Breakfast
I started with a latte made with 1 cup of skim milk...as usual, I added a packet of Equal and a little cinnamon. There wasn't much to choose from today...I haven't been to the store yet this week. I decided on a bowl of Post Blueberry Morning cereal (about 1 1/2 cups) with 3/4 cup of skim milk. I also added 11 sliced almonds so it would fill me up a little more. This cereal is not a whole grain product, so it doesn't have as much fiber as some of the other cold cereals I normally eat. This one was an impulse buy-it's okay, but I don't think I'd buy it again. It does contain dried blueberries, but their texture after being re-hydrated from the milk is a bit sticky and sugary-it kind of reminded me of a jellybean! Anyway, I added the almonds in hopes that they would help keep me feeling full since the cereal lacked fiber, which would normally provide this effect. I added a cup of orange juice to complete the meal.All together, this meal provided:
Grains: 2 oz (cereal)
Fruits: 1 1/4 cups (orange juice and about 2 tbsp blueberries in cereal)
Vegetables: 0
Milk: 1 3/4 cups (skim milk in latte and cereal)
Meats & beans: 1 oz (almonds)
Oils: 1 tsp (almonds)
The cost of this meal was approximately: $1.74
Lunch
For lunch, I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat Sara Lee bread, with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and a teaspoon of grape jelly. I also had a cup of fruit cocktail (Schnucks brand-canned in pear juice) and an ounce of Baked Lays chips (about 15 chips).All together, this meal provided:
Grains: 2 oz whole (bread)
Fruits: 1 cup (fruit cocktail)
Vegetables: 1/2 cup (chips)
Milk: 0
Meats & beans: 2 oz (peanut butter)
Oils: 2 tsp (peanut butter)
The cost of this meal was approximately: $1.48
Dinner
We got Nacho Mama's for dinner tonight. If you haven't been there, once you stop laughing at the name, you should check it out. It's mexican food (I'm not sure how authentic) on Manchester in Rock Hill, and it's better than most "fast food" mexican style places. They even have a drive-thru, so it's extra convenient. I won't lie and say their price are low-I only got a bean burrito, and it was about $5.00. It was a pretty good bean burrito though! I am going to try something new with my format here...when I do occasionally eat out, I am going to cost out the meal as if I had made it at home, especially if I didn't pay for it. That way, I will have a good comparison between the cost of food at home and away from home-plus I won't skew the total amounts by saying the cost of the meal was $0.00. I realized the budget that I'm trying to adhere to-the USDA's cost of food at home-is meant to be just that. I think this new format will give a better estimation of this rather than using the actual amount of the meal if it was purchased at a restaurant. I swear, I'm not making excuses for eating out...simply trying to make this project a little smoother. If you have an opinion about this format, or find it more beneficial one way or the other, please let me know!I estimated that my burrito was about 1 1/2 cups worth of beans (counted toward vegetable group), and 1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) of cheese. I also had about another 1/2 cup of beans off Matt's plate (not pictured) which I counted as meats/beans to be fair. I used all of the salsa (medium-try it if you go there), which was about 3 tablespoons. As a dessert, and also to help fulfill my lacking milk requirement for the day, I had a 6 oz cup of cherry yogurt.
All together, this meal provided:
Grains: 1 1/2 oz (tortilla)
Fruits: 0
Vegetables: 1 1/2 cups (beans in burrito)
Milk: 1 1/4 cups (cheese in burrito and yogurt)
Meats & beans: 2 oz (beans on the side)
Oils: 0
The cost of this meal (if I had prepared it at home) was approximately: $1.43
Actual cost: $5.45
How did I do today?
Grains: 5 1/2 oz out of 6 oz (2 were whole)
Fruits: 2 1/4 cups out of 2 cups
Vegetables: 2 1/4 cups 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: 3 teaspoons out of 6 teaspoons
Total cost for the day: $4.65
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