OK, it's the last day of August, and I would say, for the most part, I succeeded in my challenge. My BF took me out to dinner one time, and picked up KFC one time. Other than that, NO eating out, not even for lunch. The only items we picked up at the grocery store were refrigerated items (and replacing everything that was lost when the fridge went out) and I did get some pecans (they're a must have item at my house) and some dried cranberries to make some granola bars.
Saturday: We picked up the new fridge. Wow, that sucker was a pain to get in the house - but if we didn't pick it up ourselves I would have had to wait for another week to have a fridge. We had to take the handles off of the new one and the old one to get them in and out of the house, and of course it's the hottest day of the month. So...we cheated today and picked up some KFC for dinner. I don't feel so bad about that. We worked our tails off getting the fridge installed.
Sunday: We went to the grocery store to replace everything that was tossed out and spent *gasp* $235. Oh. My. But at least I have food and can cook again. And cook, I did. I made ham and cheese muffins for the boys' lunch boxes for the week, I made granola bars for after school snacks and my Oldest made brownies for lunch box desserts. For dinner we had tuna casserole - all items from the pantry except some shredded cheddar.
Monday: The boys took their muffins for their lunches, with chips, brownies and some grapes. I made kielbasa sausage with mac n cheese for dinner.
Tuesday: We had a little kielbasa leftover from last night so I stuck it on some skewers with some cubes of cheese for the boys lunch boxes - they had Ritz crackers and brownies with that. I took leftover tuna casserole to the office for my lunch. We had chicken rice soup and biscuits for dinner.
Wednesday: The boys took ham and cheese muffins for lunch, My boyfriend took the leftover soup to his office to feed the people he works with - one man that he works for is almost 89 years old and has a difficult time eating much, so he gets soup whenever I make it. I saved a small bowl of the soup for my lunch at the office. I made beef and cheese quesadillas for dinner. Yum!
Thursday: The boys took leftover quesadillas for lunch. We have burritos at the office every Thursday, so that was my lunch. We made chicken sandwiches and cheese fries for dinner. Soooooooooo yummy.
Friday: The boys had a tray. I'm not sure why, but my youngest loooooooooooves the barbecue sandwiches from the school cafeteria. Whatever makes him happy. I was home all day and just snacked at home. I made blueberry zucchini bread for after school snacks next week. NOT sure they're gonna last that long. I shredded up the rest of my zucchini and put 6 cups in the freezer and 2 cups in the fridge. We were at a b'day party that was from 6:00-8:00 so we just had a quick sandwich when we got home.
Saturday: I made delicious sausage cheese bites for breakfast, grilled sandwiches with tomato basil soup for lunch and homemade pizza for dinner.
Sunday - today - the last day: I made pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast. I made breakfast burritos with the leftover eggs and bacon. I made zucchini brownies for the boys lunch boxes this week and I made honey wheat sandwich rolls so we can use up the lunch meat before it goes bad. Right now I have Famous Butter Chicken in the oven and some easy mushroom rice on the stove top.
It's over. The end. I can finally go shopping for some real food. But I don't think I'm going to. I'm going to keep going with my challenge, but I'm going to modify my rules a little bit. I'm allowed to buy things that I run out of and I'm allowed to purchase items that I need for a specific meal. I do think I've learned quite a bit through my challenge. I notice myself thinking ahead when I'm cooking....making plans for leftovers and paying more attention to what's in the fridge that needs to be used up before it's no longer usable. All in all, I'd definitely say this journey was a victory.
What's this?