat. For future reference, I decided to examine the contents of this package so I know how many chicken thighs they crammed in there. I make about 10 of them so we can have a bit leftover too.
This pouch contained 4 chicken thighs.
Upon closer inspection, I realized the package is made up of separate pouches that you tear off. Sweet! Not only can I buy a large amount of chicken for a good price, I don't even have to put it into freezer bags once I open it. Each pouch contains three or four thighs, depending on the size, I think. You know, even us humans are prone to having one thigh bigger than the other. Not that I have that problem ......
Last night I used half the package, which was 10 thighs. Perfect! That means I spent $5 on chicken for one meal for my family of six. Throw in some inexpensive veggies and potatoes and that's maybe another couple bucks.
Magic Chicken
(obtained from my sister who got it from her sister-in-law who got it from I don't know where)
Salt and pepper skin side down. Broil for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, boil water.
Flip chicken over. Add 1/2 inch boiling water. Salt and pepper. Bake at 450 for 45 minutes.
Even though it's baked and not fried, you have magically crispy skin!
I know, it's so exciting, you feel like an adrenaline junky just reading this, don't you?
#2 was so happy to be done with his challenge, not that we had anything interesting for dinner. He did get to have a little leftover candy from our movie night and that made him happy. #3 is still recovering from his horrible illness. His fever is down and he'll have to stay home at least one more day. Maybe we'll make Friday or Saturday the start of his week.
#2 is getting tired of his leftovers and as I figured, he is dying to eat the things I'm making. He asked, "Can I contribute to a meal again? I'll give you some of my cauliflower." He also asked to borrow some of my cheese for his spaghetti, but #1 was denied that option, so no. He had a pretty sweet deal this week getting to eat duck pasta and trading some food when he ate pizza at a friend's house, so he'll just have to suck it up on his last day of the challenge.
After I told him, "Look happy about your meal." Doesn't he look happy?
Last night we watched Gulliver's Travels and had some candy and popcorn. This week he got to have ice cream and cake with us, which was more than what #1 had, so no, he couldn't have any. I told him he could buy candy on Monday night after his challenge is complete.
This was a funny admission. "My milk normally would have been gone by Thursday, but I had to go easy on it." He laughed because he knew he was admitting feeling like he could have as much milk as he wanted before. Tomorrow he will have a bowl of cereal, have lunch at school, and he'll be done!
I asked him, "What have you learned from this challenge?"
He said, "Budgeting is really hard. Hahahaha! Budgeting is really easy! Meat is really expensive." OK, he thinks it was medium hard, but I bet if he had to eat like this for a month, he would be really frustrated with the lack of variety. He also says, "Every week the sales change and the broccoli got really expensive."
#3 is still very sick, so we'll start his challenge as soon as he is feeling better. I might find an alternate experiment until then.
#2's french toast was delayed for a bit this morning because I had to bring #3 to the doctor with croup, which he has never had before. Strange that he's 8 years old and getting it for the first time. I had to go to the pharmacy next and wait 30 minutes until his prescription was ready, after which the pharmacist told me it can cause nausea. I told the doctor he was throwing-up this morning! He woke up with the most terrifying cough last night and said it was hard to breathe. He did better in the cold air and in the shower. He couldn't talk either, so I gave him a cowbell to use to get my attention. My brother gave that to my kids for Christmas to be a stinker. #3 slept in the living room with the window open and was able to breathe OK, but he hardly got any sleep.
Because he had to take his medicine with food, sweet #2 decided to share some french toast with him.
It didn't go well. I'll spare you the details. But #2 sure was happy with the french toast! Chances are, #3 will have to delay his challenge. I hope he is feeling well by Monday and that no one else gets it.
#2 was invited to a friend's house to play and will be there for dinner. I said it was OK, but only let him drink water and he can have a late snack using his food when he gets home. #1 isn't home to witness this negotiation. Shhhhhhhh!
As far as our budget goes, this is the most challenging time of the month for us and I have made it even tighter by putting more money in savings. We got out of debt on Leap Day and now the goal is to have $3,000 in savings by next month. We can do the VA loan and I'm hoping that will be enough to satisfy the bank. If not, we will have to rent a house. Either way, we will need at least that much. We have been living in the same two bedroom apartment for almost ten years and we have had our financial ups and downs. We thought we were going to live here for six months and then move. I just realized the other day that this is the longest I have lived at any residence my entire life. I grew up in one neighborhood as a child, but we lived in a few different houses. My husband moved a lot because his dad was in the Air Force, so it's strange for both of us that this apartment has been our home for so long.
Today was payday, but it's also the day I pay all of our bills. I was pretty dang pleased that our electric bill was $52 lower than last month and relieved once again that we don't have to make that credit card payment, but then I remembered the water/sewer/garbage bill that our landlord recently added to our expenses along with our rent increase, so that left us in a little better position than we would have been. With gas at $4.25 per gallon though, that wasn't going to leave us with a lot for groceries, so I took an inventory of what we have and made a meal plan for the next two weeks.
I bought a ginormous block of cheese from Cash and Carry for about $12 (five pounds). Well be eating a lot of grilled cheese. I have onion, potatoes, eggs, and bacon. I'll make those into a breakfast casserole. We have tortillas and refried beans to make burritos, three bags of pasta, at least a few jars of pasta sauce, lots of mozzarella cheese, a little bit of chicken I can use in jambalaya (I'll just need to buy more onion and smoked sausage and that will feed us for a couple days), and a huge pork roast from Cash and Carry will feed us for four days. I think we're going to do OK and I already set aside #3's thirty-three dollars so I don't accidentally spend it. The boys' budget challenge is making me even more conscientious about what I'm spending and using!
#2 has a lot of leftover spaghetti. I helped him get his cauliflower started and ran to teach four piano lessons. He said he was still hungry, so he had a sandwich too. So far he seems to have a bigger appetite than #1 even though he's about three years younger.
The rest of us had grilled cheese sandwiches which I have started making in larger amounts under the broiler. Our frying pan only cooks three at a time. I can do six on our large cookie sheet. I butter the bread, put it under the broiler until it's brown, flip it over, add cheese, put it back under the broiler for a couple minutes until it's melted, and it's done. I wish I had thought of this years ago. Oh yes, this is also a good method of making mass amounts of toast instead of two slices at a time in your toaster. In fact, I'm considering getting rid of our toaster oven. Maybe I'll want another one when our kids are grown and moved out of the house.
Speaking of grilled cheese, one day when I was craving mozzarella sticks, I made grilled cheese with mozzarella instead of cheddar and dipped it in some marinara sauce. Add a little garlic powder to the butter if you want, but don't if you're feeling lazy like I am tonight. Tomorrow's dinner might be slightly more exciting like bacon and eggs.
Thanks to a chef on YouTube, #2 learned how to cook some delicious burgers tonight! We made them all at once and decided to freeze the rest. He was a little grossed out by the meat, but he said it was the best burger he has ever had. He also insisted I eat one and yes, it was delicious! I didn't even miss the cheese. Lately cheese is what makes dried out beef patties tolerable.
Rather than use wine like the chef did, I added a little milk to the mixture along with some finely diced onion, minced garlic, salt, and a little dried oregano (my son's choice). It poofed up a lot when we cooked it, so next time we will flatten it more, but we are definitely converted to making fresh beef patties. These were some of the chef's tips.
1. Use 80/20 beef. "Fat is flavor."
2. Use only cold ingredients.
3. Don't mix it up with your hands. It warms up the fat and dries it out. Only touch it to form it into a ball.
4. After it's formed into a ball, put it between two sheets of wax paper and then use a plate to flatten it into a patty. Fix the edges a bit with your fingers, but don't worry too much about the shape.
5. Don't press the burgers with the spatula. You're just squeezing out the juices and making them dry. I am positive this is true.
He put it on the grill. I couldn't grill tonight, so I just put my oven rack on the highest setting and broiled the patties. Seriously good, but I still don't want to touch ground beef! :-D
#2 ate sliced tomato and sauteed onion on top of his burger. Later he asked if he could have some of our salad and it pained me to say no. #1 would have flipped because he didn't eat anything except what he bought, but I told him we would celebrate with a large salad when his challenge is over. He loves my salad, especially my homemade dressing. At times he has actually asked to have salad instead of dessert!
The rest of the family had "Magic Chicken" with salad and baked potatoes (well, baked in the microwaved). You take some chicken thighs, salt and pepper them, and put them skin side down under the broiler for 15 minutes. Flip them over, add about half an inch of boiling water, salt and pepper them again, then bake at 450 for 45 minutes. I got the recipe from my sister and I think she got it from her sister-in-law. The skin gets nice and crispy! All of my kids like it and there are few things all of them like.
This morning was orchestra and #2 had no appetite, but I made him eat anyway. I can't imagine how hungry he would be by the time lunch came. That's too long to wait.
Today was his dad's birthday and I spent most of the day preparing our meal. I had to bone and skin a duck, fry bacon, dice onion and mushrooms, mince garlic, boil pasta, slice tomatoes, make my own salad dressing, and assemble the salad. #2 said it was one of the best dinners he has ever had, so hopefully that will make this week easier for him. We also enjoyed some sparking apple cider marionberry juice. Now he just said, "If I had chosen to make my own dinner, I would have been so mad!"
If we were rich, we would go out for our birthdays, but we almost never do that. Eating out with six people, it's easy to spend at least $50. I only spent $29.72 and I have leftovers, plus ingredients to use for other meals. I bought a huge bag of chopped romaine lettuce at Cash and Carry for $2.80. We can use that for at least another few days. Unfortunately, #1 dumped my entire container of homemade dressing on the salad and it should have lasted for another two salads.
My husband sat down to dinner and grinned, "Is this duck?" There was a dish he loved at our favorite restaurant years ago, but it was discontinued. All I remember is that it had pasta, duck, mushrooms, and the sauce was kind of a brownish color. I did some searches for "pasta duck mushroom recipe" and found this.
I had just made my first recipe with duck called Spicy Duck Ragu, which was really good, but not at all like the one he liked and a little too spicy. The amazing thing was, it tasted even better leftover, so I probably will make it again someday. I printed out the recipe for Duck Pasta and have had it for at least a year. Surprising people is one of my favorite things to do!
I should have taken the picture before I added the suggested thin coating of mozzarella. That makes it look less appetizing.
#3 asked me, "Are you going to surprise me for my birthday dinner? Please don't!" Yeah, he wouldn't touch the dinner, but #1 loved it and he's usually kind of picky. Our daughter wouldn't eat it because she found out the meat was duck, but she did eat some bacon. I caught #3 trying to get into the truffles my friend gave me after he had only milk for dinner. Nice try! He's now eating some plain noodles.
Now for my laugh of the day. At times my kids have commandeered my camera and taken some rather inappropriate photos, so when I was uploading my pictures and saw the thumbnail of this, I seriously thought, "OK! Who took a picture of their bum?!"
It was just the duck! Now imagine it tiny. Wouldn't it kind of look like a bum at first glance? I totally forgot I took a picture of it. So if you were wondering what a whole duck looks like, now you know.
And this is how a professional bones a duck. He doesn't hack away with a dull knife until he's lucky enough to get some meat off of it like this "friend of mine".
His money is dreamy. And yes, I posed him in front of the flowers too.
Tonight went a little more quickly than last week and we got off to an earlier start. We had leftovers for dinner and #2 had a snack since his dinner would be rather late. We talked quite a bit about his list. He wanted to have hamburgers, orange chicken, Eggo's with whipped cream and strawberries, Spaghetti, and more. He can't eat breakfast at school two days a week because he has orchestra, so he had to plan four breakfasts.
Smelling the flowers. This picture is so serene.
He thought he would buy some frozen hamburger patties, but that would be at least $8 and the chicken would be at least $7. Sure enough, when we went shopping the hamburger patties were just too much, so I told him we could buy a pound of ground beef for less than half as much and make our own patties. We'll probably look up a YouTube video on how to do it, mostly because I don't actually want to handle the meat. I'm going to make him do it! Bwah hahahahahaaaaa!!!! I can't even stand molding ground beef with gloves on because the sound also disgusts me. I've built a tolerance to touching steaks, roasts, chickens, etc., but just thinking about forming ground beef patties last night made me feel a little nauseated. The thought of making an entire meatloaf was practically enough to induce vomiting.
I'm going to stop thinking about that now.
It was decided that he would have to do without orange chicken and eat more leftovers. He should be able to make four large hamburgers and he wants tomatoes and onion on them.
Broccoli was no longer on sale for 68 cents a pound. That was pretty disappointing, so he bought cauliflower for 99 cents a pound. One head should feed him for at least four nights.
Tomorrow is his dad's birthday, so he's contributing a baguette bread which he bought for $1.50. I gave him the choice between making his own meal or joining us for ours. I'm making "Duck Pasta". Years ago my husband had a pasta dish with duck at a restaurant and he loved it. Last year I made Spicy Duck Ragu which he liked, but it was different and rather spicy. I found another one he might like better. You cook some bacon and sautee sweet onion, garlic, portabello mushrooms, and the duck, which I will have to bone. I couldn't find duck breasts for sale, so I'll just cook the whole duck. You can find them at Cash and Carry for $2.33 a pound. You can also buy a 3 pound package of bacon ends and pieces for a little over $4, which is a little more than a 1 pound package of regular bacon. If you need pieces instead of bacon strips, it works out great!
#2 is commenting on how much spaghetti a pound makes now that it's done cooking. He says it doesn't look like enough to feed even one person before you cook it. #1 still had some tonight and I made him eat it so it wouldn't go to waste. He didn't mind.
We talked about Eggo's at the store, but here he was buying a whole loaf of bread and only had a couple sandwiches planned. I told him he could make french toast with strawberries and whipped cream. We're going to slice up the strawberries and freeze them. We also found half a pint of whipping cream for 99 cents. We looked at the Eggo's and they had some for about $2 and you do think how it's really not that much money, but it's amazing how everything adds up. He agreed to make french toast.
He bought his own peanut butter and I told him he could use the blackberry jam I bought, but he wanted strawberry so he bought that too. They also didn't have the 99 cent ketchup anymore, so he bought the Fred Meyer brand. He doesn't like that one, but he said it was worth it to save money.
He also opted not to buy any juice. He'll just have water and milk this week. It will be interesting to see how fast his milk goes. #1 still had a little left, but he also had two juices that he used up. The strawberries were $3, so I guess that's the one thing he got to splurge on.
His total came to $30.01 and the cashier didn't make him pay the penny. He has $3 left! I was very impressed when he said he wants to put it in the bank. He also decided he wasn't going to eat sugar cereal. He would have Cheerios with sliced banana.
#1 will have cereal and fruit for breakfast tomorrow and after he has lunch at school, his challenge will be over. He said if he had to do this week over, he would have stuck to just the orange chicken and spaghetti because it went a lot further for one person than he thought it would. If he hadn't purchased hot dogs or buns, he would have had at least another couple dollars to spend. He would have had even more though if he had traded hot dogs for orange chicken, but I think it was worth it to him. We still have leftover spaghetti.
I asked him, "Was it a hard week for you?" He said, "No, not really. It was pretty nice." I guess he liked being in control of what he was eating.
It sounds like a hassle, but I'm really excited to start the next challenge tomorrow!
#1 is doing great! He still has plenty of milk left, but almost all of his juice is gone. The rest of his menu includes mostly leftovers, cereal, and hot dogs. We ate nachos in front of him tonight and he said, "So? I have orange chicken!"
I know he secretly wanted some. It's too bad he can't have any ice cream tonight either. If he begs for it, I'll take a picture.
I was able to make honey lime chicken enchiladas tonight. So delicious! Neither of us will have to cook tomorrow, giving me extra time to plan a menu with #2 who will have a much harder week because he loves most things I cook.
This kitchen ain't big enough for the both of us! I went to teach piano and asked #1 to thaw his chicken in some cold water. Then I would come home, help him cook his orange chicken, then make a meal for the rest of us.
As I walked through the door when I came home, he had an instant realization that he had forgotten to do so, so we all ended up eating random things like cereal and sandwiches. I almost made this.
Green enchilada sauce. It's the most delicious thing I almost made. Now let's see if #1 switched the laundry over like I asked him to.
Um, yeah. Not only did he not switch over the laundry, I found every single one of our dryer sheets in the washer, sitting on top of the washed clothes. Thank goodness they're still usable! A certain three-year-old must be very pleased with herself.
#1 loved his dinner and laughed a little because he didn't have to share it with anyone. Oh yeah? Enjoy not eating our nachos tomorrow, saboteur of my dinner! If I had known how ridiculously long it was going to take, I would have made him eat some more of his leftover spaghetti.
#1 has a huge amount of leftover spaghetti and was quite pleased with it. I had another responsible dinner because we still had ham from Easter, plus peas, carrots, green onion, and rice from last night's meal. I have to be a good example of not wasting food, so I made fried rice again tonight. I'm thinking I'll try some other fried rice recipes too because it's pretty quick and easy as long as you make the rice ahead of time. It's also something I can make for my gluten free friends!
#2 asked if he could have some Saltine crackers tonight, making sure they didn't belong to his brother. I said he could. What I didn't agree to was putting honey on them. That's another thing that would fall under "waste". That and putting maple syrup on spaghetti. Thank you, Spiderwick and Elf for my son's weird eating habits.
Amazingly, my three-year-old daughter has had enough self-control not to ask for any of her brother's food and she's asking to have her own turn grocery shopping. Oh please no. It's hard enough just getting her to agree to wear clothing, let alone choosing a sensible menu for the week.
Yeah, this picture looks like it came from a catalog!
I know potlucks typically consist of separate dishes contributing to a meal, not taking your guests' food and putting it in a recipe, but #1 only had rice to add to the meal and I wasn't feeling inspired as to what to have with a side of rice. We still have a plethora of ham from Easter, so I went to allrecipes.com and entered "rice ham". It brought up a few options and I was surprised to see a fried rice recipe. I'm not all that fond of fried rice, but I figured what the heck. I had the majority of the ingredients already. As expected, my kids' reactions to the meal went like this.
#1: Hmm. Maybe it will be good.
#2: This is good! (Before he took a bite)
#3: Fine. I'll eat it. (Expecting to be rewarded for it)
Daughter: Stared at it in horror, but ate it.
It was actually quite tasty! I bought some reduced sodium soy sauce from Trader Joe's, which I ended up liking much better. My friend said, "You must have done a really good job with the rice because he got seconds."
She was referring to #3. I ran to get my camera because he rarely likes anything I make. I told her, "No, that's ice cream."
That figures.
Now allow me to review the recipe allrecipes.com style. This is when you change the recipe and give it 5 stars.
This recipe was awesome! I doubled the ham, didn't cook the green onion as long as it said to, added about half as much salt, omitted the sprouts, used fresh chopped carrots, and served reduced sodium soy sauce on the side. 5 stars!
I love the enthusiasm my kids have for this challenge! It's only the second day, but I'm still impressed that my son is eager to learn how to cook fresh broccoli in our steamer to go with his spaghetti. Meal planning and grocery shopping were half the battle. The other half will be conserving what he bought. If he runs out of beverages, I don't think his $1.56 is going to buy him much. He also lost some of his pineapple juice to a tragic, accidental dumping into the stovetop while he was transferring it into a pitcher.
He started heating up his pot of water just now and the burner was smoking like crazy. I decided it was better to turn it off than take a picture for everyone's amusement.
The rest of the family is having leftover ham from Easter. I already used some in a breakfast casserole, so tonight we'll have sandwiches. I'm trying hard not to torture Contestant #1 with good food, at least not with food he considers good. This will be easiest with my youngest son because he hates about 99% of the dinners I make. As long as I don't eat Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in front of him or plain cheeseburgers, he'll be happy.
#1 just asked me, "I have tomato sauce in my hair, don't I?"
Tonight was interesting, amusing, and exhausting. It brought back memories of when my husband and I were newlyweds in the Air Force, walking around the Commissary while we painstakingly calculated every item on a list. Having to put back one item would probably throw off not one meal plan, but multiple meals. Discovering we were over our limit at the cash register was too much humiliation to bear. I think we used a calculator until we had our first son (he was very vocal about how he hated going anywhere), which brings us to victim number one! I mean, our willing contestant.
He looks so happy with his $33, doesn't he? And doesn't every boy want to pose in front of pretty flowers? Oh dear. He's reading over my shoulder and exclaiming, "Hey, you planned that!"
His original menu included a mix of bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast with apple slices and cereal. In fact, he thought he would eat two breakfast sandwiches. I suppressed the urge to laugh. He also threw in a banana somewhere to make it interesting. He usually buys lunch at school (for a reduced price), so I figured it wouldn't be an accurate amount if we expected him to buy all of his food for lunch.
Tonight he was going to have a sandwich and an apple. When he saw how much the lunch meat was, he decided on hot dogs instead that were $1.00. The lunch meat was about $3.89. We found buns for 99 cents - 8 of them to go with his 8 hot dogs. We were able to avoid this scenario.
Instead of mayonnaise for sandwiches, he bought some ketchup for a dollar to go with the hot dogs. He was determined to make orange chicken that he could eat for a couple nights, but he had no idea how expensive chicken breasts are and that you can't just buy two of them. You're committed to a whole package. Ah, I remember being single and having little variety to my meals for that reason.
We went to the produce section so we could get a better idea of how we were doing. He would need ten apples for everything he planned. They were $1.49 per pound. I asked him how much he thought they would weigh. He guessed about two pounds. Those alone came out to $9! He said he would get smaller apples instead, but it still wasn't looking good. So I offered him a solution, "You can take advantage of the school's free breakfast the whole week."
We put back the bacon, which was about $3.84.
To make orange chicken, he would also need some stir fry vegetables. I suggested maybe he just do broccoli. If you buy it fresh, it's 68 cents per pound and you don't have to buy a large amount. He was happy with that. He also bought cornstarch as his one staple he was required to pay for. Salt was the one seasoning he chose. He gets to borrow my orange sauce, but we remembered at the last minute that he needed vegetable oil. That was another $1.99.
He was going to use cheese with his eggs and bacon, so we put that back too. Saved him $1.89 (for a half pound).
He really wanted to make spaghetti with meat sauce. The ground beef alone would be more than the can of sauce he ended up buying for $1.49. We looked closer at the label when we got home. It's meat flavored sauce.
We found a coupon for Fred Meyer cereal. He will have to plan his own breakfasts for the weekend. That came to $1.50.
Milk was $2.49 for a gallon. I'm curious as to whether he will drink the whole thing by the end of the week, but I plan on marking the level with a Sharpie every night to see how quickly it's going.
Wednesday we are having a friend over for dinner, so he's bringing some excess rice that he's using for orange chicken. We're calling it a potluck.
After wandering all over the store for over an hour and managing to buy the pineapple and apple juices he wanted, that came to a grand total of $31.44. He has $1.56 to spend! But he doesn't get to spend it until this week is through. He has to prove that he can make the food last without having to buy anything else.
I already had to remind him to close his package of buns unless he wants to eat the rest of his hot dogs on what would feel like giant, flavorless croutons.
His food is labeled. Some of it is in the fridge and the rest is safely stowed in a box on top. He says he kind of likes the idea of having food no one else is allowed to eat. His brothers have an idea of how painful their shopping trips will be, but they're still throwing out ideas like Eggo's with whipped cream and strawberries.
Aw, they're so cute! And they're so not going to be eating that.
We quickly realized that it wouldn't be practical to have all of our boys do the budget challenge at the same time. Keeping their milk, bread, eggs, and other food separate would be too difficult, but especially preparing the meals they have chosen.
Said one son, "You can make all the disgusting food you want, Mom! Just don't make anything good during my week." The disgusting food being delicious things like Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas made with salsa verde I cooked from scratch.
Two of our boys want to cook their own food and one wants to learn how to cook. What an adventure!
My three boys have gladly accepted a grocery buying challenge and it starts tonight! Each of them will be given $33 to buy a week's worth of their own groceries. I calculated what we spent this month on groceries, divided that by the number of people in our family, and then divided that by four to give us a rough idea of what it costs to feed one person in our family for a week. This includes toiletries too, but considering it's harder to get a good deal as a single person, I decided not to deduct anything from that.
The deal is, whatever they have leftover after their week is up, they can buy anything they want. They're practically drooling already.
The Rules
1. You have to eat three meals a day. "Mom, am I allowed to skip meals?" "No!" "I'll just fast every morning!" "No you will not."
2. All of the food groups must be represented. The fruit and veggie group can't be in the form of a sauce or juice, so no. Spaghetti sauce or the equivalent will not count. Nice try!
3. To be fair, this isn't a lesson on what it's like to move out on your own, so I will require them to buy one seasoning like salt and one condiment. I don't have to buy every spice when I go shopping.
4. If you cheat, you lose whatever money you had leftover.
5. If you run out of money before the week is up, the challenge is over and no, I will not buy you candy.
The Reason
Despite our pleas, threats, and lectures, food waste and complaints about what I'm making for dinner have become a large problem in our family.
Bread bags aren't tied closed and it either dries out and/or even falls on the floor.
Children pour themselves too much milk and leave it sitting on the table to spoil or take a couple sips of a child size cup and forget about it.
Tortilla chips are left on plates to go stale simply because they didn't smother them in enough cheese. Actually, several times recently, one son overestimated how many nachos he could eat and they went to waste in large amounts.
Cereal is spilled and left on the floor.
Produce is ignored and often not even eaten when I put it in their lunches.
Food is overeaten, making it more difficult to plan a meal of leftovers or snacks. When heading to a potluck, I discovered my entire bag of croutons had been eaten by several of my kids. So much for my Olive Garden style salad!
Saturday night was the final straw. We had already been telling the kids, "Maybe we should make you buy your own groceries!" Our daughter was flicking milk at her brother and I threatened to take it away. He took the milk and poured it down the drain.
