Eating without an Ego

I wanted to write today about eating without an ego, but instead I have chosen to write about my own ego.

Today started off as a crappy day.  I started my morning ten minutes behind schedule and I felt like I was behind all day.  Days like that stink, and I wanted to slip into my bad old habits.  I knew a bad day was bound to come along, but it didn't make it's arrival suck any less. 

Today I was tired of meals that weren't instant.  I wanted to give up on my budget and order a quick and easy meal...delivered.  I wanted to give up on myself and the changes I'm trying to achieve.  I felt like my every waking moment was devoted to what my family was eating and my kitchen's walls seemed like they were closing in.  Within this challenge of lowering my family's food budget, I stated putting needless pressure on myself to not only find foods that were inexpensive, but also nutritious and delicious.  Sure, I can feed my family the same 3 meals every day for 31 days and do it cheaply, but once the month is over, I don't think they'd be willing to continue.  And my goal shouldn't be to reduce my budget for only one month, I should be striving to reduce it permanently.

Right now, I don't have the cooking expertise to create 3 completely original, fresh, cheap, healthy, and exciting meals per day.  But I'm not striving for perfection.  And thankfully, I can learn and the Internet is full of recipes.  I have never created a meal plan before, but again, there are thrift wizards who can teach me this skill.  I have great friends who are willing to share their thrifty secrets.  And, while I thought I was using coupons correctly, it turns out that I have no clue.  But I have never presented myself as an "expert " on anything; mine is the average American family and if we haven't learned to cook, to create a meal plan, or to use coupons, I'd bet a lot of other families haven't either. 

 Over the past 10 days, I've received many supportive e-mails, money-saving suggestions, and positive comments and they mean a lot.  Food is a personal thing and it's hard to admit when you're doing things wrong and difficult to allow others to read the challenges that come with making a lifestyle change.  It is so easy to judge.  Looking back, I'm not proud that I regularly fed my family fast food, but I did, and I've learned, and you know what? I will likely visit McDonald's again some day.  And since I'd never calculated what my family was spending on food, is it any wonder that we were spending over $800 per month?!?  Before our budget, mealtimes were easy; I could rely on high-priced conveniences and fast food to fill gaps in my non-existent meal plan. But I can't now because we are still learning how to live within a budget.  As we learn more and gain an ability to plan, I'm sure we'll be able create a different kind of "normal."  A better normal.

There are lots of families who spend far more on food than we used to and lots of families who are able to feed their families for far less.  But this is a blog about me and my family and our struggle to change our relationship with our food dollar.  And today, "struggle" is exactly what it was.  But today is over and tomorrow is here and since it's Friday, we're making homemade pizza and I'm excited.

Here's what we ate today

Breakfast
- S Cereal and milk
- KC&G Oatmeal with Brown sugar
- C&G Bananas and milk
Total $1.03

Lunch
- SKC&G Homemade Mac and Cheese (made with macaroni, 1 Tbsp margarine, 1 Tbsp flour, 1 Cup milk, 1 Cup cheese, and salt, pepper and nutmeg *charged myself an additional 50cents for nutmeg and flour), 2 Oranges
- C&G Milk
Total $1.93

Dinner
- SKC&G Beef Stew (made with 3 potatoes, 3 carrots, 3stalks celery, 2 onions, 1/2 can of mushrooms, 1.3 lbs of beef, water, 3 Tbsp of margarine, 3Tbsp of flour, and salt, pepper, garlic and sage*charged 50cents for use of flour and spices), Applesauce
- G bread
- C&G Milk
Total $6.52

Dessert
- SK&C Cookies
- G milk
Total $0.65

Total Spend $10.13

Tomorrow, Shopping Without an Ego