Breakfast this morning was closing in on our goal of $2.00 per meal for the family. The cost breakdown was as follows:
Whole wheat waffles and orange juice breakfast.
Whole wheat blend waffle mix: .42 per cup - used 2 1/2 cups = 1.05
Organic milk: .37 per cup - used 2 1/2 cups = .93
Organic eggs .29 each used one egg = .29
Unsweetened applesauce - 1/4 cup can replace an egg, cup is .36, used 1/4 cup = .09
Olive oil - used 6 tablespoons - have no idea on cost, will check next time I purchase a bottle - guessing = .50
All fruit Apricot Jam - .21 per tbsp - used 3 tbsp = .63
Orange juice 4 cups - need to find cost on this, guessing at .25 each = 1.00
So to make 14 waffles and have four cups of orange juice was $4.49. We ate 7 waffles and froze 7, so breakfast was $2.25 for the family. Not bad!
Then I walked a 5k for a literacy fund raiser with a friend and treated her to lunch. The cost of our delicious Mediterranean meal with tip was $20. Meanwhile, Greg took the boys to church and traded a promise of McDonalds for good behavior. They met the standard apparently as they got lunch at $7.70 (while I'm a vegetarian and only cook vegetarian meals at home, both the kids and my husband often eat meat when we eat out.) Thus lunch costs totaled $27.70 or TEN TIMES the cost of eating in this morning. I did get a lovely lunch and a nice visit with my friend Kalpana and that itself has value, but it reinforces the power of sheer numbers in making "informed" decisions.
Good wishes for a good night! I'm off to walk the dog. Eileen
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I think that breakfast is the easiest meal to save on, since you have the most control there.... I also have trouble with the cost of eating out. As there are five of us and one (the teenager) seems to eat three times as much as the rest of us, I often find that bringing the food in helps, ie, an eight piece chicken tenders and small fry can be split between us, and we have drinks at home. This brings the total down quite a bit. We have fruit and "treats" at home as well. So we might "have a picnic" on the benches at the park, or in the car before playing on the beach. Also, I bring treats with me, like yogurts, juice drinks and little cups, small bags of chips and raisins. Sometimes this stuff ends up returning home, but it's saved me many many times. "You can have your chips after we go the post office". Halloween sized candy, I admit, is also a bribe I've resorted to in the past. We've always rationed their candy out to them, and kept it above the fridge...
ReplyDeleteAntoinette,
ReplyDeleteYou are doing better than I am with packing the goodies. I need to get more into the habit of this so thanks for the reminder. When I do have little snacks in the car, I'm always thrilled since two boys claiming they are STARVING mid errand day can get expensive. No WAY could I keep Halloween candy in the house though;-). I'm a sweets junkie. My mother-in-law mailed 5 dozen cookies for the boys for Kirk's after school snacks, which was more than sweet. Unfortunately, I'm sure we're already down to one dozen, only a week and a half later - I keep going to get, "just one more." I'll be so glad when they are done! Eileen