Eating a (Mostly) Balanced Diet on a Budget--Day Five: Surprise Dinners (Leftovers)

Okay, I know, not the most exciting meal.  However, I  have found that most weeks, we have enough left from each meal that I can get one or two portions from each leftover.  My mom used to make surprise dinners when I was growing up.  I don't remember either loving or hating it, but I do remember her doing it once in a while.  I tried it with my own kids and they think it's fun.  I don't do it every week, and many times we have leftovers, I just reheat all the choices and put them on the table and let them pick what they want.  Sometimes they take more than one entree.  It makes me happy because it cleans out the fridge and saves me money and they like it.

I often plan for leftovers, but I always have a backup, just in case there aren't enough.  The backup is almost always something easy with ingredients I always have.  That would be my homemade macaroni and cheese.

Thursday

Breakfast:

We have pancakes or waffles several times a week.  I don't know that they are particularly healthy, as in containing tons of vitamins and minerals, but they are filling and they are easy to make.  I use the same recipe for my pancakes and waffles, I just vary up how they're cooked.  It's interesting because some of the kids like one or the other better.  You can also offer a variety of toppings.  Right now, my kids tend to just eat them plain.  I think it's a little weird, but it is what it is.  My mom would offer things like different types of jam, yogurt, and different types of syrups.  Note:  She still does when we visit and we have waffles or pancakes.  Yum yum!

Recipe:

2 cups flour
4 Tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Mix together with a fork.  Then add to the dry ingredients:
2 cups milk
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
Beat all together until well blended and smooth.

Then you can cook them up stove top, on a griddle or with a waffle iron, however.

Cost:

$.27 flour (based on what I buy a 5 lb sack for and how much I use from it)
$.20 sugar (same as above)
$.10 baking powder
$.02 salt
$.21 milk
$.12 oil
$.25 eggs
$1.17 total

We also had juice, more from the same bottle of apple juice and I cracked open a new can of concentrate that cost $1.
$1 juice
$2.17 Total=$.31/person

Husband did not eat breakfast but later stopped in for donuts.  What can I say?  You can only do so much...

Lunch:

Same sandwich lunch as Monday.
$1/person (8 people)
I know it can get boring to have the same thing for lunch every day, but sometimes it's just easier than coming up with something new.

Dinner:

Leftovers.

I do the soup stove top and then I wrap the other leftovers in foil and warm in a 400-degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Cost already figured in with the rest of the week. 

Total cost for Thursday:
$10.17 or $1.27/person