Day 7: Begging and Negotiating

#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.

Day 4: Let the Spaghetti Leftovers Begin

#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.

Day 6: Looks Like #1 Will Get To Spend His $1.56

#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.

Day 4: Leftovers

#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.