Day 5

Wed (sorry I'm posting this a day late).
Rob and Travis were still sick so they slept in.  I have a rule if you don't get up by 10 AM you don't eat breakfast. You have to wait until at least 11:15 for lunch. If you don't eat lunch by 1:00 PM you have to wait until 3:00 for snack time (that is just a piece of fruit most days).  I do this so everyone will be hungry at dinner time and it keeps me from having to do dishes all day long.  The girls had small bowls of cold cereal and pink milk for breakfast.   Lunch was tomato soup and or sandwiches.  Dinner was chef salads and chicken noodle soup.

I thought a meal full of fresh veggies and soup would be good for Travis and Rob's cold.  The soup was left over chicken noodle soup from last night.  The salad was made with Romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, onion, egg, cheese and a bit of ham cut up from one of the ham steaks.  I think I used about 1/4 ham steak split up into 5 salads (all cubes I tossed on top for my meat loving men to see).   The girls liked picking all the things out of the salad (most of the things they liked but a few things like egg yolks they didn't care for).   Today was a hard day but not as hard as yesterday.  I'm starting to worry I'm going to run out of many things soon and not be able to make it another week or two.  I've cut back on how full I set the coffee pot and I'm only having a cup in the morning to see if I can make it another 10-15 days with the coffee left in the can.   All I can do is keep trying. I know if I can't make it I can easily go spend the rest of the food money Rob told me I could have for 2 weeks of food... BUT if I go out and buy things and end up spending all the money he has set aside for food I will end up feeling like all this meal planning and POLICING the food was for nothing!  Yes, you read that correct I did say I am policing the food.  I stand guard over the food making sure someone (Rob and Travis) doesn't sneak into the fridge or freezer and eat up one of my meals for a snack. In my food planning a snack of 3 hot dogs could be 1/2 a meal for one night next week.  When I see someone looking for a large snack like that I offer them carrot sticks or an apple instead AND I remind them that the next meal will be served soon.   

I have a crazy weekend ahead of me.  The kind of weekend you're on the go from sun up until after dark driving from one thing to the next (away from my kitchen).  Weekends like that are the times I often pick up fast food for the kids to make it from place to the next place in time.  I'm going to try and keep meal planning to avoid spending $ and I hope to remember to pack and take sandwiches and baggies of dry cereal to avoid the drive up meals!   One stop at the "big M" I'll blow $10-20 on a few happy meals for the girls and food for my 12 year old son.  That doesn't usually sound like much but right now I'm trying to save every penny.   I can buy one or two kids a T-shirt on the boardwalk on vacation for $20!  The shirt they will enjoy a long time.  Fast food doesn't give them much enjoyment at all.  Over all I can say I'm in a better mood (better than yesterday) and I'm keeping my eyes on the prize.