Wednesday's Challenge

I'm beginning to get into the challenge a little bit more now!  Another crazy day of subbing, and dinner needed to be put together after I got home, and I was exhausted when I started.  Believe me, I understand the desire to stop at McDonald's after a full day of work to pick up dinner for the family.  I could easily have picked up a couple of items off the dollar menu and called it a successful day!

But, after I shook off the fast food temptation, I came home and started on dinner....

Breakfast:
3 eggs, scrambled: 50 cents
Milk, 12 ounces: 50 cents

Lunch:
Tuna Salad: (other half from yesterday): 48 cents
Flat Bread: 25 cents
Yogurt: 50 cents

Dinner:
Taco Salad  (Recipe and price break down follows): 80 cents


Total Cost:  $3.03


Again. taking a closer look at this, I am behind on my dairy and veggie intake.  Even though we are keeping our food expenses down, I do need to work harder at eating a healthy diet within these guidelines.
I'm still well below my daily cost limit, but I am beginning to wonder if we are eating healthy enough.  Also, our veggies are coming from our garden.  If we'd bought them from the grocery store, our costs would go up significantly.

Taco Salad:

1 head iceburg lettuce, torn and washed (99 cents)
Leftover Chili from last week's dinner. (http://mini-van-mom.blogspot.com/2013/09/thinking-ahead-for-dinner_26.html)
Leftover Black Bean Soup from last night.
Taco Shells  ($1, on sale)
Salsa (Homemade, from one of the batches we made this summer, with veggies from our own garden. Again, I'm not sure what the final cost on this would be, since the ingredients were grown by us.)

In a pan on the stove, combine the leftover black bean soup and chili.  Reheat over medium heat until warm, stirring often.
Crush taco shells.
In a large bowl, mix the chili, lettuce, and crushed taco shells.  Toss thoroughly.
Serve with salsa.

Estimating the cost of this is a little more difficult.  I made the chili last week.  The ground beef was $3.99.  The corn was $1, the beans in the chili last week were 50 cents, the tomatoes were 50 cents, and the two cans of tomato sauce were 25 cents each.  The spices might have come up to ten cents, total.

The cost of making the chili comes up to $6.34.

Trying to estimate the number of servings for that pot?  I'm going to estimate 8 servings.  (We still have leftovers, which I will take for lunch tomorrow.)

According the my calculations, the total is 80 cents per serving.  Not too bad for a dish containing meat!