Oatmeal and Other Life-Changers

An empty raisin box yesterday brought us to our knees. The Big Guy trucked himself to the grocery store and was phone-guided by yours truly over to the raisins and other recent life-changer, organic oatmeal. As it turns out, the generic brand organic oatmeal is still cheaper the conventional Quaker. And the Big Guy is sold.

Evidently, we all had an unknown love of oats. We will never buy instant oatmeal packets again. Organic oats cost about a buck a pound. We added raisins, cranberries, flax seeds, and a small squirt of maple syrup, and found an oh-so tasty and cheap, not to mention healthy, breakfast that is ready in 15 minutes. Score one for Mom.

Score another for Mom, the Big Guy ate tofu lasagna the other day and couldn't tell the difference. He was slightly cheesed after he found out, yet ate it willingly the next day, if not grudgingly. But I seriously had no idea I could buy organic Whole Foods brand tofu for a dollar. It turned out to be a win on all fronts.

Oh, Dear

So the Five Dollar Family is slowly becoming defunct. I know, I know. This doesn't mean we're not saving. It just means, well, math is hard. My brain is heaving in my skull at the thought of dividing everything my two people and then by four meals. I mean, if we just ate freezer meals, no sweat, but that's a rarity. But adding fresh ingredients and then figuring out the percentage that we used and how many meals we actually got out of it, not to mention pureeing the leftovers into food for the kid. I can't do it. My mental faculties are best spent elsewhere. Like deciding what I will buy myself for Mothers' Day and then write my son's name on a card.

So to console myself and my few faithful readers, I have enacted Meatless Mondays. Meatless Mondays are fun! Last Monday, we had a super beans and rice recipe I found at my new favorite blog, Food With Kid Appeal. http://foodwithkidappeal.blogspot.com/2009/11/super-food-on-budget-black-beans-rice.html.

And Wednesday was meatless also. We had an amazing chili dip with cream cheese as the base. It was uber yummy. Cream cheese, black beans, spiced tomatoes, and more cheese all layered together with blue corn chips. I highly recommend it.

So now we're trying to come up with a theme for every day of the week. I told my husband that Topless Tuesdays were a no-go.