Ok, I skipped posting about last week's plan (I've been skipping a lot lately for my own sanity), but I'm back to report on the results. My husband actually mentioned that he noticed a decrease in our food amounts and thanked me for doing it, which was a very nice incentive to keep going. He also has not eaten only one of the dinners I've made, and seemed pretty content with all the other meals. It's hard to tell with him sometimes.
From what he's told me, sometimes, even if he really does like something I make (I question the validity of this statement, but I trust him) all he wants to eat for dinner is cereal; Fruit Loops or Apple Jacks are his current favorites. Sometimes I put forth that extra effort, and work very hard to make a dinner that's good, well balanced, and well colored (full of green, red and orange, not just white!) You know, one of those meals that makes you feel like you earned the Good Housekeeping seal, the pat on the back for being super mom, makes you hold your head a little higher, like the dinners that my mother-in-law makes all the time, etc. Then, DH comes home and all he wants is sugar-coated junk food. *sighs* It must be those pregnancy cravings of his kicking in on those nights. It definately makes my self-claimed Mom of the Year trophy look a little tarnished, and is probably God's way of asking me to grow in humility. I really hate that kind of growth. *smiles*
BUT, all in all I would say this week was a success for four specific reasons:
1) I have discovered that I love couscous!!
2) My kids have discovered the same love of couscous, in addition to a love of applesauce, and a renewed love of broccoli (dinosaur trees.)
3) I finally discovered the secret to keeping my almost 2 year old pacified while he waits for me to finish dinner and for Daddy to get home: carrot sticks as an appetizer!
4) I did get overwhelming praise from my husband for my french bread pizza dinner a few nights ago, something that I make for virtually no cost, takes virtually no time to prepare or cook, and apparently is good enough for even him to consider eating the leftovers for lunch the next day. (You have to have met my husband and understand his boycott of all foods leftover to realize what a big deal this is.)
For breakfasts this week we had the following: cereal, oatmeal (didn't go over well with the kids or the Daddy, but I enjoyed it!), pancakes, and blueberries and yogurt.
Lunches consisted of the following: PB&J, bologna sandwiches, chicken strips, and leftovers.
And now for dinners and estimated costs for the entire meal:
Chicken on a stick, teriyakki style, couscous, carrots, pears ($3)
Baked ziti, applesauce, carrots ($2.50)
Sausage and mushroom stromboli (OH WOW this was really good!) ($2)
Garlic chicken stir fry, applesauce, dinosaur trees (broccoli) ($2.50)
French Bread pizza, apples and blueberries, california style veggies ($1.75)
pancakes and applesauce (out of desperation after plans changed last-minute) ($2)
and of course, dinner out!
Out of everything we ate this week, I bought the fruit (blueberries were on special for $.99), bread, applesauce, couscous, yogurt, and carrots, but the rest was already ours and counted towards my eating from the freezer/pantry theme.
I'll make up our dinner plan for the following week tomorrow sometime, but now it's off to bed to get some rest and prop up my feet!
