View Single Post
nannyde 05:02 AM 03-22-2010
I spend about a dollar a day per kid to feed. Breakfast is about .33 cents, lunch is about .50 cents, and snack is about .17 cents. I make almost everything from whole foods from scratch. I buy all of our groceries on sale and keep two freezers full. We grow our own veggies in the summer and I puree and freeze. We also get fruits super cheap at the end of the summer and we stew, puree, and freeze. I use whatever we have pureed over the summer as our fruits and veggies until they are gone.

I make most of our breads and cookies and use the frozen fruit puree to add to the breads. In the summer I use my bread machine. In the winter I use the oven but co-bake my casseroles and stews with it. I have two pampered chef stone ovens that help save a bit in the total time it take to cook big pots of food. I also use my crock pot.

I make a LOT of bowl in one meals. Just yesterday I made a big pot of whole chicken, carrots, peas, and rice. I have all the ingredients to qualify for a full meal for lunch for the kids. Add a glass of milk and voila. The cost per unit of this was .32 cents per bowl. I made enough for five lunches for six kids. Will use one today and freeze the rest.

It can be done cheaply if you have the upfront money to buy large quantities when it's on supersale and you are willing to cook from scratch. I don't buy anything processed or premade. I don't buy cereal. I make oatmeal, rice, pancakes, waffles, etc. for breakfast. I make all of the baby food from scrach, puree, and freeze. I make all the cereal for the babies from scrach also.

It does take a lot of work to make everything from scratch BUT I make a very nice profit off of the food program which allows me to buy food for my family. I don't make any tradiitional kiddy foods like mac-n-cheese, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, french fries, canned spaghetti's etc. I have the kids from the time they are newborns on so they are used to only home made foods.

Nan
Reply