Merry Christmas Eve

Breakfast
I was running late this morning, so I had to have a very quick breakfast. I went for cold cereal, since I had no time to prepare anything hot. When I do eat cold cereals, I prefer the Kashi brand. The have some great whole grain products and go very easy on added sugars. Today I had about a cup of the Cinnamon Harvest with 3/4 cup of skim milk. I also had a cup of OJ and my coffee before I rushed out the door.

All together, this meal provided:
Grains: 1 1/2 oz. whole (Kashi cereal)
Fruits: 1 cup (OJ)
Vegetables: 0
Milk: 3/4 cup (skim milk)
Meats & beans: 0
Oils: 0
The cost of this meal was approximately: $0.73

Lunch
It was hard to plan my meals today, because I didn't know what I would be having for dinner tonight. It's Christmas eve, and I will be dining with Matt's family, but I have no idea what will be served. In cases like this, you have to use your intuition about the situation. It is usually pretty casual over there, and I suspected there would be mostly snacks offered and probably no formal entrees or meat. I was especially sure about the lack of meat, so I packed a turkey sandwich for lunch and brought along some snacks that count as meat substitutes. Along with my turkey sandwich, I had a 6 oz. cup of yogurt and an ounce of baked potato chips, because I also felt fairly certain that there would be vegetables available tonight.

All together, this meal provided:
Grains: 2 oz. whole (bread for sandwich)
Fruits: 0
Vegetables: 1/2 cup (about 15 baked potato chips)
Milk: 3/4 cup (slice of mozzarella cheese on sandwich)
Meats & beans: 2 oz (turkey)
Oils: 0
The cost of this meal was approximately: $1.55

Snack for the road
I had a long drive this evening, so I had a small apple with a tablespoon of peanut butter a little while before I left. This was also a way of getting another serving of meats & beans in case there was nothing available when I arrived.



All together, this meal provided:
Grains: 0
Fruits: 1 cup (small apple)
Vegetables: 0
Milk: 0
Meats & beans: 1 oz (peanut butter)
Oils: 1 teaspoon (peanut butter)
The cost of this meal was approximately: $0.43

Dinner
Dinner turned out to be pizza tonight. When I arrived, all that was left was an all veggie pesto pizza from Trader Joes. It's a small pizza-only about 8 or 9 inches in diameter-and I had 3 slices, which is half of the pizza. This variety has pesto sauce instead of red sauce, and is topped with tomatoes and broccoli. It's very good, although I have made a similar one myself for much cheaper (it's $4.99 for one pizza). However, dinner was paid for tonight so the cost of this meal will not burn a hole in my budget this time!

All together, this meal provided:
Grains: 1 1/2 oz (pizza crust)
Fruits: 0
Vegetables: 1/2 cup (pizza toppings)
Milk: 1/2 cup (cheese on pizza)
Meats & beans: 0
Oils: 1 teaspoon (pesto sauce)
The cost of this meal was approximately: $0.00 ($2.50 if I had paid for it myself)

Another snack for the road
Since it turned out I was right about the lack of meat/meat substitutes available, I was glad that I had come prepared to fulfill my requirements in at least one of the food groups. On the drive home, I had about 22 almonds from the bag I brought along (I couldn't take a picture in the car).
All together, this meal provided:
Grains: 0
Fruits: 0
Vegetables: 0
Milk: 0
Meats & beans: 2 oz (almonds)
Oils: 2 teaspoons (almonds)
The cost of this meal was approximately: $0.24

How did I do today?
Grains: 5 1/2 oz out of 6 oz (3 1/2 were whole)
Fruits: 2 cups out of 2 cups
Vegetables: 1 cup out of 2 1/2 cups
Milk: 2 3/4 cups out of 3 cups
Meats & beans: 5 oz out of 5 1/2 oz
Oils: 4 teaspoons out of 6 teaspoons
Total cost for the day: $2.95

I really fell short on the vegetables today. If I had known there wouldn't be any available for dinner, I would have made my lunch/snacks more veggie-heavy. This just goes to show how hard it is to fulfill nutritional requirements when someone else is in control of what is being served. I'm not saying that I'm going to stop visiting with family on the holidays, or that I'm going to refuse what they offer me to eat-but I am glad that the holidays only happen a few times a year!
Tomorrow is Christmas day, and I will be completely dependant on what other people serve. Should be an interesting and challanging day for eating healthy. At least the budgeting part is taken care of!