Monday, September 24, 2012

Saturday SNAP Challenge


SATURDAY:
Breakfast consisted of  home made pancakes (Hubby's speciality) topped with maple syrup, jam, butter and cream.  The girls had a glass of milk each, Hubby had one, and I had two cups of instant coffee with milk and sugar.
Lunch - We made toasted sandwiches with ham and cheese. Hubby and I had another instant coffee with milk and sugar each.
Dinner was a disaster in terms of the SNAP challenge.  As if I weren't already "off the rails" so to say, at this point it became a total train wreck.  A friend of ours rang late afternoon to ask if we would like to go to his place and get takeaway for dinner and have a games night.  We hadn't seen this friend for a few weeks and knew he was a bit 'down', so Hubby and I agreed that we would pick up Indian takeaway and head to his house.  The cost for dinner was $50 even which included the cost of his dinner too.  He did offer to pay for his share but we refused payment.  We drank his drinks instead :)
Dessert was nothing.

Running Food Tally:  Monday 17th to Sunday 23rd September 2012
Weetbix (14 bics)
Rice Cakes (8)
Tea Bags (12)
Apple (4)
Milk (6.5L)
Grain Waves chips
Instant Coffee
Strawbs (2 pt)
Cream (280ml)
Crispbreads (9)
Milo
Lettuce (1/2)
Butter (180g)
Lindt Choc (140g)
Mayonnaise
Tomato (1)
Ham (200g)
Tortillas (12)
White Sugar
Avocado (1)
Cheese slices (11)
Arborio Rice
Vanilla essence
Onion (3)
Cheese block(300g)
Corn kernels
Cordial
Carrot (4)
Ice cream (2L)
Cannalini beans
Mineral Water
Zucchini (1)
Yoghurt (500ml)
Taco seasoning
Ginger powder
Mushrooms (500g)
Mince beef (300g)
Tomato Passata
Chilli powder
Garlic (3 cloves)
Chicken (150g)
Soy Sauce
Chicken stock
Celery (1/4 bunch)
Rump Steak (200g)
Rice vermicelli
Nutella spread
Egg (1)
Sliced bread
C&B Balls


Noodles (2 pkts)
Raspberry Jam


Mushroom soup
Tomato Paste


Spiral pasta
Paprika


Flour
Maple syrup

 Other: Lunch order for Emily - $4.30; Lunch order for Emily - $3.30;
        Takeaway fish and chips - $20; Takeaway Indian - $50

What I learned today was that if I were really restricted to $100 per week takeaway would not be an option.  It would also make it very hard to practice generosity because there is nothing extra to give.  True, you may be able to give in different ways, but it makes it very hard when others' expectations or realities are different to those of your circumstances.  Ok, so said friend who we shared dinner with tonight has bought the 4 of us dinner before, and I have made him dinner countless times, but he is a single guy with a decent paying job and no monetary commitments, so he is able to buy takeaway whenever he likes - us, not so much.  While we are not restricted to the $100 per week, we try to stick closely to that which means we do rarely eat out (we might average $10 per week on eating out).
I will also add at this point that this week was not a typical week for us.  Emily normally gets a lunch order once per fortnight, but this week being the last of term they had a special day Thursday which involved a second lunch order.  I could have said no and not given her one for the sake of this challenge but I decided not to deprive her of what I normally would have allowed anyway.  We also don't normally get 2 takeaways in one week (as mentioned above) but we decided to roll with it - actually my family has no idea I started this challenge, so I guess this is all just our normal (irregular) life.

Friday SNAP Challenge


FRIDAY:
Breakfast consisted of Weetbix with milk and a dash of cream for me, toast with butter and jam for the girls and Hubby.  The girls had a glass of cold Milo each, I had two cups of instant coffee with milk and sugar (it's Friday...)
Lunch - Emily had a peanut butter sandwich with Cheese and Bacon Balls (chips) for snack, Sophie and I also had some Cheese and Bacon Balls as a snack and we had 2 minute noodles for lunch. Hubby didn't take lunch. I also had another instant coffee with milk and sugar.
Dinner was Beef Stroganoff made using approx. 200g of rump steak, an onion, a can of cream of mushroom soup, paprika, tomato paste and sliced mushrooms served with cream (which should have been sour cream, but we had cream on hand) and pasta.
Dessert was the last of the ice cream.

Running Food Tally:  Monday 17th to Sunday 23rd September 2012
Weetbix (14 bics)
Rice Cakes (8)
Tea Bags (12)
Apple (4)
Milk (5L)
Grain Waves chips
Instant Coffee
Strawbs (2 pt)
Cream (240ml)
Crispbreads (9)
Milo
Lettuce (1/2)
Butter (140g)
Lindt Choc (140g)
Mayonnaise
Tomato (1)
Ham (100g)
Tortillas (12)
White Sugar
Avocado (1)
Cheese slices (11)
Arborio Rice
Vanilla essence
Onion (3)
Cheese block(100g)
Corn kernels
Cordial
Carrot (4)
Ice cream (2L)
Cannalini beans
Mineral Water
Zucchini (1)
Yoghurt (500ml)
Taco seasoning
Ginger powder
Mushrooms (500g)
Mince beef (300g)
Tomato Passata
Chilli powder
Garlic (3 cloves)
Chicken (150g)
Soy Sauce
Chicken stock
Celery (1/4 bunch)
Rump Steak (200g)
Rice vermicelli
Nutella spread

Sliced bread
C&B Balls


Noodles (2 pkts)
Raspberry Jam


Mushroom soup
Tomato Paste


Spiral pasta
Paprika





 Other: Lunch order for Emily - $4.30; Lunch order for Emily - $3.30;
        Takeaway fish and chips - $20
I estimate I have used the equivalent of $65.25 in groceries, plus the others = $92.85 so far

Friday, September 21, 2012

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...

Thursday, September 20, 2012

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;