#SNAPchallenge Day 2 and 3

I gave myself permission to delay posting about day 2.

Day 2 was the day of the Northside vs. Westside Softball Challenge with I helped organize. There are still a few banners in the car that need to delivered back to the game's sponsors, but other than that, it is over.  It is a fundraising event for the North-Missoula Community Development Corporation, and I still need to tally up the final expenditures and earnings, but overall it was a success. The Westside won 18 – 9.

Back to the #SNAPcallenge and food related issues.

Breakfast was oatmeal. Oatmeal is a perfect breakfast choice for my family of picky breakfast eaters because it is easily customizable. Adam and I eat it as a savory dish topped with onion, cheese, eggs and greens, while the children opt for brown sugar and cinnamon.

Oatmeal (4 x .043 = $0.172)

Cheese (0.16 x 2 = $0.32)

Eggs (0.21x 3 = $0.75)

Swiss Chard (CSA)

Brown Sugar (4 tablespoons = $0.096)

Coffee (cost of my coffee share per day is $1.52)

Total cost of breakfast $2.86 for a family of 4.

Adam and I both packed tomato pie for lunch and the kids ate at school.

After school, I gave the kids 5 dollars and sent them to the Missoula Community Food Co-op. “Buy something healthy,” I said, and they came back with a miniature chocolate bar and Annie's Gummy Bunnies. Not quite what I had meant. Snack Cost: $4.00

They also had apples (CSA), so not all of the snacks were forms of sugar wrapped in packaging. And I grabbed a slice of cheese on my way in and out of the door ($0.32).

We ate dinner at the Softball Game... we set up a propane grill and sold hotdogs, cucumber salad, chips and an assortment of drinks and candy to folks who attended the event.

Hot dogs are a totally legit dinner option, and because I did some of the shopping for the event I am going to use the per unit cost of hot dogs and buns rather than the price it would have cost to buy them at the event. Usually, if hot dogs appear on our dinner table, it a special treat, synonymous with lighting a fire in our fire pit.

Dinner was not healthy. Let's not pretend. I was running around like crazy making sure everything was going correctly (and it did) but I let the kids make minor food decisions on their own.

Skittles (I made them share - $1)

Soda (I made them share - $1)

Hotdog Buns (4 x 0.38 = $1.52)

Hotdogs (4 x 0.35 = $1.39)

Potato Chips (4 x 0.16 = $0.62)

Total Dinner Cost $5.53

Total Cost for the Day 2 was $12.71 plus the per day cost of the CSA $14.75.

SNAP Challenge Day 3.

I let the children sleep in, to recuperate from the late night at the game.

Breakfast happened in two shifts. Adam and I ate first and when the kids woke I made them breakfast as well.
3 tortillas (0.15 x 3 = $0.45)
4 eggs (0.25 x 4 = $1.00)
cheese (0.16 x 2 = $0.32)
Coffee (cost of my coffee share per day $1.52)
Oatmeal (4 x 0.043 = $0.172)
Brown Sugar (4 tablespoons = $0.096)
Total Cost for Breakfast $3.56

Adam took the last piece of Tomato Pie for lunch along with a handful of plums (CSA). I forgot to pack lunch and by the time I came home to meet the kids I was almost shaky. They of course, had lunch at school. It is pretty normal that I run from thing to thing and forget to eat... not the best habit. I ended up with an extra kiddo at my house for a bit and we all needed a snack. Tortillas and cheese it was. I cooked tortilla after tortilla and melted cheese, cut wedges and piled them on the table.

Tortillas (0.15 x 8 = $1.20)

Cheese (0.16 x 4 = $0.64)

Apples (CSA)

Total Snack cost $1.84.

I ran off to meet some friends after Adam came home and left him in charge of dinner.  For Dinner he served the left over slow cooker Potato Leek Soup that I had made a few days before. I will not include the cost of it here, for consistency, but with the exception of a few pieces of bacon and the broth, it was made entirely from CSA ingredients. The soup was served with a side of salad.

Lettuce (CSA)

Tomatoes (CSA)

Carrots (CSA)

Cucumbers (CSA per day cost $2.04 with Double SNAP Dollars).

Total Dinner cost $2.04.

SNAP Challenge day 3 total is $7.44.

The low day to day expenditures on food require that most of our meals are made from scratch or almost from scratch.  Over the years I have acquired a few cookbooks I return to again and again.  I also heavily rely on googling combinations of food that are found in my fridge at a given time.  The main thing that keeps me going: an over inflated sense of confidence that I can make something for nothing.  It has gotten my this far.

Some of my favorite cook books:
Make the Bread, Buy the Butter
Dinner: A Love Story
Betty Crockers Cookbook: Bridal Edition
Good and Cheap (which is what the pictures in the post are) 
Canning for a New Generation

Please consider donating to my Double SNAP Dollars Fundraiser by clicking HERE!!!