*Feed Your Family $10 A Day Challenge*(AT HOME)

[mom2dea0813]

I'm curious do the owners of the farm tell you that's ok? just curious as I've never been to one that says that you can eat all you want while you are picking and it's free. Seems that if people took advantage of that it would really decline the profits for the farmer.

Yep this Apple orchard (they have grapes and peaches also but the peaches were ruined in a late freeze ) The owners tell you to pick an apple or grape and try them to see if you like them . So if we do try them my kids always finish them off . I am not sure if all orchards are this way but this one is . We love it there its on top of a mt in NC and its a wonderfull view and just a great family place to be
Plus we brought a TON !!!!

 

[mom2dea0813]

Okay, who was da bum who recommended donut peaches??? (Was that you, mickeyfan2? Because I know you're the Amish corn person...). I tried these from the farm stand the other day and they were just unbelievable! I ate all 5! My kids got ZERO! I think I'm now hopelessly addicted--thanks alot!

Apple Donuts are Great as well !!! Try them when you have a chance

 

[grumpy28]

Yep this Apple orchard (they have grapes and peaches also but the peaches were ruined in a late freeze ) The owners tell you to pick an apple or grape and try them to see if you like them . So if we do try them my kids always finish them off . I am not sure if all orchards are this way but this one is . We love it there its on top of a mt in NC and its a wonderfull view and just a great family place to be
Plus we brought a TON !!!!

Can you tell me where in NC this farm is (I'm in NC too). I would love to take my family there! Do they have a website or telephone #?

 

[mom2dea0813]

Skytoporchard.com I belive this is the website I know thats the name . Its in Hendersonville NC . We drive 2 1/2 hours to get there form SC cause we love it so much ! They have animals to feed , a bamboo trial (the kids played in this for about 45 mins ) , 2 playgrounds , a picnic area , closer to halloween they have pumpkins and hey rides . Yep we just love it !

 

[mom2dea0813]

B ~
Cinnamon twist 1.89
Juice free
I ate a plum on the way to church also .19

Snacks were at church for the kids and were free

Lunch
Stevie B's pizza Everyone had a shower for me and another pregnant mama in our Sunday school class . Everyone paid for our meal but we did add 5.00 into the pot for the other families meal .
BTW everyone had pizza and Salad

We went to Sam's club afterwords and got a .79 cent soda

Snacks again were at church

Dinner
Lentil Soup
beans Free
carrots half the bag of baby carrots .90
Onions and celery counted a few weeks ago I had cut them up and froze them for future soups be for they went bad .
Chicken cubes .15 (guessing here )
Frozen spinich 2 packages 1.20
Parm cheese 1.00
Shell noodles .68
Water, juice , milk free

No evening snacks we came home ate soup took showers and the kids headed to bed for the first day of school in the morning .

11.80

 

[mom2dea0813]

B ~
Cinnamon twist 1.89
Juice free
I ate a plum on the way to church also .19

Snacks were at church for the kids and were free

Lunch
Stevie B's pizza Everyone had a shower for me and another pregnant mama in our Sunday school class . Everyone paid for our meal but we did add 5.00 into the pot for the other families meal .
BTW everyone had pizza and Salad

We went to Sam's club after wards and got a .79 cent soda

Snacks again were at church

Dinner
Lentil Soup
beans Free
carrots half the bag of baby carrots .90
Onions and celery counted a few weeks ago I had cut them up and froze them for future soups be for they went bad .
Chicken cubes .15 (guessing here )
Frozen Spinach 2 packages 1.20
Parm cheese 1.00
Shell noodles .68
Water, juice , milk free

No evening snacks we came home ate soup took showers and the kids headed to bed for the first day of school in the morning .

11.80

 

[momx2]

My DD 9 just came down for evening snack and I thought about what she had eaten today. It seems much more than many would have their kids to eat on this thread, but she is lean, muscular and athletic. No fat anywhere on her. She is 4ft.6 1/2inches and weighs 75lbs. Here is what she ate today. Let me also say, some of this isn't the most healthy, but is what she eats.

Breakfast:
2 eggs, 1 scrambled, 1 fried (pam spray, not butter, etc)
1 slice of heated turkey bologna
1 hotfudge sundae poptart
skim milk

Lunch:
1 ballpark hotdog
1 bun
mac n cheese
cucumbers
carrots
fat free ranch dressing
a few potato chips
2 pieces watermelon
skim milk

snack before soccer game:
1 piece watermelon
1 hotfudge sundae poptart (she loves those things)
water

Dinner:
2 homemade tacos with ground turkey, 2% cheese, lettuce, tomato and low fat sour cream with hard shells
Fat free refried beans
few bites of Mexican rice
1 piece of watermelon (I know, she is gonna turn into a watermelon)
skim milk

snack:
2 more pieces of watermelon

Since she eats this way daily, I am just amazed at how little some of the kids mentioned on thread eat. It worries me.

 

[grumpy28]

Skytoporchard.com I belive this is the website I know thats the name . Its in Hendersonville NC . We drive 2 1/2 hours to get there form SC cause we love it so much ! They have animals to feed , a bamboo trial (the kids played in this for about 45 mins ) , 2 playgrounds , a picnic area , closer to halloween they have pumpkins and hey rides . Yep we just love it !

That sounds great! I'll have to check it out. I know it would be something we would love! Now I just gotta go to mapquest and see where Hendersonville is!

 

[solferino]

I also don't see how you can get more then one meal out of a whole chicken.We are a family of four and we eat a whole chicken in one meal. Unless I cook chicken and noodles or chicken salad then I can get a whole chicken can last longer then one meal. I am lucky our hamburger does not cost 4.99 lb.

My family of 3 gets 2, sometimes 3 meals from a single roasted chicken. Mind you they're not grocery store rotisserie ones, but raised here at home and well fed (organic grain). The small ones are about 8lb the biggest has been 12 .

The first night it's roasted it;s your normal chicken kind of dinner. Second night it's turned into something from the Rotisserie to The Rescue cookbook. Third night if there's enough left over it'll be Vietnamese summer rolls or chicken tacos or something light for lunch. If I feel really ambitious I'll make soup with the carcass but that doesn't happen very often cause none of us really likes soup much.

 

[mickeyfan2]

My DD 9 just came down for evening snack and I thought about what she had eaten today. It seems much more than many would have their kids to eat on this thread, but she is lean, muscular and athletic. No fat anywhere on her. She is 4ft.6 1/2inches and weighs 75lbs. Here is what she ate today. Let me also say, some of this isn't the most healthy, but is what she eats.

Breakfast:
2 eggs, 1 scrambled, 1 fried (pam spray, not butter, etc)
1 slice of heated turkey bologna
1 hotfudge sundae poptart
skim milk

Lunch:
1 ballpark hotdog
1 bun
mac n cheese
cucumbers
carrots
fat free ranch dressing
a few potato chips
2 pieces watermelon
skim milk

snack before soccer game:
1 piece watermelon
1 hotfudge sundae poptart (she loves those things)
water

Dinner:
2 homemade tacos with ground turkey, 2% cheese, lettuce, tomato and low fat sour cream with hard shells
Fat free refried beans
few bites of Mexican rice
1 piece of watermelon (I know, she is gonna turn into a watermelon)
skim milk

snack:
2 more pieces of watermelon

Since she eats this way daily, I am just amazed at how little some of the kids mentioned on thread eat. It worries me.

This is what some families of 6 eat for an entire day. I am worried and too.

 

[momx2]

This is what some families of 6 eat for an entire day. I am worried and too.

I just added up all her calories and actually it is a little low since she ate so much watermelon. According to growth scales, a child at her weight and height and activity level should eat around 2000 calories a day to maintain her weight. And like I said, this spring I saw her starving herself because she was scared to eat because it caused her so much pain, due to GERD. It wasn't pretty. Her spine and ribs stuck out. She was playing competitive soccer and softball and had to set out awhile, missed alot of school. She couldn't function normally. This all happened in a period of less than 3 weeks. I can't imagine children eating like this over a prolong period. There are some children I've seen mentioned here that I would probably seek help for if they are having that much trouble eating. I would be losing sleep over it if it were my child.

 

[disneymom3]

I seriously doubt you could convince a couple of teen boys to voluntarily skip breakfast everyday and I'm thinking that "free" chili isn't going to just jump out at your mythical family of 4 on a daily basis unless you take them to the soup kitchen or something.

This is what I woke up to find my 17 year old ate last night as a "snack" after he got home from his date.
1/2 a tub of blueberries
1 bagel with peanut butter and raisins
1/2 a box of pasta
1/2 a jar of sauce
2 granola bars
and 2 snack packs of sun chips.

This was AFTER 3 full meals during the day.

Yay! Someone else who understands my exact issue! On Saturdays we let the kids get up and watch cartoons and eat their own breakfast. Yesterday, DS had a package (2) of poptarts (special treat) and a glass of milk, a whole banana, a bagel with peanut butter, a whole peach, another glass of milk and a piece of cheese. When I came down at 10:00 he claimed to be starving!

I feed myself, and my cat on about $5 a day. Actually, I think the cat's meals may be more expensive then my own.

Breakfast

I skipped
Fancy Feast for the Cat - 50 cents

Lunch

Crab Melt - $1.35 (The cat ate some crab)

Snacks

Cheese and Crackers - 40 cents
Ice Cream Cone - 50 cents

Drinks

Pepsi - 20 cents
Capri Sun - 6 cents

Dinner

Chili - Free

Total - $3.01 If I were feeding a family of four, and if I served the same food, my cost would be $9.96. (I'm not including the cat food in that cost.)

As you can see, no way could DS skip breakfast.
As for the Capri sun--where the heck did this come from at 6c a pouch? In addition to that, I would have horrendous guilt (well deserved) and starving malnourished children if I fed them like this. Even your update....two servings of vegetables all day is not going to cut it. Where is the milk? where are the fruits? And how do you plan on dinner being free every night?

As for the homemade marshmallow fluff, here ya go:
http://www.recipezaar.com/75813

 

[dawn1967]

Yay! Someone else who understands my exact issue! On Saturdays we let the kids get up and watch cartoons and eat their own breakfast. Yesterday, DS had a package (2) of poptarts (special treat) and a glass of milk, a whole banana, a bagel with peanut butter, a whole peach, another glass of milk and a piece of cheese. When I came down at 10:00 he claimed to be starving!


As you can see, no way could DS skip breakfast.
As for the Capri sun--where the heck did this come from at 6c a pouch? In addition to that, I would have horrendous guilt (well deserved) and starving malnourished children if I fed them like this. Even your update....two servings of vegetables all day is not going to cut it. Where is the milk? where are the fruits? And how do you plan on dinner being free every night?

As for the homemade marshmallow fluff, here ya go:
http://www.recipezaar.com/75813

how old is your son?
My 8 or 10 yr old would never eat that much for breakfast they would probably split the bagel and each eat a banana but to eat that with peach poptarts and cheese and milk that would be part of there lunch and probably mid morning snack. My oldest boy is 5'4 and 130 lbs he's far from starving. and little one is 4ft 65lbs so he's not starving either.

 

[dawn1967]

1/2 cup matzah meal
2 eggs
2 tbsp. oil or schmaltz (melted chicken fat)
1 chicken carcass with some meat still attached
1/2 c crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp. fresh chopped parsley
a little black pepper
Water, 8 c ? I eyeball this
A handful of baby carrots or regular carrots cut into large chunks (optional)
a few stalks of celery cut into large chunks (optional) any other veggies I need to get rid of
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp sage


Bring the water to a vigorous boil, add chicken carcass then reduce the heat until the broth is just simmering. Add the vegetables to the broth (if used) tomatoes and seasoning cook 1-2 hours.
Remove chicken and let cool a little bit before removing what chicken you can.. Add chicken back to pot

Beat the eggs, oil and water together thoroughly. Add the matzah meal, parsley and black pepper and mix until you achieve an even consistency. Let this sit for a few minutes, so the matzah meal absorbs the other ingredients, and stir again.

Wet your hands and make balls of about 1-2 tbsp. of the batter. Drop the balls gently into the boiling water. They will be cooked enough to eat in about 15 minutes; however, you may want to leave it simmering longer to absorb more of the chicken broth flavor. They are done when they float on top of the broth and look bloated.
For lighter matzah balls, use a little less oil, a little more water, and cook at a lower temperature for a longer time. For heavier matzah balls, do the reverse. If you are using this to treat a cold, put extra black pepper into the broth (pepper clears the sinuses).


Sudbstituting soda water for the water makes the matzoh balls even lighter.

You can also leave out the crushed tomatoes, I just like the deeper flavor
The packaged Matzoh Ball mixes also are surprisingly good

Thanks i cut and paste this to my soup collection for the winter we love this soup but buy it in the international section will try yours. I will leave out the tomato's though i don't like those in the soup Thanks again.

 

[dawn1967]

This is what I could eat tomorrow, (everything listed I have in my fridge right now,) I'll mutiply all the prices by four and "pretend" it's for four people.



I love that i'll mutiply and pretend lol ty for the giggle. Maybe the cat could invite friends over. lol

 

[neatokimmo]

The only organic meat in our area that is affordable are the whole chickens at one store. They are under $2 a pound and when they are "clearanced" out they drop to about $1 a pound. Other stuff is very limited and crazy expensive.

I think the organic meat thing hasn't caught on here like it has everywhere else and that is what makes the prices drop. Truthfully we've just gotten to the point where most places have the chicken without additives...we are a little behind the times

I agree, and this is why I find this thread so interesting. My dd had a LOT of health issues when she was little, and now, as a result antibiotics (even those found residually in meat) totally mess her system up. She is also VERY sensitive to pesticides and preservatives. Her health improved almost instantly when we switched her to 90% organics, so I figure I pay $$$ either way...either for food or medicine, and I would MUCH rather not have her on medicine.

She does not eat huge variety of veggies, and her dr. says "either fruits or veggies", so I try to supplement with fruits. Since she is eating SOOO many fruits, I feel a need to buy a variety, and that is where we end up spending a lot of money. I can usually get one or two organic fruits cheaply, but if I only fed her one or two fruits, she would stop eating fruits pretty quickly. Sometimes, that means I have to pay $6.00 for a quart of strawberries, and $5.99 for a pound of grapes. However, I don't know what else to do. We don't have very many "pick your own" places in Texas, and none that I find are organic.

The cheapest I can find organic hamburger is 94/6 organic in the 1lb package at Target for $6.99. Sometimes, I do opt for the all natural buffalo instead (I have heard that buffalo is equivalent to organic beef, and I REALLY like the taste (dh and dd cannot tell the difference, thank goodness...they would never eat it if they knew).

As far as chicken, the cheapest I can find is frozen organic chicken tenders (dd will only eat white meat) at $14.99 for 2lbs. My dd LOVES rotisserie chicken, but we don't eat dark meat (dh will eat a little), so it is hardly worth it when an organic chicken I can rotisserie is $19-20 for one chicken (the only place I can find raw, whole organic chicken in whole foods), and we basically eat the breast meat off of the chicken. However, because my dd LOVES the taste of rotisserie chicken that I cook at home (with no sodium or preservatives "injected" in before cooking), I will break down and make her one of these 1-2 times per month. On those days, our food budget goes up to around $40 for that day.

Anyway, I don't mean to complain...I know I do what I do out of choice. And, honestly...I am not even focused on trying to get below $10 per day for our family. I am impressed with those of you that do, and I think that if I cooked more "from scratch" items, I could possibly save a bit more...but, I never seemed to be disciplined enough for that.

However, I know it seems to many that people who are not posting their menus are just here to pick on those who post here. I just wanted to explain why I do not post here (the amount I spend on food is sometimes shameful), but continue to read.

I appreciate any "frugal" organic tips anyone could pass my way.

 

[feedindy]

This can be done healthfully and safely if you know what to look for and are willing to shop smart. I feed my family of 5 for a little over $10 per day, including special food allergies. This includes all fresh meats and produce daily. We eat full, balanced meals (though we come in short of grains due to being allergic to most of them) every day. It is all about watching sales, stocking up when you catch one and utilizing coupons.

Also, it depends on the area. I noticed someone said they could get pork loin for $4.49 on a good day. Here it is around $1.89/lb almost every other week! I get a 4-5 pound whole pork loin and use it up for about 3 different meals. Chicken can get down to $.39/lb so I'll buy a few and freeze it when it gets that low. We live in a very competitive grocery market so I'm sure that impacts some of our pricing.

 

[neatokimmo]

Those prices are closer to mine. I often get regular whole chickens for under 50 cents a pound.

Pork roast with a small bone in the middle (crock pot type pork) is often just $1.29 a pound. Recently I got an 8 pound pack of chops, ribs and roast for $8 and it wasn't marked down. The differences in prices across the US is crazy, I feel for those that have to pay so much.

This can be done healthfully and safely if you know what to look for and are willing to shop smart. I feed my family of 5 for a little over $10 per day, including special food allergies. This includes all fresh meats and produce daily. We eat full, balanced meals (though we come in short of grains due to being allergic to most of them) every day. It is all about watching sales, stocking up when you catch one and utilizing coupons.

Also, it depends on the area. I noticed someone said they could get pork loin for $4.49 on a good day. Here it is around $1.89/lb almost every other week! I get a 4-5 pound whole pork loin and use it up for about 3 different meals. Chicken can get down to $.39/lb so I'll buy a few and freeze it when it gets that low. We live in a very competitive grocery market so I'm sure that impacts some of our pricing.

 

[katerkat]

The cheapest I can find organic hamburger is 94/6 organic in the 1lb package at Target for $6.99.

OMG, I'm never shopping off-base. I get all-natural, local ground beef, 90/10 for $2.68 a pound. Pork chops for less than $2 a pound. On Wednesdays, they freeze the leftover meats and discount them - I picked up a huge pork roast for less than $2. I buy chicken off-base because I don't like the commissary chicken here, but last time I got it, Safeway had 50% off coupons on the big packs, so I bought 6 of them. It was a sucky day cleaning all that chicken, but I can usually get 6-7 meals out of one package (3 breasts or 6 cutlets) and we've been eating that chicken for four months now. Alas, I'm down to the last two meals of chicken.

 

[2angelsinheaven]

Our bill was close to $10 a day and we eat nothing but fresh fruit and veggies, nuts, beans, organic/fresh juices. Nothing frozen or packaged except nuts and cactus strips for the salads.

I don't have the break down but with the few household items and two bottled waters we came out to $89 today for the week.

My biggest expense is the fruit, hopefully when we move we will be closer to a produce market and can stock up there. I cringe at paying $5 for a few apples or $4.50 for some grapes. Yikes!