Day 40 We teach an evening class and eat in a hurry

Once a month Rodger and I teach a baby care class for expectant parents together at the hospital .  We love to do this together, but it also leaves the kids at home on a school night to do homework on their own, and we get back long after the young ones are in bed.

So I like to have a simple meal on such nights, without much clean-up to do.  Tonight we had macaroni and cheese, with peas and corn.  A one-bowl-meal, and all done on the stove.

Here is the casserole dish full of macaroni and cheese, with bread crumbs on top.

Here is another view  with the peas and corn on the right.  Each person had everything in one bowl.

Pretty and tasty...

breakfast today:  variety cold cereal (the choice is personal, but Mom weighs out the right amount; today's dollar choices included rice crispies, life, cinnamon life, mini wheats, or raisin bran), and milk

Cost:  $2.00

cereal, 10 portions:  1.00

milk, half gallon:  1.00

lunch menu:  hamburger gravy over brown rice, apples, pretzels

Cost:  $2.93

hamburger meat:  .86

3 cups brown rice:  .69

packet of au jus:  .39

2 oz beef gravy flavoring:  .29

apples:  free

pretzels:  .60

1 cup flour:  .10

snack:  kettle corn

Cost:  $.66! only! that was a huge amount of popcorn

12 oz pf popcorn:  .35

6 tbsp oil for the kettle:  .18

3/4 cup sugar:  .13

supper menu:  macaroni and cheese, peas and corn

Cost:  $3.91

nacho cheese sauce, 24 oz:  1.13

macaroni noodles, 2 lb:  1.17

frozen veggies, corn and peas,1 lb:  .98

milk for the cheese sauce, 4 cups:  .52

flour for thickening, 1/2 cup:  .05

onion powder:  .04

salt  .01

Today's total:  $9.50

 and since we only used about half of the macaroni, we will have leftovers tomorrow, already paid for tonight.

I could have just charged half of the cost of the macaroni and cheese to today's cost, but I thought that everybody might get hungry before bed and want more, so I figured that if it were already calculated today, then if they ate more in the evening while I was gone, I wouldn't call it snitching.  Happily, they didn't need more.  Good job, kids.

The chicks are still providing entertainment.  We are beginning to socialize the chicks with the dogs, under close supervision, of course. 

The chicks have zero fear, and the dogs are quivering in anticipation...of a meal, I'm sure.  But we have had dogs get along with chickens before, so we can do it again.

Happy eating.