Week 3, Day 6

It was ridiculously cold this morning. It didn't get above 40 until noon and, on top of that, there was about 100% humidity and super gusty winds. BOO. Now I know what you're thinking- it's fall, it's going to get cold- and you're right but less than a week ago it was 83 degrees! Anywho, this morning while I was thinking about what to make for dinner I was thinking something more along the lines of a soup with carrots and sweet potatoes because I was so cold but Paul vetoed that- he may be getting tired of soups. He wanted turkey white chili but I didn't want that and so we were at an impasse... until I suggested Cowboy Mashed Potatoes (get the recipe here ) and he quickly agreed.
Cowboy Mashed Potatoes are simple and cheap and they taste good. I first made the recipe because it looks like something I loved doing as a kid- mixing mashed potatoes up with corn or peas or peas and carrots. I wasn't very coordinated with a spoon or a fork and my dad yelled at me every time I tried to use my fingers to put food on said spoon or fork and so it didn't take me long to realize that mixing my veggies into potatoes was not only efficient, but delicious.
Here's the scoop (I only use the measurements in the recipe as a guide):

5 potatoes ($0.75)
a bunch of frozen chopped jalapenos from our garden last year ($0.00)
half a bag of frozen corn ($0.50)
3 carrots ($0.33)
a little bit of minced garlic ($0.00)
1 oz shredded cheddar ($0.14)
1.5 Tbls butter ($0.10)

Cowboy Mashed Potatoes Total: $1.82
We have about 3 cups left over so maybe I'll make less next time.
And to clarify: Yes, I know this is supposed to be a side dish but I don't see why vegetarians can eat a whole bunch of vegetables not mixed up and call it a dinner if this dish can't also be considered an entree.

Here's today's work-up:
Breakfast (cold so we ate oatmeal and eggs as per usual) $0.52
Lunch (Paul had leftover Chicken Fajita soup- there's still some left too- crazy! and I had an apple) $0.14
Dinner: $1.82

Day 6 Total: $2.48
At this rate, I don't know that I'm going to need to take some money out of either last week's or next week's budget to make up for overages this week- awesome!

End of Week 2

So for day 5 on of last week we were out of town. Paul took the FSOT in DC (we have to wait 4-6 weeks to find out whether he continues in the process or not- lame!) and so we spent Thursday driving, Friday hanging out at his cousin's house and Saturday driving.
On Thursday we had breakfast (oatmeal) and then we ate a total of 3 sandwiches on the way up- no extra snacks for us and then ate dinner at Paul's awesome cousin Charisse's house. Friday was all food provided to us by our gracious hosts and then (and this was a bummer) we remembered that we were signed up to fast on Saturday for our Ward (church)'s 40-day fast for missionary work. Let me tell you, fasting while on a car trip is HARD! My milk supply was pretty dismal so I didn't fast as long as I usually do and broke down and ate a banana I snagged from Charisse's house for Pearl. Is that pathetic? Taking fruit from a baby? I guess it's not like she didn't have other food and she doesn't even like bananas.

Day 5: Breakfast ($0.50)
Lunch ($0.90)
Dinner ($0.00)
Total: ($1.40)

Day 6 Total $0.00

Day 7 Total $0.00


WEEK 2 TOTAL: $19.30 or $2.76/day

I fully recognize that a lot of this was due to the fact that we had free food for a day and a half and didn't eat for another day. Does that make me feel less proud? No. That's because even if you only count us as eating 4.5 days last week, we still averaged $4.29 which is less than the $4.50 a day we need to maintain to only spend $30 a week- even with that horrendous day! Way to go, us!