Day 2

Well, I backslid today.  I ate out.  Oh the shame!  What did I eat today?  Well, I had a peanut butter and jelly again with milk.  It's quick in the morning when I'm feeling lazy and keeps me full without any crashes.  Then I ate out and had a ham, cheese, tomato, lettuce sandwich with some kick-ass potato salad.  And then about an hour ago I had green beans and 1/3 of half a chicken, tea w/ milk & sugar.  So that breaks down into the following:

PB&J with milk (same as yesterday)..........$ 1.38
Ham sandwich & potato salad (w/ fixins)..........$ 7.03
1/3 of half a chicken @ $ 5.99 for half a chicken..........$2.00
Green beans (free giveaway)..........$  0.00
Tea (2 bags)..........$ .10
Sugar (3T)..........$ .26
Splash Milk ( ~ 2 oz)..........$ .07 

For a grand Total of..........$ 10.84

I'm pretty sure I could have kept the cost under $6.00 if I'd just eaten a home meal instead of out.  OUT.
A bad word for the budget-OUT.  But it's so convenient and fun.  Ok I'll try and spice up this blog with some exciting action packed food photos.  Creativity will be key.

OH! and PS:  I forgot to add two freebies yesterday.  A co-worker bought everyone a bitty chocolate mousse tart and a small latte.  I don't drink coffee but I drank it anyway.  I tried it hesitantly and was pleasantly surprised to find it smoooth and not bitter at all.  I think the latte part helped.

The Cost of Eating In

So I was sitting on the plaza eating my pb&j and drinking my milk and I thought "I wonder how much this meal is costing me?"  After mulling over the ingredients of my meal I came up with a ball park figure of $1.19.  Now, that's a ballpark because the jelly was actually homemade huckleberry jam from a friend in Alaska.  I don't want to deflate the actual value of the meal.  But it didn't cost me anything except my time helping her pick those awesome Alaskan huckleberries.  Yay for me! When I got home I re-calculated the actual cost and this is how it actually broke down:

Bread - $ .12.....2 slices of bread from a loaf that cost : $1.29 (16 servings per loaf/1 serving=1 slice)
PB- $ .57..........4 TBS of peanut butter from a jar that cost $3.99 ( 14 servings per jar/1 serving=2 TBS)
Jam - $ .00........2 TBS gifted homemade huckleberry jam
Milk - $ .69.......1-16 oz carton of milk for $ .69
For a TOTAL of $ 1.38

Off by $ .19, not bad!  I definitely plan on canning this summer and when I do I will try and keep a detailed account of what I use.  It will be interesting to see how that breaks down.  Now, the cost of my meal can fluctuate depending on what I buy at the store.  16 oz of almond milk on sale for $1.79 per carton would add $ .89 instead of $ .69 and 16 oz from a 1/2 gallon of organic milk on sale for $3.99 would add $ .99.  And of course if you bought or made your jam then you'd have to figure in that cost. 

I'm off to eat dinner.  I will be finishing the other half of a burrito I bought at a little hole in the wall Mexican food place (forgot the name!!!).  Which means ,I bought it out for $4.50, dinner is costing me $2.25.  Plus I'll have hot tea and sugar.  But I forgot how much I paid for the box of tea and the sugar.  I'll have to research that and post the total cost next time. 

I'm pretty excited to see what I'll learn from this experiment.  Until next time...