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

[bookgirl]

Well I guess you would be really heartbroken to know that at least every other month my DS7 will eat only top ramen and string cheese for at least 1 or 2 weeks. He refuses to eat anything else, I for one am not going to not let him eat. Then he gets his fill of the sodium ladden noodles and is back to eating salad, veggies, meat and other stuff. But I am a single mom who works full time and I am full time student, my kids are both in school and sometimes convience foods work. We are all so busy that i dont have the time from September to June to be June Cleaver. That would be nice but just not going to happen.

Don't worry my youngest godson would only eat hot dogs, banannas, animal crackers and milk for almost a year. (and believe me his mom is the type that she cooks dinner puts some of everything on everyones plate and thats what you eat. Ask her other two kids) He would quit eating and lose weight as soon as you denied him, so we just let him work it out. Now he eats much better but kids go through stages. Oh and he was never hospitlized. Not once. In fact he's a pretty healthy little kid (nine now).

ETA This was a breast fed kid who moved to cereals at 7 months and table food/regular milk at 1 when he got teeth. The year of hot dogs started at about 18 months maybe closer to two. Until he was about three. Then he went back to eating what everyone else was eating.

 

[dawn1967]

Don't worry my youngest godson would only eat hot dogs, banannas, animal crackers and milk for almost a year. (and believe me his mom is the type that she cooks dinner puts some of everything on everyones plate and thats what you eat. Ask her other two kids) He would quit eating and lose weight as soon as you denied him, so we just let him work it out. Now he eats much better but kids go through stages. Oh and he was never hospitlized. Not once. In fact he's a pretty healthy little kid (nine now).

I use to be a Raw Fooder before I had kids and one thing i learned and heard from others is If i crave it eat it my body might need what's in it. Also if i don't like it avoid it my body might be saying i'm allergic to it or what's in it. For longest time just the smell of Mango made me sick wouldn't even try it tried it once broke out in a rash looked like bozo the clown big red lips. So listen to our bodies or what our children are saying when it comes to food, more then what fda says my opinion...

 

[Nancyg56]

Now my only "make ahead of time meals" usually are the premade ziploc baggie omelets I make for my dh and my oldest son. DD, Myself and youngest DS don't do eggs but my dh and oldest son love them. I make up a batch for the week with veggies etc and they have a hot breakfast that is nutritious and easy to heat up before they leave the house.

How do you make them? My DD makes breakfast burritos and freezes them so that she and her DH can just heat and eat a hot breakfast at work, but I think they would like this as well.

I subscribe to the WFD thread and it has really helped me to bring some variety into my daily meal planning. It is easy to see how people fall into a rut because I did and I love to cook, well not this week, I haven't like cooking. I am at home and found that I had lost some of the incentive that I got from exchanging recipes and ideas with coworkers. I always check teh food threads all over the boards for ideas and have added some ideas from here today.

 

[bookgirl]

I use to be a Raw Fooder before I had kids and one thing i learned and heard from others is If i crave it eat it my body might need what's in it. Also if i don't like it avoid it my body might be saying i'm allergic to it or what's in it. For longest time just the smell of Mango made me sick wouldn't even try it tried it once broke out in a rash looked like bozo the clown big red lips. So listen to our bodies or what our children are saying when it comes to food, more then what fda says my opinion...

Had a friend who in her fourth preganacy suddenly stopped eating just about everything. The smell of cooking food would make her throw up. She ate very simple plain foods. Gave birth and suddenly everything tastes good again. Then when her son's allergic to milk, starts eating solids and he's allergic to most of the major food groups. HE was letting mom know in utero that he couldn't tolerate food.

 

[dawn1967]

Had a friend who in her fourth preganacy suddenly stopped eating just about everything. The smell of cooking food would make her throw up. She ate very simple plain foods. Gave birth and suddenly everything tastes good again. Then when her son's allergic to milk, starts eating solids and he's allergic to most of the major food groups. HE was letting mom know in utero that he couldn't tolerate food.

I so agree with that.

 

[mommiepoppins]

Had a friend who in her fourth preganacy suddenly stopped eating just about everything. The smell of cooking food would make her throw up. She ate very simple plain foods. Gave birth and suddenly everything tastes good again. Then when her son's allergic to milk, starts eating solids and he's allergic to most of the major food groups. HE was letting mom know in utero that he couldn't tolerate food.

I had a friend in highschool who was allergic to peanut butter.. well his mom craved peanut butter through out her pregnancy. she ate everything with peanut butter maybe a connection...

 

[dawn1967]

I had a friend in highschool who was allergic to peanut butter.. well his mom craved peanut butter through out her pregnancy. she ate everything with peanut butter maybe a connection...

Might be why my kids hate cheese when i was pregant with both i craved american cheese on white bread with guilden mustards lol

 

[katerkat]

I used to do some once a month cooking, but alot of the recipes are pasta, hamburg or chicken. It got kind of boring after a while. The same ingredients over & over, just slightly varied. If I could find new recipes with different ingredients, I would like to try it again.

Same as hydster, I did it when I was working. Not working now by choice, but it would still be nice to have something to just take out of the freezer & heat up.

What I do is when I make a recipe, I double it and freeze the extra. (Or freeze along a step, ie, cook the stew meat and freeze it, but it need the veggies and stuff when unfrozen because potatoes don't freeze well.) That way I'm doing the variety I already eat, and I have extras for when DH is deployed since I have trouble cooking for 1.5 people. A lot of it is hamburger, pasta and chicken, plus some pork chops and roasts (both beef and pork.) I don't eat fish so I don't know if that freezes well.

I also did an exchange with my mommy group - I made six of the same meal, took them to a meeting, and came home with six different meals. Tonight we had spicy Thai chicken, which took me a total of 20 minutes to heat up.

 

[dawn1967]

Apple and Nut Slaw

4 c. Shredded Green Cabbage
2 Apples, diced - I used a Fuji Apple
1 T. Orange Juice Concentrate - thawed(make up the rest into Orange Juice to
enjoy with your meal)
1/2 c. Raisins
1 c. nuts chopped - I used slivered almonds
1/2 c. Mayo (optional) in summer i don't use mayo I'll use vinegar and oil and sugar base instead.

Mix together all of the above, except the mayo. The Orange Juice
Concentrate will keep the apples from discoloring. Stir in the mayo
until moistened.

 

[mickeyfan2]

dd 10 and I had tomatoes and cucumbers. dd 10 had a roll with mayo on it

Is this what NYS recommends as part of a healthy diet?

 

[BeNJeNWaFFLe]

That sounds YUMMY!!!! How many inches thick is the finished product? About an 1.5" thick? It sounds cakelike if I'm reading this right?

Yeah it's about that thick. It's more like an apple pie, lots of apples and a little bit of pancake. Each "pancake" contains at least 2 skinned and sliced apples. Now if I can just figure out with apples are best for it. Some get nice and soft, others just get warm. When apple season starts I will pay attention to which apples cook the best.

 

[SplshMtn99]

Yeah it's about that thick. It's more like an apple pie, lots of apples and a little bit of pancake. Each "pancake" contains at least 2 skinned and sliced apples. Now if I can just figure out with apples are best for it. Some get nice and soft, others just get warm. When apple season starts I will pay attention to which apples cook the best.

Thanks. I guess I've got some experimenting to do also.

 

[mom2dea0813]

B~
DD#1 had 2 packages of grits free
DD#2 and DS had 1 piece of toast each with homemade apple butter .35
milk for all 3 free
me - I have not eaten yet I do not feel great this morning !

midmorning snack -
They will prob not have this cause we will be driving to the playgroup at that time .

L~
We are going to a park play date and bringing the following with us :
Pb and homemade Strawberry jelly sandwiches
Pb free
jelly .50
bread .40
Chips .64 half the bag
watermelon balls 1.50 bringing half the watermelon with us as I am sure others will eat some at the play date
3 vanilla pudding cups (I hate these things ) .38
4 juice boxes .60

Snack - Not sure if we will have afternoon snacks sense the kids will prob fall asleep on the way home from the play date .

Dinner -
3 Chicken leg quarters 1.25 (12/5.00)
BBQ sauce .50
seasonings .10
Mash potato's free still trying to use up what mom gave us
Corn on the cob 1.00
Frozen green beans .50 (Dh will prob not eat these )
butter .10
Ice tea .71 for 2 gallons will use this till Sunday prob

Snack
banana Popsicle .42

Total = 8.95

 

[Plantlady]

Yesterday's menu...

Breakfast.

I wasn't here, I had to work, based on the dirty dishes that were left for me, my guess is cheese omelettes, made by DH.

eggs: 50
cheese: 50

*1.00

Lunch:

I brought home some fried chicken/potato wedges/rolls for me and the kids, and a 6 inch veggie sandwich from Subway for DH

chicken meal deal: 5.00
sandwich: 3.00

*8.00

Dinner:

spagetti, meatballs on the side, garlic bread

whole grain noodles: .75
sauce: 1.00
meatballs: .75
garlic bread: 1.50

*4.00

Total: $13.00

I'm getting worse at this, as I start a new job. balancing the job with the household is not easy for me.

 

[irishbosoxfan]

I've read over this thread or at least picked out every 10 pages or so and read it and now have questions. Part of my job is teaching life skills to new army spouses who may not be familiar with living on their own and this includes grocery shopping.

For the really die hard posters that have families how and how often do you grocery shop?

Do you make a list of the meals for an upcoming week or two for every single meal in the day?

Do you plan real meals that include proteins, veggies/fruits, and starches?

When you do grocery shop do you have a budget? If you go by the $10/day thread here, you have a budget of $300 a month for groceries. Do you think you spend that much a month?

Do you have an ultimate goal with the money you think you are saving or is it to help your household in other areas such as debt?

I'm honestly not trying to be insulting at all because I really do want to know. I have several spouses who have very little money and need to figure out how to grocery shop and make meals.

I tell them to pay your bills, put what you can spare in your savings, figure out what meals you'd like for 2 weeks at a time and how much you can pay and then shop.

I honestly don't know how much per day I spend and really don't care. It is just myself and my husband. Well mostly myself but when I shop for the both of us for 2 weeks it's about $100. I buy a week of fresh veggies/fruits and a week of frozen veggies but still have fresh fruit because I find it hearty. I also tend to make normal family size meals not small meals for two people because I never know when several soldiers will show up on my doorstep.

Please, I'd like some insight into this if I thought it would help some of the new families I know that need to save money in anyway possible. BUT I do teach that they need healthy balanced meals which I'm not always seeing on here.

Again, I'm no way trying to be insulting I really do want to know. Thank you.

Tina--Fellow Army wife here--I caught your post but I have to head out for a bit so when I get back I will send you the information you requested.

DH had some fish who thought their paycheck was awesome for buying video games and such and had nothing left for food...well TPTB told DH to teach them what they needed to be doing and he told them I was the one who handled all that so I got to teach them((Field Trip!! To the commissary but still..))


We eat for anywhere between $6 to $10 a day and that includes nutritionally sound food...Cereal that has 5g of dietary fiber and 3g protein served with milk for about 30c pp----lunch of turkey bologna w/3g of protein or pb&j or salad with tuna for 38c pp----dinner of pot roast and fresh corn////Total for the day $6.09

There are deals to be had at the commissary--I'll get back to you in a little bit and let you know all about them!!

 

[mommiepoppins]

Is this what NYS recommends as part of a healthy diet?

yeah and some caffinee and beer top it off with some Mcdonalds and a night at the casino

 

[hydster]

How do you make them? My DD makes breakfast burritos and freezes them so that she and her DH can just heat and eat a hot breakfast at work, but I think they would like this as well.

I take 2 eggs per omelet and whisk them up together. Then add ham or whatever veggies and cheese and add them all together. Put them in a ziploc bag and seal it.

Put a pot of water on and get it boiling and then add the ziploc bags into the boiling water. Cook them for 14 min and then take them out and put them in the fridge and heat when needed.

The longer they sit the more flavors they absorb.

 

[dawn1967]

Yesterday's menu...

Breakfast.

I wasn't here, I had to work, based on the dirty dishes that were left for me, my guess is cheese omelettes, made by DH.

eggs: 50
cheese: 50

*1.00

Lunch:

I brought home some fried chicken/potato wedges/rolls for me and the kids, and a 6 inch veggie sandwich from Subway for DH

chicken meal deal: 5.00
sandwich: 3.00

*8.00

Dinner:

spagetti, meatballs on the side, garlic bread

whole grain noodles: .75
sauce: 1.00
meatballs: .75
garlic bread: 1.50

*4.00

Total: $13.00

I'm getting worse at this, as I start a new job. balancing the job with the household is not easy for me.

I was told as long as i get home and they are safe and sound i did ok. If there is dust on the mantle and dirt on the floor and dishes in the sink it's just lived in don't sweat the small stuff.

 

[dawn1967]

Breakfast
#1 kid French Toast and sasuage .25
#2 kid sausage and toast .15
# me coffee free
Total .40

Lunch
#1 kid Tuna and tomato and bread and carrots .25
#2 kid Tomato Lettuce onion mayo tuna relish pickles .45
#3 Me tuna lemon cukes and tomato and mustard on bread .20
Total .90

Dinner
#1 kid Pork chop and Rice and carrots and tomatos and cukes .50
#2 kid Pork chop and rice and broccholli and dip and bread and butter and salad .65
#me Rice broccholli carrots tomato's cukes onions and soy sauce stir fry. .10(cost of the soy and rice)
#hubby Stir fry and pork chop .60

Total 1.85

Snacks
Fruits and veggie tray free garden
spinach dip and home made pita chips (all that talk yesturday i made some).25 had everything here at house.
otter pops .40 were down to the pink flavor no one likes that one

Grand total for day is
3.8

 

[mom2dea0813]

ok how do you make pita chips ???????

I need to buy the stuff to make the spinich dip I am soooo craving it now .