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.