Day 19, another soft food day, gravy, rice, orange rolls and fresh bread

     This morning started with homemade orange rolls.  They were made with part of my oatmeal bread dough, which I rolled out and topped with butter, sugar and orange zest.

     I didn't frost the rolls, so they had just a hint of sweet goodness.  The sore-mouth sisters dipped their rolls in their tea to soften them up.  The rest of us warmed them in the microwave and ate them with tea.  Some even melted butter on top of their yummy rolls.

     We also ate cold cereal, so breakfast was a major meal expense today.

    Breakfast menu:  orange rolls and tea, cold cereal and milk

cost:  $2.61

1 box of life cereal:  1.00

(we bought 60 of them at Albertson's sale at that price)

half gallon milk:  .88

orange rolls:  .67

3 teaspoons butter:  .06

       Since we were all together at home for lunch, we decided to make it a good one, plus an easy-to-chew one, and by popular vote it was chicken and dumplings.  I also boiled 2 big potatoes and 3 carrots for soft vegetables and more substance.  When I topped the dumplings and vegetables with chicken gravy, it made really a substantial meal. 

 Lunch menu:  chicken and dumplings, gravy, potatoes and carrots

Cost:  $3.22

1/4 natural veg fed chicken:  .99

double batch biscuit dough for dumplings:  1.32

3 organic carrots:  .33

2 large potatoes (30 oz):  .19

1 gravy mix:  .33

1/2 cup flour for thickening:  .05

salt:  .01

  

The kids asked me to put some black beans on to soak.  We'll cook them tomorrow.  Here you can see the black looking water in the kettle on the stove. 

  And, why didn't I take some pictures of the kids hoeing the garden?  It feels like planting time, so the kids were motivated to get things ready.  We're going to save a hundred bucks of rototiller rental by using elbow grease.  They had a good time, with 4 hoes working away, softening up the ground for planting.  I'll try to remember to take some pictures tomorrow.

For snacks we had something very traditional.  Jam and bread.  That is hard to beat, especially oatmeal bread.

Snack:  bread with jam

Cost: $.68,  .48 for the loaf, and .20 for the jam

       For dinner I had planned to make lentil soup, but somebody put the lentils in a "creative" hiding place yesterday when clearing the counters.  So I had to think of something else.  Well, I remembered the leftover bean chili in the frig, which I heated up.  I thought rice would be easy on sore teeth, and easy to make, so rice was on the menu tonight, along with a can of peaches (no prep necessary) and another loaf of my fresh bread with some apricot-raspberry jam.  I love this rice cooker.  Perfect rice every time...

 supper menu:  black bean soup over rice, bread and jam, canned peaches

Cost:  $2.94

 1.5 lb rice:  .96

4 cups black bean chili soup:  .60

1 jar peaches:  .40

1 loaf bread:  .48

1/2 cup jam:  .20

10 teaspoons butter:  .20

Today's total cost:  $9.52 and everybody is full

I have all my calculations and recipes in my little orange journal.  My cell phone's calculator makes figuring portion costs fast and easy, because I always have it with me!

      I made a little cheat sheet with common calculations, without which I couldn't quickly figure the costs of foods and ingredients.  I put things in aphabetical order, which is essential.   It is written in pencil, because prices sometimes change from week to week.