Day 06

BREAKFAST - Crispy Oatmeal Cakes with Eggs & Spinach
Left over Oatmeal - $0.15
2 Eggs - $0.36
3oz Spinach - $0.27
TOTAL: $0.78

Andrea and I rarely throw away food, If there are left overs in the fridge... they gotta be eaten.  One way to keep it interesting is to try and come up with a new way to eat what you find.  That's how I found myself eating crispy oatmeal this morning.
When I was digging in the fridge, left over steal cut oats were crying out to me.  I could have sworn I heard "savory pancake" emanate from their container, or maybe I was still thinking of those potato cakes we made earlier in the week.  Whatever the case, eggs over easy, sauteed spinach, & crispy oatmeal hit the spot!




LUNCH - PB&J the next Day
Whole Grain Bread - $0.32
2 TBS Organic PB - $0.32
Jelly - $0.10
Banana - $0.14
Corn Chips - $.10
Water from home - FREE
TOTAL: $0.98

When you're on the go, gourmet salads are awesome!  On the go with a kid, a PB&J is the "GOLD" standard even two days in a row.
Hudson and I needed a little one on one time.  Our favorite place to be "men" is fishing on Lake Balboa in an inflatable kayak.  I know it's funny to rock the inflatable, but it feels like a floating lazy boy recliner.
Lake Balboa is L.A.'s secret get away.  80 acres of smooth glassy water inhabited by a myriad of exotic water fowl I can't identify... and it was 80F+...not a cloud in the sky.








DINNER - Pulled Pork Sandwich & a Mango Red Onion Spinach Salad
Bread - $1.47 (for four) - $0.37 each
Pork portion - $0.61
Spinach - $0.10
Mango - $0.05
Corn - $0.05
Spinach - $0.10
TOTAL: $1.28

The local warehouse store was pedaling pork shoulder for a buck twenty-nine a pound, so I snapped one up.  After slow cooking it in a crock pot for eight hours the meat was falling off the bone and dripping with juice.  Andrea added some BBQ sauce, pulled the meat, toasted the bread, and tossed the spinach.  Mmmmm... this meal put the "Southern" in Southern California.

So while we were making tonight's dinner, I kept sayin' to Willie, "I don't know if were gonna make it on this one."  You see, a lot of the weight on the meat we cooked up was the skin, fat and the bones.  However, then I remembered a conversation I had with our friend Aarti (yes, as in the Aarti from Aarti Party on the Food Network ... how was that for a little plug?)  Anyway, she was saying she has some friends that use meat more as a "side" portion then an entree portion.  By doing it this way, we not only get our meat cravings settled, but we save money too.   
With all that said, I am hoping to create about 20 "portions" of meat from the pork shoulder.  That would be $0.61/serving.  So although we went over a little on din din, and 4 cents over for the day, we are still $3.87 under for the week!!  

BREAKFAST $0.78

LUNCH $0.98

DINNER $1.28

6th day total: $3.04