Breakfast

I hate mornings.
I hate everything about mornings including food.
I get hungry at 10:30am.
I married a morning person.
I have a morning person work schedule.
Quite a conundrum.

I spent the first couple decades of my life skipping breakfast and the next couple trying to figure out some kind of fuel source that doesn't make me hurl.

I'm not a fan of eggs.  Traditional breakfast options are too greasy or too sweet.  Oh and while I'm being whiny, I should point out that when hubby retired and was home when I was getting ready for work, it made me late and forgetting lunch...simply because he made the mistake of "talking to me".

 My solution is breakfast burritos.  Frozen in batches.  A month's worth left at work to re-heat.

I buy a 1.5 pound package of spicy, Italian bulk sausage and the same amount of ground pork or turkey (whichever is cheaper).  I bake that on a rimmed 1/2 bun pan at 450 for about 20 minutes. After it cools, I break it into smaller pieces with my fingers and add 2 packages (2 pounds total) of frozen vegetables (any combo you like). Normally I add onions and mushrooms for filler and flavor, but I skipped them because of the new veg mixes.  Saved time. :)

I also roast about 5-6 small potatoes, diced, using the same pan I cooked the sausage, using a small amount of the left over fat from the meat.  That also takes about 20 minutes and can be done at the same time as the meat with a small amount of olive oil.

I heat the tortillas 5 at a time in the microwave for 30 seconds to make them soft.  Then I add about 2/3 c of the filling to each.

No 2 batches of my breakfast burritos are ever the same.  This combo makes 20 burritos, about 470 calories and 45 carbs each.  They cost $1.25 each and re-heat in the microwave in 2 minutes.

Healthy on a Budget Challenge

One of my greatest frustrations as a dietitian is when people tell that they can't eat healthy because "it costs too much."  Hogwash.  My daughter K has agreed to help me prove my point.  She is in her first apartment and now realizes that her lack of interest in mom's effort to teach her to cook has left her with a repertoire of 3 dishes.

I designed a 2 week menu for 1-2 people.  In many cases, it reflects the preferences of the menu tester more than the nutrition goals of her mother.  It does require several hours of cooking on the day that you shop, but then the rest of the time it's mostly  assembly and reheating.  They can be eaten in any order desired.  However, anything not to be eaten within the first 3 days should get moved to the freezer.

Breakfasts: 
Toast
Bagels
Oatmeal with Spiced Apples*
Egg Sandwich*
Eggs Benedict*

Lunches (most need to be cold/non-reheat for work)
Ranch Chicken Wrap*
Chicken Sandwich, carrot sticks
BBQ Chicken Sandwich  with lettuce & carrot slaw *
Chicken Pasta Salad *

Suppers: 
Baked Chicken, Baked Potato, Green Beans *
Clam Chowder, Toast or Biscuits *
Chicken Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons *
White Chicken Chili, Toast *
Chicken Noodle Soup *
Bean & Rice Burritos *
Chicken Quesadilla *
Chicken a la King *
Chicken Rice Bowl *

*Recipes and Posts to follow

I assumed (and was mostly correct) that she had NOTHING to start with.  My first buy was about $110 which included $23 of staples and storage, $25 of foods of basics that would be covered by WIC vouchers for those who would qualify and the remaining being $48 Nutrition Bargain Foods, $8 special ingredients and $7 bakery outlet bread.

Our first round of cooking included:
roasted chicken
baked potatoes
clam chowder
pre-prep of cheese, ham, caramelized onions, cinnamon sugar, pumpkin  pie spice sugar
ranch flavored croutons

and once the chicken cools down: homemade chicken stock

Stay tuned for more.