Day 6 & 7 - $100 Challenge

I'm not really sure what happened on the last two days.  I'm pretty sure it was a free for all and nothing went according to my original plan.  I still have ingredients ready for the meals that I did not prepare.  I thought about home made pizzas along with turkey tetrazini or turkey pot pie.  So, most of the time with a challenge like this....it's not even about the budget, but it's about the TIME.

So, on Thursday night my neighbor across the street delivered two matching hand-me-down desks for the boys.  So nice!  Well, he asked if we are going to the High School's Trunk or Treat and Haunted Hallway event up the street.  He is a teacher at the HS and really talked it up.  The kids got very excited because Halloween is THEIR FAVORITE HOLIDAY and I decided to go for it the next day, without thinking about our schedule.

FRIDAY
So Friday morning was a typical fruit and carb type of morning for them.  They had a nice packed lunch that they've been begging for with mac n cheese as the main course.  They were thrilled.  I got them onto the bus and.....
- Ran home to clean up after breakfast and throw a load of laundry in
- Jump in my car and drive 45 minutes up to a floral wholesaler to pick up and order that I placed for a baptism brunch this weekend
- Drive another 45 minutes back home
- Jump into the shower to head over to the cafeteria volunteering duty for Kindergarten through second grade.  Hug all of my kids (thank goodness they still want hugs in public), deliver napkins, deliver forks, wipe down tables, talk to all the kids about Halloween, wish some a happy birthday, hug a kindergartener who was crying because he missed his mommy.....that one really tugged at my heartstrings.  Those little Kindergarteners are in school for a full day and it's quite an adjustment.
- Oh I checked in with all my kids about their lunches and they were thrilled about the mac n cheese.  HA.  Also, I gave some high fives to their classmates who called out "HI MRS JONES,"
- Left volunteering and ran to Target to look for a pair of boots because we were suddenly dressing up tonight for the trunk or treat.  No boots - ran to Payless.  Bought boots and another pair of dress shoes for Charlotte and church.
- Ran home to grab Alton's ballet clothes and pack a snack for the kids.  Also cut some roses and put them in warm water so they might open up a bit more for variety in the arrangements.
- Left in to sit in car line for the kids and went immediately to ballet.  Gave Alton snack in the car and when he went into class gave B & C snacks as I read some Halloween books to them avoiding the complaining that I forgot to bring their tablets as they sit for an entire hour in the ballet hallway.  Thankfully a mom was knitting and they were fascinated by her as she talked to them about the process.
- HOME AGAIN and I rushed them around to put on their costumes.  Putting costumes on three 7 year olds is much easier than costumes on three 2 year olds, but it's still a pain in the ass.  Charlotte needed some hair-braiding and for me to put tape on her ears to shape them like elf ears along with make-up on the tape.
- Kreg came home just in time and I called for him to jump into the passenger seat.

SOOOOOOO -- Trunk or Treating was great.  The kids were beyond thrilled.  I forgot about dinner and when they came home they were completely full with candy and wanted to eat nothing.  I also did not want to make anything, so we both won (????).

SATURDAY
I don't remember.
Honestly, I think they ate toast in the morning and spaghetti for lunch.  Maybe an apple thrown in there.  I was arranging a ton of flowers and was focused on that.  Everything went off the rails.  Oh - for dinner a friend asked us to come over for a pizza party.  YES!  Usually I bring over a fun app, but I didn't have fun app ingredients in the house.  She got a bottle of wine and a small floral arrangement from leftovers.

Day 5 - $100 Challenge

I thought today would be a slam dunk, but my roasted chicken was kind of "meh".  I've got to tell you, this is a bit of a grind.  It's not as bad as the last minute "holy crap, what are we going to eat tonight" feeling or the "I can't seem to figure out what to throw into their lunches today, soooo.... they're buying."  That was me 60% of the time when I was working full time.  Well, cooking decent meals every day of the week based on what I had in the freezer and what I bought for $100 is kind of TIRING.  Even so, having a plan takes most burden off, but I have a chicken facing me now that I have to pick the meat off of because....I hate waste.  I prefer winging it much of the time and then delivering a really good meal twice a week.  You can't do that with real constraints.  I do enjoy a challenge though...which is why I'm doing this.  Oh, and to prove you ladies wrong.  ha

So, breakfast was some pumpkin bread and fruit.  The kids were jazzed about the pumpkin bread and asked for more.  Done....I have a second loaf in the freezer.  They got a corn muffin for snack at school.  I threw those overdone pizza rolls into their lunches with fingers crossed along with applesauce, pickles (????), apples and cheese.  They also got another fruit smoothie but water & yogurt based because I am RUNNING OUT OF MILK.  I only have two days left though, so I've got this.  They ate everything in their lunches (including semi burnt pizza rolls and weird yogurt/water smoothie), so I'm doing something right.

No magic words today.  No tidbits.  I would say WHOLE CHICKEN, because I always buy them when they are buy one get one at the store....but guess what, whole chickens are gross.  I felt very good about the herb butter that I coated it with (herbs from the garden, of course), but carving a chicken is grody.  Dealing with the carcass for stock is also grody.  I still do it because chicken broth in the can is laden with sodium, so I feel good about myself when I make stock and throw it in the freezer.  Still...bones are weird.  I didn't eat chicken.... I like beans.  I am also missing red meat.

Oh - I also typically freeze mashed potatoes because I buy a giant bag of potatoes (on sale) and prep them for freezing.  Frozen mashed potatoes do not do that well when re-heated.  Their consistency is off and you have to add more milk and butter to get them semi-normal.  Next time I get a big bag and want to freeze, I will do twice baked potatoes.  I did that before and they are really good.

Summary -
Breakfast = Pumpkin bread that I pulled out of the freezer last night with apples.  I made the pumpkin bread on Day 1 of this challenge.

Lunch = Pizza rolls, cucumbers and pickles (the kids like to talk about how they're both the same thing in different forms), apples and cheese, and fruit smoothie

Dinner = Roasted carrots and asparagus tossed in olive oil with salt & pepper, roasted chicken with herb butter, and mashed potatoes.  Additional applesauce for the kids.

Day 4 - $100 Challenge

So I prepared a ton of burritos on Sunday to stock in the freezer for Kreg's use and for a lunch for me.  Tonight was the official burrito night and all the kids really ate them.  I added a chopped salad for the adults and required the kids to eat half of their salad in order to get their dessert.  They got it done without complaining.  The kids also had applesauce and mandarin oranges on their plates.  Tonight was a success.

Magic Word for the Day = BEANS.  Basically, we have some type of Mexican food once a week.  I think that if you do one Mexican night and one basic pasta night per week, it's a super easy way to keep costs down.  Mexican can easily be made meatless without sacrificing protein because...BEANS.  This filling was a mixture of refried beans out of the can, some black beans, Rotel, and shredded cheese.  You mix all the goo together in a big bowl and then begin filling and wrapping burritos - individually freezing them in foil and then in group stored in gallon zip bags.  CHEAP and FAST.  I've also done this with shredded chicken and BBQ because my husband is annoying.  You can do any filling you want and freeze.  Yay burritos!

As for the lunch, once in a while I wrap hot dogs in crescent rolls because they love them.  You have to make them that morning (which stinks) and then wrap in foil.  They also got applesauce in their reusable pouches and fruits and veggies.  They've been begging for smoothies again, but I'm running out of milk...and I'M GOING TO WIN THIS CHALLENGE.  Soooo, they can have a water-based smoothie.  LOL

Summary
Breakfast = cereal or bagel with fruit
Lunch = pig in blanket, applesauce, cucumbers, grapes

Dinner = Bean burritos, chopped salad, applesauce, mandarin oranges

Dessert = Chocolate pudding with whipped cream topped with m & m's

Day 3 - $100 Challenge

I think it's easier to do this when the kids are not roaming around the house on weekends constantly asking for food.  My lunch game was strong with the veggie soup that I prepped the night before along with some additional muffins to toss into the freezer.  I looked at their lunches and realized that there was no dairy, so I threw together a milk-based fruit smoothie with bananas and frozen berries.  I always have frozen berries in the freezer.  Smoothie as their drink was a big hit - I've never done that before.

Instead of quiche as my one word....today's magic word is PORK.  For dinner I pulled together a pork stir fry with fresh veggies and rice.  I cooked it a little too long accidentally because the veggies should have had a bit more crunch to them, but I personally enjoyed it and the kids did a decent job too.  Charlotte was kind of annoying with it, but she ate the rice and some veggies.

Back to PORK --- Because I am allowed to use whatever is in the freezer for this challenge, I was pulled out some pork that I basically always have on hand.  I buy an entire giant pork loin at Sam's Club and once I get home I cut it down into reasonable family-sized pieces freeze each in their own zip lock bag.  I typically make pulled pork in my instant pot, pork schnitzel (pound very thin, bread, and pan fry), baked pork chops, or stir fry.  A Mexican shredded pork also works for Taco Tuesday, but I have not tried that yet.  Another Sam's Club no-brainer is the already roasted chickens that you can bring home and pull the meat off the bone to freeze plus the carcass for broth.  Those stupid things are delicious and $4 each or something ridiculous.

Here is a summary -
Breakfast = cereal and fruit
Snack = half a bagel with jelly or a bag of pretzels
Lunch = hearty vegetable soup with saltines, harvest mix, milk-based smoothie with banana & berries

Dinner = Pork, broccoli, pepper stir fry with brown rice

Day 2 - $100 Challenge

Okay ladies, it's on like Donkey Kong.  After a weak start with the chowder and the gross pancakes all in one day, I felt much better with my Day 2 performance.

One word = QUICHE...or as my kids call it, "egg pie".  I made the crust with 50% butter and 50% crisco which was a first for me and good.  I usually do 100% butter, but that is not flaky enough.  Always do the crust in cuisinart.  EASY.  Fresh broccoli heads were on sale so a broccoli cheddar quiche was a no-brainer.  The kids ate two pieces.

Oh, I also did this "Harvest Hash" mix with Charlotte and her girlfriends after school.  The ingredients costs are rolled in the $100.  The kids have been giving me a hard time about Halloween because I typically do something Halloweeny and fun for food....soooooo.

Lastly, my dining room still has materials in it from a recent floral project that I have NOT fully cleaned up, so I'm trying to use our banquette in the kitchen to sit together as a family.  I went the extra distance and put a table cloth on.  HA.

Here is a summary:

Breakfast = cereal with milk and fruit
Lunch = Ham and cheese sandwhiches, fruit, yogurt in the reusable pouches, carrots & cookies

Snack = Half of a toasted bagel with either butter or jelly in foil
After school treat = Harvest Hash

Dinner = Broccoli and cheddar quiche with grapes and salad

Day 1 - $100 Challenge

Okay - I entered this challenge feeling very confident, but Day 1 did not really go that well.  I don't think my Day 1 food selection was very smart.  SOOOO much starch that it made me feel guilty and totally grossed out after dinner.  What was I thinking doing a potato chowder for lunch AND pancakes for dinner.  I thought the kids would love it (WHICH THEY DID), but there was little to no color in their food which is a good indicator of nutrition.

Also, I did some prep to load up the freezer a bit for snacks & lunches.  I bought a large can of pumpkin and knocked out a batch of oatmeal pumpkin muffins along with two loaves of pumpkin bread.  Again with the carbs.  Thankfully they always get carrots and cucumbers in their lunches.  Along with the pumpkin stuff, I have a great go-to freeze ahead pizza roll that I like to keep in the freezer.  The kids love them.  I was doing too much at once and did not notice that the timer went off...burning my pizza rolls.  HASTE MAKES WASTE.

That said, this morning I ran to Aldi's with only $20 to spend and I filled in my ingredients to add veggie soup so I can increase the nutritional value for the week.  That and I ran out of eggs and butter in two seconds plus Bax is complaining that he wants bagels.  Picky kids make this much more difficult than it should be.

Here is a recap of Day 1 with pics.  I did not edit the photos at all, so they look terrible.  Oh well.

Breakfast = Bird's Nest with apples

Lunch = Potato Corn Chowder with apples

Dinner = Pancakes with blueberry sauce (made from fresh in my fridge) and strawberry yogurt

 Snack Prep = Pizza Rolls that went south and Oatmeal Pumpkin muffins 

which seem to be a hit as per Baxter this morning.

$100 Challenge

It's been forever since I've written in here.  Years actually.  Well, I decided that this would be a good place share my $100 Challenge with my girlfriends.  Here's the deal....

A few weekends ago I was away with my college girls and I mentioned that I can feed the family for a week with about $100.  It's something I try to do most of the time, but it's not for the faint of heart.  Well, they did not believe me.  I mentioned that it included packed lunches for the kids.  NO WAY.  PROVE IT.

Gauntlet thrown.

The Rules:  I am allowed to use whatever is already in my cabinets and in the freezer.  That's the key, I stock up often at Sam's club or when there is a good meat buy, so I have some meat in my freezer.  I have to take pictures of every single meal on every single day.  They are prepared for everything to be disgusting...which it may be.

This morning I woke up, looked at my local grocery store flyer, surveyed the kitchen food in storage, and came up with a plan.  I just got home from shopping and spent $83.31.  This is going to be a Sunday to Saturday challenge starting tomorrow morning.  Fingers Crossed.

The Meal Plan (mostly the kids eat eggs or cereal for breakfast, so I am only outlining lunch & dinner)

Sunday
Lunch   = Quesadillas with applesauce
Dinner  = "Breakfast for Dinner" which will be pancakes with yogurt

Monday 
Lunch  = Ham & cheese sandwhiches, pickles, carrots, cucumbers
Dinner = Broccoli and cheese quiche with salad

Tuesday
Lunch  = Corn & potato chowder with cornbread muffins
Dinner = Bean burritos with salad

Wednesday
Lunch  = Pigs in blanket with veggies and yogurt
Dinner = Pork stir fry

Thursday
Lunch  = Pizza Rolls with veggies and apples
Dinner = Roast Chicken with asparagus and mashed potatoes

Friday
Lunch = Mac n Cheese with veggies
Dinner = Turkey tetrazini

Saturday
Lunch  = Catch as Catch can (that's what my mom used to say when we were winging it)
Dinner = Fried Rice