{my nephews love their aunts!}
Last week, my two nephews, ages 15 and 14, stayed with us for a week -- you know they were excited about hanging with the cool aunt, no offense seester. They might look thin, but the boys can eat!
While I usually cook about 2-3 times a week, the leftovers are enough to feed me and Micah for most of the work week, having still-growing boys around sure changes things.
On the first night, we ordered two large pizzas that fed us through Monday ($10 for a 16" 3-topping pizza at Niki's Pizza is the best deal around!). Micah will routinely go here on days when I'm out of town or there is nothing in the fridge.
On Monday morning, I got eight breakfast tacos from a nearby place for $11. For dinner, I made chicken tortilla soup with some leftover rotisserie chicken I had stowed away in the fridge.
On Tuesday, I made bo luc lac (shaking beef, my nephew calls it steak salad). I actually bought extra beef a few weeks earlier (on sale at Sam's Club!) and froze it knowing that my nephews were going to be visiting. Micah doesn't eat red meat so that beef dish was just for the kids. I also made sausage cheese biscuits so the kids would have something to grab from the fridge when they wanted a breakfast item or something to snack on during the day. Those lasted all week!
On Wednesday, Micah went grocery shopping with the kids and went CRAZY with a big generic bag of Fruity Pebbles - or Dino Pebbles as HEB calls it. We also got the usual staples: milk, oj, bananas. I didn't make anything that day.
On Thursday, I bought one pound of deli turkey meat and accoutrements to make sandwiches. The boys ate that for lunch and I pre-made a sandwich for Micah's dinner. I also bought a whole chicken and veggies to use on Friday. That grocery store trip cost around $43, but the goods will last through the weekend.
On a side note, did you know that a lot of H-E-B's don't carry alfalfa sprouts anymore? Due to the salmonella/listeria outbreak last year, H-E-B switched to sunflower sprouts! While the sunflower sprouts provide the crunch I like, they're still no alfalfa.
On Friday, I made baked chicken bites with honey mustard dip, rosemary mashed potatoes and a side salad. That lasted for lunch and dinner!
On Saturday, I made California egg sandwiches (and by CA, I mean with avocado and sunflower sprouts) before we went tubing later in the day. For dinner, we opted for dinner out and went to our favorite Greek restaurant, Santorini Cafe ($35). We even got froyo for a late night snack ($12)!
On their last morning with us, my nephew and I made pancakes. I also cooked up some home fries to go with the pancakes as well as a peaches and cream sauce to go on top of the pancakes.
After breakfast, we went to Sam's Club to refill the fridge with milk, oj, eggs and other pantry items ($40). When we got back, I whipped up some spinach and artichoke dip for us to snack on. Since free labor was sitting around the house for a few more hours, Micah got the kids to help him clean his 50-gallon fish tank that has been sitting in the dining room for months. In return, he got us all boba tea. lol.
So in total, we probably spent around $200 on food/snacks the whole week. We obviously went out a few more times (e.g. tacos, froyo) than we normally would, but that would only save $50 give or take. So yeah, I can see where the $3200/year number comes from. I'm glad I'm not having any kids, they're too expensive. But I do love having temporary kids every now and then! If I had them for a longer period of time, I would probably budget a bit better and plan menus ahead of time.
Other things to note:
- During the week, my neighbor actually gave me some banh bot loc which my nephews and I also ate!
- I also learned that my youngest nephew doesn't really like rice. How does that even happen? He's Asian! That can't be right.
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