My family food diary for today 1-17-12

Today we sent our two oldest daughters back to college. That is not a normal, everyday family activity! When we said our good-byes I told my daughters I wasn't going to cry because I expect to see them again soon. Not crying is unusual for me because everything makes me cry, but today it was one of my sons. I think it's so sweet to see my kids showing that they impact each other deeply and how much they will be missed. I know it's not a good habit of mine, but I immediately think of chocolate chip cookies to make a person feel better. Don't cookies make everything better? Especially cookies with chocolate in them! Since it was morning I thought breakfast at McDonalds would put a smile on his face. And it did! In fact, everyone suddenly felt cheerful and somehow all of my children knew where the closest McDonalds was!

So my food budget for today started out a few dollars more than I had anticipated. We spent $8.00. But, lunch was great because we had left-over chicken which I turned into chicken salad. I don't count leftovers in the price of a meal because it's already been counted! This is how our day added up:

Breakfast Grand Total - $8.00

chicken salad - free

12 slider buns - $2.00

chips - $1.00

grapes - $2.00 (approximate, I didn't weigh them)

V8 fusion - $1.00

Lunch Grand Total - $6.00

supper menu:

spaghetti sauce $2.00

frozen meatballs $2.00

angel hair pasta $1.00

sourdough bread $2.00

olive oil & spices $very cheap/didn't use much

juice $2.50 (approximate)

One of the kids babysat today, so she had a lunchable:

$1.00

Supper Grand Total $10.50

Grand Total for the Day:

$24.50

Divided over those of us who ate (I exclude my husband for breakfast and lunch), it equals very close to $1.30 per person per meal. This makes me feel pretty good. Some days I'll do better and other days I'll do worse, but I'm just glad to know that we stayed close to the dollar mark and had pretty healthy meals. Plus, we're going to have left over spaghetti very soon!