Fast From Excess – Our Story II

The week is over and I wanted to share my menu as well as my thoughts about the fast itself.  {You can find information on the Fast from Excess on the event page here.} The very first thing I noticed is that buying food for a family of four gives us a lot more options that just buying for one.  It’s a struggle to balance a peanut allergy but we still ate well and as long as we managed our menu we were not hungry.  As I said in my previous post this is a normal budget for us except I always try to squeeze in paper products and diapers.  Drew and I made sure to budget in our evening snacks but I did refrain from buying a bottle of wine.

Menu

Friday Dinner: Ramen and fruit

Saturday Dinner: Pancakes and bacon, fruit, yogurt

Sunday Dinner: Steak, Fried Potatoes, Bag Salad

Monday Dinner: Kids had Mac n Cheese and we had bean tacos with cheese and sour cream

Tuesday Dinner: Pierogies, bacon, peas

Wednesday Dinner: Fried Chicken Legs, fried potatoes, frozen veggies, kids had cheese sticks and carrots

Thursday Dinner: Mac and cheese and hot dogs, frozen veggies

Also three loaves of bread and a half batch of cookies and popcorn.

Friday was hot dogs again.  Drew worked late and I keep it easy and kid friendly when Drew isn’t home. Tonight is chicken legs in rice mixed with cream soup with a side of veggies.  Basic but so good.  We still have enough groceries left from the week to do spaghetti.  Would have had it already but like I said, I don’t cook for the kids when I know they won’t eat it so I prefer to do kid friendly stuff to avoid the arguing.  That’s why I made sure to buy hot dogs and macaroni and cheese.  It’s the perfect meal to  have when Drew works late.  Stress free. I know that some that participated in the fast eliminated fruits and vegetable but I don’t think it’s necessary to go without.  One just has to shop smart.  We had apples, bananas, and bag salad as well as our frozen veggie stash.

Cereal and milk for breakfast every day. Toaster Pastries on Sunday.  Pack lunches for Sophia while Isaiah and I had yogurt and bologna and canned fruit.  Isaiah loves strawberry applesauce so we’ve gone through a ton this week.  I still have bananas  that are in need of becoming banana bread. I did discover that I didn’t have to buy a few things if I had planned better.  I already had them in the cupboard.  I know the challenge was to live on what we bought but realistically when a family is trying to make their dollars stretch they have to use everything.  It doesn’t matter if it was purchased last week or this week. I did break down and buy Dr. Pepper from McDonald’s about half way through the week (and every day after).  I couldn’t take it anymore.  Surprisingly, I didn’t drink coffee in the mornings and that’s unusual.  I think I was trying to make up for the Dr. Pepper. Drew was much more disciplined than I.  You can read about his experience here and here.

This challenge had me thinking about cookbooks.  Thousands of cookbooks available but not a single one for the poor and deprived.  I make light but seriously, I have never seen a cookbook entitled “Meals on less than 37$ a week”.  There are so many good, nutritious options out there we just need to educate.  We take for granted our ability to make do with what we find in the cupboard but not everyone has that knowledge.  Families buy the prepackaged food because they don’t know what to do with a chicken breast, rice, and cream soup.  And freezers are often empty because, not only do they need to eat all that they make but, there is also a lack of knowledge on what to do with something once it’s frozen.  Or if it can be frozen at all.  I did find this on my internet travels –  Grocery Budgeting for Two: Under $25 a Week has some great tips.  Tips we already follow and I highly suggest like make what you can from scratch…huge money saver.

The most rewarding thing for me to come out of this fast was/is the conversation with my daughter.  Today she will work at the Food Pantry along side her daddy.  I’m excited to hear of her experience and see where she goes with it.