Family Challenge

At the end of August Nate and I began talking about how we can cut back on our expenses to save up for our adoption. The first thing that came to mind, and probably the most obvious, was the food budget.  We came up with a plan and sat down with the kids and explained.  They were totally on board.  Probably because they really had no clue just how much we were planning on cutting back.  No more cereal, chips, crackers, pretzels, pop, meat, ice cream (this is a HUGE sacrifice for Nate), any prepackaged snack item like granola bars, fruit chews.....etc.  If they wanted a snack it was going to have to be fresh fruit, veggies, cheese, piece of toast or any homemade bread, cookie or muffin I make.  For breakfast it's fruit and toast, eggs, oatmeal, pancakes, waffles, muffins or scones.....made from scratch of course, because it's cheaper.  Now let me explain that I love cooking and baking for my family and they love eating what I make so breakfast really hasn't been that hard to adjust to, but still cheaper than going through three 4 dollar boxes of cereal in a week......that's 48 smackers a month...JUST IN CEREAL!!  Lunches have been a bit of an issue because I adore sandwiches, I could eat an artistically crafted, delicious sandwich any time of day or night.  Well, no meat means no meat, so no lunch meat.  BOO!  The kids struggle with not having something crunchy and salty to have with their lunch so there is some sighing when trying to come up with something creative AND yummy to eat.  Mostly from me.  On to dinner time.  Let me just say that as of today, September 26, 2011, we are all ready to crack.  I am not sure any of us can eat another bean and we have 4 more days left in this challenge.  If a recipe calls for meat, I substitute beans when it makes sense.  There has been a lot of salad and so very many potatoes consumed.  I've been making my own bisquick mix as well.  I did not realize that there are literally thousands of bisquick recipes out there and so many that actually taste pretty darn good.  My quick mix recipe makes double what you would find in a store bought mix and saves me about 12 bucks a month.  Not bad.  There is so much more I could share with you but our beans and rice dinner (yes, I said beans, ugh.) and cornbread is almost done so I better run.  It's been a bit of a sacrifice but it wouldn't be a sacrifice if it was easy right?  The total amount we saved so far this month is 410 bucks!!!  Our goal was to save 500 bucks and I think we can do it.  We are pretty proud of ourselves and realized too that even with the cutbacks, we still have so much.  We haven't gone to bed hungry yet and I can't help but think of all the little ones around the world who suffer daily from hunger.  Off to eat my beans.  With a smile on my face and thanksgiving in my heart.