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Maureen
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Do any of you end up having to ration snack food or lunch items? In my family, it seems that if I try to save money and buy in bulk, the kids will just eat more of the item. 
I bought a large package of lunch meat which I planned to divide and freeze. They ate it all in less than a week. (It should have lasted at least a couple of weeks.) The same happened with a big block of cheese and a very large bag of cereal. Bag of apples, gone. Large bunch of bananas, gone. Box of ers, gone.
By the end of the month our cupboard is bare and I'm out of money.  Any suggestions?
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MacBeth
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Yes. I put cookies into small baggies by the pair, otherwise someone will eat the whole box. 
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Bridget
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Oh, yes! We are on a really tight budget. I carefully plan meals to fill us up and get the most nutrition for the money that I can. if they snack they miss being filled up with the substantial food at meals.
I leave out a fruit basket that they can help themselves to for snacking. They may not have anything else without asking. We only allow one glass of milk with each meal or the little kids would fill up on that and not eat enough of their meal.
We try for a hearty breakfast so they can make it till lunch without needing second breakfast. lunch might be leftovers or fresh homemade bread and cheese. That keeps them till late afternoon. For that snack I bake hearty muffins often. Cheap and filling. Then they can live till our, sometimes late, dinner.
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Bridget, happily married to Kevin, mom to 8 on earth and a small army in heaven
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momwise
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Maureen wrote:
| Do any of you end up having to ration snack food or lunch items? |
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I'm afraid so. Apples and bananas are available for every snack. Cereal is only one bowl at breakfast (although I rarely buy cereal; when I do you'd think I'd bought a box of cookies  ), lunchmeat and cheese is only for lunch sandwiches, etc. I do try to have something with protein available between lunch and dinner so that just has to be in the food budget. There are quite a few items I'd buy to have occasionally but I know they wouldn't last more than a day so I don't ever buy them. It's probably more healthy for us that way anyway  .
Do you want to know where to hide stuff for guests or dh where the kids will *never* find it? Save a frozen vegetable bag and fill it with your goodies then pop it in the freezer! If we have cookies and I want to save the rest for dh's lunches this is what I do 
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MaryM
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momwise wrote:
| Save a frozen vegetable bag and fill it with your goodies then pop it in the freezer! If we have cookies and I want to save the rest for dh's lunches this is what I do |
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That's too funny! I've got to remember that one.
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jdostalik
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Bridget wrote:
We try for a hearty breakfast so they can make it till lunch without needing second breakfast. lunch might be leftovers or fresh homemade bread and cheese. That keeps them till late afternoon. For that snack I bake hearty muffins often. Cheap and filling. Then they can live till our, sometimes late, dinner. |
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Bridget,
Do you have some good muffin recipes you'd be willing to share? I do pumpkin muffins and poppyseed poundcake muffins (I try to sneak in healthy flours, too, like spelt or whole wheat pastry flour) and my kids love them but I'd love to branch out a bit with some different ones that I know are tried and true by other veteran moms!
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Bridget
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Muffins are very forgiving so I'm not always a good recipe follower. I make a lot of pumpkin and banana muffins. I grind my own wheat, so often I will throw in a handful of rice and dried beans to boost the protein content. They grind in with the wheat well. My family is used to a hearty texture but if someone else will be eating them I use half unbleached white flour.
Here is our latest favorite recipe. I make several batches of these and freeze a bunch individually for my dh to grab for quick breakfasts. My children love them.
Date Nut Muffins (makes 2 dozen)
4 cups flour (I have used all kinds but normally I use 2 c. whole wheat and 2 cup oatmeal flour. Just grind regular oats in the blender.)
1 cup brown sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
4 TBS. butter, melted
2 cups milk
4 tea bags (any flavor)
2 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cup chopped dates and nuts
Heat milk and steep tea bags and set aside.
Combine remaining dry ingredients and set aside.
Remove tea bags from milk.
Stir butter, eggs and vanilla into the milk mixture.
Combine wet and dry ingredients until just blended.
Fold in dates and nuts.
Bake at 350°
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Bridget, happily married to Kevin, mom to 8 on earth and a small army in heaven
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jdostalik
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Bridget,
Thanks for the great recipe! I don't mill my own grain but I do have a s-i-l who will mill for me, so I usually have freshly milled flours in my freezer! 
How long do the muffins bake? 20 minutes or so? I'll try them tomorrow!
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Bridget
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Probably about 20 minutes. Sorry, the recipe has changed from it's original and I usually check my baking when it smells done. Not a very precise cook.
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Becky Parker
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This is a good thread for me. I have been really trying to bring down our grocery bill. One thing I want to start doing is to buy things in bulk, but I had the same concern as Maureen which is if there is more available, they will eat more. I have a friend with six children. When they were all younger she would hide extra boxes of cereal under her bed and anything that was an extra treat in her underwear drawer...obviously wouldn't work for ice cream, but I think I'm going to have to get creative about hiding things away.
Becky
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Rachel May
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Instead of 3 big meals we do 3 smaller meals with 2 snacks (but my kids are still small) at set times (7, 10, 12, 4, 6). Can you tell we're military? Fruit is available all the time (but all food must be asked for and eaten at table), and only 1 banana allowed per day since one of my sons seems intent on growing a tail.
What I have found is that if I send my husband to the grocery store, we do much better. He is not an impulse buyer and rarely gives in to the requests of the little ones he takes along. Today, I volunteered to do the shopping so he could get a break and take the big kids iceskating. I spent almost 2 weeks' worth of money on 1 week's worth of groceries! I don't think I'll be allowed to go again.  It makes the money go farther and we always have just enough.
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esperanza
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Muffins! Oh you have inspired me. I miss baking and grinding flour. My 3rd dc used to sleep late and I treasured my morning baking and scripture reading time with a cup of coffee. My little ones love bread. I used to grind beans into my mix, too. (when I remembered to wash and dry them) I have a cookbook..Country Beans that has some good recipes. Although, I haven't had it out for awhile. I think I need to get a new machine...I let my dh grind cloves in mine ..I don't know how to tell if the oil from the cloves caused any damage years ago.
Bridget,
What are the tea bags for...more flavor? I have never heard of this. It sounds good.
Rationing!...dinnertime is our careful ration time. With dh late or son-in-law and my teen working sometimes at night, we have good math skills.
My dd and husband recently moved in and he thought it strange until living here how we ration food. He has one brother.
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Karen T
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Over the last year as my oldest ds (12) has been growing like a weed, he's been eating everything I'd buy or make for snacks, desserts, etc. We have a large freezer that has a lock, so I dug out the key and we began locking up things like ice cream, etc. (I personally don't eat ice cream and would never buy it, but dh buys it and eats it almost every day) The problem still remained with the unfreezables, but recently we had new cabinets put in our kitchen and while they were building the new pantries, I asked for locks on the top cabinets. This has been wonderful. Now all sweets, crackers, etc. go in there, to be handed out at certain times only. There is always fruit available in a basket, and they can also have small amounts of cheese for a snack if they want, but with ds12 it was always the sweets. Then he wouldn't be that hungry at dinner, but later on sneak something else.
The other thing is that having the stuff locked up means *I* haven't been getting into it as much either. It's more trouble to go get the key (we've hidden it of course), unlock it, get the item, and relock the cabinet etc. If I do bother, I end up getting one piece of something, not reaching in repeatedly while I'm cooking or cleaning the kitchen, or just passing through. So it's been good for me, too. The kids actually asked us to lock up their Halloween candy, so that the others wouldn't get into *their* candy (although all three were very generous about sharing and trading with one another) and ds12 admitted he was happy it was put up so that he wouldn't eat it all too quickly.
I have mixed feelings about doing all this since I think in some cases it can lead to feelings of deprivation, and then the kid goes overboard when they're in situations where the treats are unlimited. So I try to be fairly generous about portions, and just limit *when* they can access these items. We have a snack time in the morning and afternoon.
It's certainly helped us be able to buy things one day and have them last through the week as planned, and that they are available to all the kids, not just the one who can reach the cabinets. Before, it wasn't fair to the 4 and 5 yos.
Karen T
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Rachel May
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Karen T wrote:
| I have mixed feelings about doing all this since I think in some cases it can lead to feelings of deprivation, and then the kid goes overboard when they're in situations where the treats are unlimited. So I try to be fairly generous about portions, and just limit *when* they can access these items. We have a snack time in the morning and afternoon. |
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I worry about backlash against limits also. We currently have a rule that we celebrate Sundays with "junk" food--doughnuts or waffles for lunch or we bake a cake for after dinner, but we do make exceptions for special events like parties. Somedays I wonder if when they get to college they are going to live on all the junk that I wouldn't give them as kids. But the other day at Mass, Sister gave each kid on huge chocolate bar. I broke 2 bars into pieces to pass out in the car and figured when we got home I would let the have the rest. No one asked for any more, and I threw it all away!
I like the key idea. We have childproof locks with a magnet key which keeps all the kids out since they are all to little to reach the key, and it does also keep me from grazing through the cabinets.
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Tina P.
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momwise wrote:
Maureen wrote:
| Do any of you end up having to ration snack food or lunch items? |
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I'm afraid so. Apples and bananas are available for every snack. |
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How do you ever have enough apples and bananas for this purpose? I am constantly running out of fruit. I was very proud of myself the other day. I bought around 14 pounds of bananas that were starting to brown. The cost: $1.00 for all 14 pounds. We ate probably a good 2/3 of them just plain. I made about six banana breads and gave two away. We ate the rest for breakfasts and snacks. I used up every single one of them. Bananas go so fast in our house that when I needed them very badly when I was pregnant (to help quell the cramps in my calves), I couldn't get any! Apples are quick to follow the bananas down the consumption trail.
momwise wrote:
| Cereal is only one bowl at breakfast lunchmeat and cheese is only for lunch sandwiches, etc. I do try to have something with protein available between lunch and dinner so that just has to be in the food budget. There are quite a few items I'd buy to have occasionally but I know they wouldn't last more than a day so I don't ever buy them. It's probably more healthy for us that way anyway . |
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My oldest has trouble with one bowl of cereal at breakfast. He would like to wolf down the entire box, if it's something he likes. A great protein-rich between-meal snack is ants on a log (raisins and peanut butter on a celery stick).
I have trouble keeping lunch meats from spoiling, since my kids only like one meal in a very great while that includes lunchmeats. Seems like when I was growing up, that's *all* we had for lunch.
momwise wrote:
| Do you want to know where to hide stuff for guests or dh where the kids will *never* find it? Save a frozen vegetable bag and fill it with your goodies then pop it in the freezer! If we have cookies and I want to save the rest for dh's lunches this is what I do |
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Wise advise! I'll keep that in mind!
I'm a little concerned because I have four boys. A lady who has one boy at home told me what her weekly bill is...it's more than mine with seven kids! She said it is especially expensive when her boy is involved in sports.
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Mary G
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Bridget wrote:
| We try for a hearty breakfast so they can make it till lunch without needing second breakfast. lunch might be leftovers or fresh homemade bread and cheese. That keeps them till late afternoon. For that snack I bake hearty muffins often. Cheap and filling. Then they can live till our, sometimes late, dinner. |
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Bridget -- you mentioned that you try for a hearty breakfast -- can you give me some ideas? My kids basically eat cereal (hot or cold); and I'm just not "creative" in the breakfast area. If we can fill 'em up and not have to do a.m. snack, that would be great!
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Martha
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Yes, I guess I do. Although I've never thought of it as rationing. I just think it's healthy eating.
I make meals and at those meals they may eat until they want to leave the table. Sometimes they just don't like it and get down. That's okay. Starving children do not turn down food. Sometimes they eat it like they are starving and that's okay too.
We almost never snack and when we do it's on seasonal foods. I do not buy processed foods like chips and cookies. So right about now they are looking at freash carrots and potatos.
We have water to drink and that's pretty much it. No pop, kool-aid, etc... The still using sippy cups crowd gets milk, but the other kids only get milk with meals. Juice is a rare treat, usually means we have company. I'd rather just give them an orange.
I don't worry about them feeling "deprived". Oh please. Not snacking or eating their fill everytime they eat is no nore deprived than not going to school or living in a big house or having to share toys or get hand-me-down clothes, imo.
I think much of the reason we (as in american parents) think like this is because our culture is so oriented around food and we see skinny children as odd compared to being amoung so many obese children these days. Think about it, you gotta get the popcorn with the movie type mentality is everywhere it seems.
It may help to note that "eating" does not equal "nurished". Americans have a 80% malnurishment rate, even though severely obese.
We let them have the occassional treat and don't stint on holidays. This is enough I think.
Some of this is a very tight budget. Most of it is just needing to eat healthy and having had this habit for many years.
My dh has been jov. diabetic since age 6. Remember wayyy back then? There was no nutrasweet or "diet" foods or even carb listings on packages! Not to mention it really puts a damper on the kids appetite to have to take a shot everytime he eats. Now HE grew up feeling deprived! lol
I have always looked at food as a waste. All that work to get it bought and made and having nothing to show for it but dirty dishes?! lol
We both like to cook, but prefer a nice meal over a quick snack. And when you're used to a unprocessed diet, those quick foods taste kind of nasty. They always seem way too sugary and salty to us.
Anyhoo.. as usual I'm long winded. Just another perspective from my mommy trench to yours!
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Donna
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Mary G. wrote:
| you mentioned that you try for a hearty breakfast -- can you give me some ideas? |
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Mary,
My kids love cheesy egg fajitas. Just scramble the eggs with cheese, top with a little mustard, and wrap in a fajita. Today it held them for over 4 hours .
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momwise
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We do the scrambled eggs also. Sometimes I put them on biscuits or whole wheat rolls. Another filling breakfast is oatmeal with peanut butter stirred in after cooking and a little jelly on top. I love homemade granola and the bulk oats at Vitamin Cottage are only .50/lb. I try to use lots of oats!
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Mary G
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momwise wrote:
| We do the scrambled eggs also. Sometimes I put them on biscuits or whole wheat rolls. Another filling breakfast is oatmeal with peanut butter stirred in after cooking and a little jelly on top. I love homemade granola and the bulk oats at Vitamin Cottage are only .50/lb. I try to use lots of oats! |
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Gwen -- I never even thought of peanut butter in oatmeal -- I just might be able to fattten up my almost 6 yo dd on this. She's 39 lbs and as tall as her brother who's a year older but almost 15 pounds heavier. She exists on cereal for breakfast PBJ for dinner and spaghetti with no sauce but LOTS of parmesan cheese
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Topic: Rationing Food
