Thursday SNAP Challenge

THURSDAY:

Breakfast consisted of toast all round with butter and jam.  The girls had a cold Milo each, I had a cup of tea with milk. Sophie and I also had a bowl of yoghurt each.
Lunch - Emily had a lunch order amounting to $3.30, Cheese and Bacon Balls (chips) and an apple for snack, Sophie had some Cheese and Bacon Balls, and a free meat pie that was left over when we were helping at the school. I had leftover Chicken soup from last night, a punnet of strawberries and a couple of squares of chocolate (and another 2 cups of tea with milk). Hubby took the last of the leftover taco mix for lunch.
Dinner was takeaway.  We ended up having dinner with friends and bought fish and chips.  They refused us paying for dinner (we alternate dinners at each other's house twice a month) but I will allow $20 because that is what the dinner would have cost us.
Dessert was nothing.

Running Food Tally:  Monday 17th to Sunday 23rd September 2012
Weetbix (11 bics)	Rice Cakes (8)	Tea Bags (12)	Apple (4)
Milk (5L)	Grain Waves chips	Instant Coffee	Strawbs (2 pt)
Cream (120ml)	Crispbreads (9)	Milo	Lettuce (1/2)
Butter (120g)	Lindt Choc (120g)	Mayonnaise	Tomato (1)
Ham (100g)	Tortillas (12)	White Sugar	Avocado (1)
Cheese slices (11)	Arborio Rice	Vanilla essence	Onion (2)
Cheese block(100g)	Corn kernels	Cordial	Carrot (4)
Ice cream (700ml)	Cannalini beans	Mineral Water	Zucchini (1)
Yoghurt (500ml)	Taco seasoning	Ginger powder	Mushrooms (100g)
Mince beef (300g)	Tomato Passata	Chilli powder	Garlic (3 cloves)
Chicken (150g)	Soy Sauce	Chicken stock	Celery (1/4 bunch)
	Rice vermicelli	Nutella spread
	Sliced bread	C&B Balls
		Raspberry Jam
Other: Lunch order for Emily - $4.30; Lunch order for Emily - $3.30;
Takeaway fish and chips - $20

I think the takeaway will push us over my target of $100 but it will be interesting to see when the week ends and I tally it up...

Wednesday SNAP Challenge

WEDNESDAY:

Breakfast consisted of Weetbix for me with milk and a dash of cream, the girls had a slice of toast with jam and a cold Milo each, I had a cup of tea with milk.  Hubby bought a coffee on his way to work, but this comes out of his spending money for the month - not my food budget so I'm not counting his purchase. (As a side point, Hubby doesn't normally buy coffee but a friend was driving him to work the last 3 days so he bought coffees for them both in return for the transportation).
Lunch - Emily had a lunch order amounting to $4.30, Grain Waves chips and an apple for snack, Sophie had some Grain Waves chips, a Nutella sandwich and some squares of chocolate.  I had leftover taco mix with lettuce for lunch and a couple of squares of chocolate (and another 2 cups of tea with milk). Hubby didn't take lunch again - his work provides crispbreads in the tea room, so the days he doesn't take lunch he has these for lunch.
Dinner was Asian Chicken noodle soup. This consisted of onion, celery, carrot, zucchini, mushroom, chicken stock powder, a small portion of chicken breast meat, soy sauce, ginger, chilli and garlic with rice vermicelli noodles.  This was accompanied by 4 slices of toast with butter.  The original soup recipe that I altered is found here: Taste
Dessert was nothing for the kids, leftover rice pudding for Hubby and a scoop of ice cream for me plus 2 instant coffees with milk and sugar.

* I omitted the cheese from last nights' dinner which has now been added to the tally.

Running Food Tally:  Monday 17th to Sunday 23rd September 2012
Weetbix (11 bics)	Rice Cakes (4)	Tea Bags (9)	Apple (3)
Milk (4L)	Grain Waves chips	Instant Coffee	Strawbs (1 pt)
Cream (120ml)	Crispbreads (9)	Milo	Lettuce (1/2)
Butter (80g)	Lindt Choc (120g)	Mayonnaise	Tomato (1)
Ham (100g)	Tortillas (12)	White Sugar	Avocado (1)
Cheese slices (11)	Arborio Rice	Vanilla essence	Onion (2)
Cheese block(100g)	Corn kernels	Cordial	Carrot (4)
Ice cream (700ml)	Cannalini beans	Mineral Water	Zucchini (1)
Yoghurt (100ml)	Taco seasoning	Ginger powder	Mushrooms (100g)
Mince beef (300g)	Tomato Passata	Chilli powder	Garlic (3 cloves)
Chicken (150g)	Soy Sauce	Chicken stock	Celery (1/4 bunch)
	Rice vermicelli	Nutella spread
	Sliced bread
Other: Lunch order for Emily - $4.30;

Tuesday SNAP challenge

TUESDAY:  

Breakfast consisted of Weetbix all round, with milk and a dash of cream, the girls had a warm Milo, I had a cup of tea with milk.  Hubby bought a coffee on his way to work, but this comes out of his spending money for the month - not my food budget so I'm not counting his purchase. Sophie also had a small bowl of yoghurt.
Lunch - Emily took rice cakes with butter, Grain Waves chips and an apple to school, Sophie had some Grain Waves chips, crispbread biscuits with butter and ham.  I had crispbread biscuits with butter, ham and cheese too and a couple of squares of chocolate (and another 2 cups of tea with milk).
Dinner was bumped to taco wraps.  To make these I used 300g mince beef, 1 jar Tomato Passata, 1 can corn kernels, 1 can cannalini(?) beans, 1 packet taco seasoning, 1 onion finely chopped.  This mix was then wrapped in the left-over tortillas from the previous night with shredded lettuce, a fresh tomato, chopped avocado and grated cheese.  The girls had a cordial to drink and I had a glass of mineral water.
Dessert was rice pudding (3/4c arborio rice, 1L milk, 2tbsp sugar, 1tsp vanilla essence), 2 glasses of cold Milo and 2 instant coffees with milk and sugar.

Running Food Tally:  Monday 17th to Sunday 23rd September 2012
Weetbix (8 bics)	Rice Cakes (4)	Tea Bags (6)	Apple (2)
Milk (3L)	Grain Waves chips	Instant Coffee	Strawbs (1 pt)
Cream (100ml)	Crispbreads (9)	Milo	Lettuce (1/2)
Butter (60g)	Lindt Choc (80g)	Mayonnaise	Tomato (1)
Ham (100g)	Tortillas (12)	White Sugar	Avocado (1)
Cheese slices (11)	Arborio Rice	Vanilla essence	Onion (1)
Ice cream (500ml)	Corn kernels	Cordial
Yoghurt (100ml)	Cannalini beans	Mineral Water
Mince beef (300g)	Taco seasoning
	Tomato Passata

Monday SNAP Challenge

MONDAY:  

Breakfast consisted of Weetbix all round, with milk and a dash of cream, the girls had a glass of orange juice each (leftover juice from last week), I had a cup of tea with milk.  Hubby bought a coffee on his way to work, but this comes out of his spending money for the month - not my food budget so I'm not counting his purchase.
Lunch - Emily took rice cakes with butter, Grain Waves chips and an apple to school, Sophie had some Grain Waves chips, crispbread biscuits with butter, ham and cheese and some strawberries.  I had crispbread biscuits with butter, ham and cheese too, strawberries and a couple of squares of chocolate (and another 2 cups of tea with milk).
Dinner was changed from my meal plan because we were given left-overs from dinner Sunday night.  I decided to use the chicken schnitzels left-over and make them into wraps with left-over salads and some cheese and mayo.  Out of this dinner I used our tortillas (with enough left in the pack for taco wraps still), cheese and mayo.
Dessert was a scoop of ice cream each (which I had bought on special last week), 2 glasses of cold Milo and 2 instant coffees with milk and sugar.

Running Food Tally:  Monday 17th to Sunday 23rd September 2012
Weetbix (4 bics)	Rice Cakes (4)	Tea Bags (3)	Apple (1)
Milk (1L)	Grain Waves chips	Instant Coffee	Strawbs (1 pt)
Cream (50ml)	Crispbreads (9)	Milo
Butter (30g)	Lindt Choc (40g)	Mayonnaise
Ham (50g)	Tortillas (4)	White Sugar
Cheese slices (8)
Ice cream (500ml)

SNAP Challenge via The Non-Consumer Advocate

Katy from The Non-Consumer Advocate was featured on a breakfast TV show recently (Sunrise) and since then I have been reading along in earnest.  I am always looking for ways to reduce our usage and wastage.
Katy has proposed this week to be a SNAP (American welfare system food stamps) challenge - basically you need to use a budget of $4 per person, per day for food expenses.  Being American I am not really sure how the cost of living compares to Australia, but seeing as in May last year I undertook a $100 grocery challenge I decided I would try to repeat that again for this week - that sounds fair for a family of 4.
For the purpose of this challenge, I am not using it as a shopping challenge but rather a consumption challenge.  The way I shop is usually based on what is on special - in particular, what is non-perishable.  For example, last week I got 700mL jars of Tomato Passata on special for 99c ea - so I bought a case of 12.  This will likely last us 2 months, but I was able to get it at half the regular price so why wouldn't you stock up while you can?  So for this week, I will be noting what we use and calculating the cost of replacement (or where I know I got it on special, the price I paid for it).  I think this makes the most sense to me - why would I go and buy another bag of flour, butter, oil, spices, etc when I have them all in my pantry/fridge and will only be replacing them when they run out?  There are also things that I only buy on special that I already have on hand - like rice and pasta so I have plentiful stocks of these and will only buy more when they are on special again.
I have drafted my main-meal plan for the week to look something like this:
Monday - Taco Wraps
Tuesday - Fettuccine Carbonara
Wednesday - Asian Chicken Soup
Thursday - Rice Paper Rolls
Friday - Beef Stroganoff
Saturday - Chicken Risotto (+2 extra adults)
Sunday - Pizza (+ 4 extra adults)

Breakfasts are generally either WeetBix or Toast, and lunch is sandwiches or leftovers and a few snacks so they require less planning.

I find that it is best for me to see if any ingredients are on special that week and base my meals around that if possible.  I also consider what I already have or what needs to be used up and add to that to make a meal - for example, I already have the tortillas and taco seasoning, and have lettuce, tomato and avocado that need to be used up so it makes sense to make these into soft tacos as a meal early in the week.
Saturday and Sunday we will be having guests over for dinner so I hope to be able to stretch the budget to include these too.

Our new little Haus-mate

Introducing...

Cooper.

This is our newest addition to the family.  As I mentioned in the month in review, we had been talking about a puppy/dog for a while.  We came across the ad for Cooper and made some inquires.  The owner/breeder was located in regional Victoria and he was the last one left in his litter.  We asked for some photos of the parents (they owned both parents) and were happy to oblige with any information we wanted.  We fell in love with him at first sight so we agreed and picked him up.  He travelled well in the car the 1.5hrs drive home - in his carrier on the back seat between the girls - and slept most of the way.  He seemed to fit right in when he got home despite us having him inside most of the time, whereas he had been raised outside with his parents and litter.  We are using his carrier as his crate, which is where he sleeps when we are out or at night.

He has only had a few accidents inside but we are learning his signals better and with the weather warm we are leaving the sliding door open a bit so he can roam in and out as he pleases.
His favourite spot is on someone's lap.

He has had a few trips in the car - the first after coming home was to the vets to get his last vaccination and microchip which wasn't a very pleasant experience so we are trying to show him that the car can be fun.
He is a typical puppy and loves playing in the backyard...

And who could resist a face like this?

A MONTH IN REVIEW - November 2011

A MONTH IN REVIEW - November 2011

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
On my Kindle I have been reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austin for what feels like for-ev-errrrrr.  In reality I did start it about 2 months ago.  Not being a hard copy I had no idea exactly how long it was... my lovely husband informs me that he saw a hard copy and it was some 500 pages, which might explain it.  Thank goodness I'm somewhere in the chapter 40's and passing the 80% mark.  My aim was to have it finished by the end of the month.  I think there are 8 chapters left and only 4 more days... close, but I don't think I'll do it.
The girls and I also made a trip to the library where they borrowed 4 picture story books each, while I borrowed a slow-cooker cookbook (because I don't use it enough and wanted some new ideas), a idiots guide to sewing (with some cool projects I want to make), and a book on cupcakes to get some ideas for an upcoming High Tea I will be hosting.


What movies, television shows, plays, etc. did I watch this month?
To be honest, not a lot.  I like Parenthood but that seems to have finished it's season now.  House is a continual favourite but I need to catch up on the last 3 episodes. I also have a bunch of Amazing Race episodes to watch when I get a chance.  We downloaded a rental of Cars 2 that we watched at our friends' house in their home theatre.


What fun things did I do with my family and/or friends?
At the start of the month Emily had 2 weeks of swimming with her class, walking to the pool everyday.  The second weekend this month was spent at our friends' house. We even had an impromptu visit to Ikea (when is that ever a bad thing).  The weekend after (as well as numerous afternoons) was spent staining and constructing my sisters' side fence.  This weekend is being spent doing family things - playing games, reading, etc.


What gifts did I give and/or receive?
Hmmm, does my time count?  I purchased some chocolates in readiness to give to Emily's teacher for the end of the year.  I also gave a box of chocolates to some friends who had us over for dinner.  The girls received some gifts from 2 ladies at our church for being such well behaved girls - which was a very nice compliment.


What special or unusual purchases did I make?
At the aforementioned Ikea trip I managed to buy sheer curtains and rods to hang in the front 2 windows - to block the UV rays and stop it fading our couch as well as us being able to see out but others not being able to see in.  I also purchased 2 stainless steel lanterns to hold a tealight candle each that will be nice for outdoor barbeques this Summer.  I also visited a local nursery where I purchased a Crimson Seedless grape vine to go in our backyard.
I also bought some dog related paraphernalia including a pet carrier (more on that later). 


What illnesses or health concerns did I have?
We heard from a few people that there is Chicken Pox doing the rounds at the moment.  At some stage this month we have all managed to come up in one or more itchy red spots but nothing developed beyond that so perhaps it was just a coincidence.  Emily was a bit off-colour the weekend we spent at our friends' but we put that down to a full week of swimming and exhaustion. Emily has a very wobbly top tooth - front right - so much so that it is starting to stick out as the new tooth is pushing it out of the way.


What were my accomplishments this month?
Consistently walking at 10:30am to the pool and returning home at 12:00pm each day for 10 days (with Sophie).  Setting up a reward chart to encourage Sophie with her toilet training.  I planted out the grape vine, some pansies, some strawberry plants and trimmed the apricot that was beginning to get overgrown looking (despite it not being the "right" time to prune).  The grass is looking awesome and is proof that my watering efforts (while we had the exemption to water) are paying off.


What were my disappointments this month?
I'm a bit disappointed that Sophie hasn't really gained any ground on the toilet training front.  She doesn't alert us she is needing to go.  Despite going a few hours dry, and sitting on the toilet regularly, it always ends in wet pants.


How did I do on my goals for the month? (Or any current short or long term goals)
Craft-wise, I made the invitations to the High Tea.  I managed to do no scrapbooking and not much photo taking.  Something to improve for next month.


Anything else noteworthy to include?
We (well, me at least) have been looking for a dog recently.  I normally do a search online while I'm waiting for Emily to finish school. I found a 3yr old King Charles Cavalier advertised as free to a good home, which I enquired about and we all went to meet.  We found he was a gentle natured dog (very happy to see us and no barking at all) but he was quite boisterous jumping up on the girls and unintentionally scratching them.  We are looking for a dog with a quieter nature that will happily let us and the girls pat him/her without getting too excited and are definitely looking for a small dog.  I have always liked the Cavaliers but they can have some health problems common to the breed as well as being anywhere from $600 - $1000+ to buy a puppy.  As mentioned above, I purchased some equipment in readiness should we have adopted the dog (bowl, toys, food and hard plastic pet carrier) which didn't happen, but we are pretty set on the idea that we will get a dog (or puppy) some time soon, so the equipment will be useful anyway and I'll just get a refund on the food for now.