So, today was supposed to be the day we went to Save A Lot to do our shopping for the 25 dollar food challenge. But, today is a give me lemons kind of day.
Every Tuesday we volunteer at an animal rescue. Today, on the way there, about 1.5 miles away, my tire blew out. No problem, I would just change it and teach the girls how to change a tire at the same time. Ha, not so fast. New cars apparently do not come with a spare like my good old jalopy. But, this car did come with a nifty air compressor gadget. So, we quickly learned how to hook it up and turned it on. Unfortunately it did not work and was apparent the tire was not fixable. We have roadside assistance so I had to call a tow truck, and a friend to come pick us up. Thank goodness for friends.
So, I figured I would get in the pool and vacuum it, when we got home, since I had no car and obviously could not go shopping. But, I thought I could just go later. But, the garage called and said my replacement tire would not be here until tomorrow. Good grief! Then, I turned on the pool pump and one of the hoses sprung a leak. Great! Boring laundry it would have to be. Of course even that couldn’t go right. When it was finished it hadn’t spun out all of the water. Thank goodness that was easy enough for me to fix.
This was a great life lesson for my girls. 1- always carry Fix A Flat, not that it would have helped this time. 2- always make sure you have a spare tire and you know how to properly use a jack and change a tire. This will actually be a future lesson. 3- Roadside Assistance, even though it adds a little money to your insurance is awesome. 4- and finally, be flexible know how and who to call for help and always have a plan. We didn’t make it to the rescue but thank goodness other volunteers were close by and could fill in for us. I duck taped the pool hose until a new hose can arrive. It is still warm enough here to swim up until December, usually.
Now, to the food challenge specifically. I decided to go ahead and start it today, since we could alter the menu for today’s meal with what we had on hand. So, we will only need to buy 6 days of dinners for 25 dollars. The menu is only for dinners. We have plenty of staples on hand for lunches, and breakfast which is rarely eaten in this house. I will share what we need for each meal. I am hoping to have leftover money to get some extra stuff I would like, but do not need. Once our inventory runs out these challenges will be much more difficult.
Menu for 10/20/2020-10/26/2020:
Tuesday: Taco Tuesday. My daughter was disappointed, but hey I can make it work. I gave her several other options with what we had on hand. We have 1 pound of ground beef, soft taco shells which is not her preference, cheese and a little bit of sour cream. So, I told her I could add rice and make a taco casserole, or she could have meat, and cheese in a soft shell with sour cream on top. She opted for the second option. The only thing we needed to buy for this was a little more sour cream, which I can go without, hard shells and shredded lettuce. No lettuce but we will live. My husband is not here for this meal, and this is more of a challenge for my teenager to learn, so he would adapt too.
Wednesday: Homemade chicken nuggets, pasta and salad. I have chicken already ,pasta, and bread crumbs. That will make the chicken nuggets. I do need eggs, and lettuce. The car should be ready by tomorrow at noon. So, we should be able to do the shopping after that.
Thursday: Pasta salad with the leftover pasta from Wednesday dinner. All I need for this is one colored pepper, raspberry Vinaigrette and a small block of cheddar cheese.
Friday: Grilled cheese and tomato soup. I already have everything on hand for this meal. I may make homemade bread, but that will depend on the temperature outside. We have loaves of bread if I don’t make homemade.
Saturday: Pizza rolls. This was her personal request. No, Totinos Pizza Rolls are not healthy, but they are an easy weekend dinner and they both like them. If there is any lettuce left they can add a side salad with tomatoes I already have on hand. If I can not fit Totinos brand in, or they don’t have them, she will have to adapt this day.
Sunday: Steak, mashed potatoes, green beans. Over the summer one of our local supermarkets had steaks on sale at a really good price. This is normal during BBQ months. We bought extra and froze them. I will have my husband grill them. I already have potatoes and green beans on hand.
Monday: Homemade Mac N Cheese. When we did inventory I found 3 cans of evaporated milk that will expire soon. So, I decided to make homemade mac n cheese. We already have pasta for this. I will need one bag of shredded cheese. Broccoli that I already have on hand will be served with this dish. They can always have bread and butter if they want it too. This will be a meatless day.
So, for this week I need to buy: eggs, shredded lettuce, regular lettuce, shredded cheese, raspberry vinaigrette, colored pepper, pizza rolls. If I can I would like to get coffee creamer, self rising flour, cornstarch, green grapes, bananas, oranges, juice and stevia.
The oranges are to make my favorite homemade salad dressing. But, I have store salad dressing on hand I don’t need it. But, I like it better than store bought, lol. I will share that recipe later this week when we have salad.
Join in, and let me know how you do and what you will make. This will be a real challenge for me as I am low carb.
Living Life With CKD 