Food

It costs a lot to feed this family of growing children!  The boys would eat as long as food was still coming and it just adds up to be a lot.  With Dan being gone I'd been eating out a lot.  We'd been pretty good about getting Subway because it's healthier and less expensive than most places, but it starts to add up.  This past weekend I decided that there are a lot of other things I'd rather spend our money on than going out to eat.  I went to our online banking web page and added up the amount I'd spent in the past 2 weeks going out to eat.  Dare I mention it here?  OK...I will.  $230....in TWO WEEKS!!!!  Holy cow.  And I think that I had paid for at least $45 more in cash that isn't even included in that.  So basically I've been spending $400-$500 a month going out to eat.  Wow...wow...wow.   (I'm sort of sick thinking about  it).  I decided that for each $130 eating out it would cost me about $50 at home.  That's a big difference in savings. 

Anyway, we've quit going out.  I bought some convenience foods at the commissary and COSTCO that I don't normally buy to help me stick to the plan.  At the commissary I got applesauce, jarred fruit in extra light syrup, granola bars, yogurts and paper plates.  At COSTCO I bought American Cheese (don't hate me for making easy cheese toast for lunch sometimes), cereal, premade mashed potatoes and some philly steak sandwiches.  Of course, I picked up a rotisserie chicken to eat that night since it was 5pm when we were there.  I homemade a bunch of breakfast burritos for our busy mornings when we have hula and PE and seem to hit BK for breakfast.  I froze them and hope they taste OK.  We've made them in the past and loved them so hopefully it will be the same.  I also froze some taco filling and a bunch of servings of rice to have for easy sides.  It's been several days (at least 5) since we went out to eat and it's been OK!  I don't miss it. 

Today right before we headed out the door to golf I threw some chicken breast in the crock pot and covered them in BBQ sauce.  I knew that if i did not have dinner planned I would be tempted to eat out.  As we walked away from the golf course we saw a Mexican restaurant and the kids asked to go.  Saying no was easy because I had dinner cooking already.  At home I quickly cooked some frozen organic veggies and microwaved the COSTCO mashed potatoes and had dinner ready in less than 10 minutes.  It tasted really good and cost us $10 total for everyone...$7 for the chicken and $3 for the potatoes.  The veggies and BBQ sauce probably cost about $1 more, but still, a huge difference from a normal $28 dinner tab at subway.

So that's the plan.  And if you actually read this whole thing I thank you for listening to my embarrassing rambling about food.  :)  


I am excited to hopefully save some money.  Each night at dinner I tell the kids how much the dinner cost and how much we saved by eating in and not going out.  They don't look too impressed, but I think they had just gotten so used to eating out that they thought it was normal.