He's not Heavy, He's my Husband

We've been sticking to our food budget for 8 full days and I wanted to reflect on a few things from our first week.

First, the weight issue. As I've previously posted, both Scott and I have gained and lost lots of weight in our lifetimes. And when we decided to restrict our family's food spending, we decided that we should monitor our weight to ensure that we weren't filling our tummies with low-cost, high-fat foods. Scott is exceedingly brave (and the best husband ever) and volunteered to not only track his weight, but post his weight changes publicly. For me, sharing my weight is akin to standing naked in front of a crowded room, so thank goodness for him. We also weighed our boys on the morning of day 1 and again this morning and their weight has not changed. We will continue to monitor their weight to make sure they're eating enough.

Scott weighs himself every morning and in the past week, Scott has lost 5 pounds. He's even created a handy chart for your viewing pleasure. We attribute this weight loss to a number of factors. 1) We are measuring our portions. Less food, less calories. 2) We are eating better. Sure, cinnamon rolls and dessert are still a part of our lives, but in a much diminished role. We're making an effort to spend our food dollars on fruit and vegetables. 3) The holidays are over. We started this challenge on January 4, while we were still plump from the holiday bloat. 4) No wine and no beer makes Scott a thin boy. We will see if Scott's weight continues to change over the next week, but even if his weight remains constant, he's eating better food and that's a positive step.

Another change we've seen over the past week has been our boys. Cut off from fruit juice and snacks, I would have expected more whining and tantrums. The tantrum level remains at an acceptable amount for a household that contains a preschooler and a toddler. But, we have noticed that without snacks and juice, the boys are ravenous for the meals that we serve. They have devoured chicken, carrots, and broccoli and even foods that I was unsure of, like lentil soup. Connor has a new found love of bananas and they're both excited by oatmeal for breakfast. This is a great thing and I'm glad that for the most part, we're eating the same meal at mealtimes.

So, were we able to stick to our budget this week? For the period of Jan 4-Jan 10 (7 days) we consumed $67.27 worth of food. That averages out to $9.69 per day, about a dollar below our budget. Now that I've figured out that it's possible to survive on a budget, I look forward to adding more fresh produce and trying actual recipes, rather than simply serving whole ingredients, like peas and chicken. If you have any low-cost recipes, I'd love it if you'd share them. I'll create a new message with recipes that I've tried and liked (you'll love my lower-fat, low cost Chicken Divan recipe).

Here's what we ate today

Breakfast

S&K Oatmeal with brown sugar

C&G Each boy ate toast with 1/2 Tbsp margarine, banana, milk

Total $1.07

Lunch

SKC&G Quesadillas (1 Tbsp margarine, 4 tortillas, 4oz cheese and 4Tbsp sour cream,) 1 can lentil soup, 2 oranges

C&G Milk

Total $2.29

Dinner

SKC&G Low-Cost, Low-Fat Chicken Divan (1 Tbsp Olive oil, chicken thighs, 1 pound of frozen brocoli, 1/4 C. low-fat mayo, 4 Tbsp sour cream, 1/2 C. cheddar cheese, 2 ounces water, lemon zest, 5 Ritz crackers)

C&G Milk

Total $3.66

Dessert

C&G Bananas and cookies

S&K Tapioca pudding

Total $0.98

Total Spend $8.00

Tomorrow, Recipies