CWJ Food Bank Challenge: Day 2

If you you're just joining the conversation, you can read all about the challenge HERE.  Well today wasn't exactly sunshine and roses to say the least.  It was a busy day for me so I really didn't feel like spending much time in the kitchen.  I had a few pre-frozen meals that I made yesterday but I didn't want to eat them so soon.  Luckily we had some canned beans and leftover rice (from the rice cereal) on hand, so Marc threw that together and had a quick lunch on the go.  We were both feeling hungry again before dinner rolled around, and as a result we ended up eating 2+ servings of dinner each.  We still managed to keep within budget, however it didn't come without a bit of a challenge.  I definitely wouldn't eat just beans and rice on a regular basis - it would have been nice paired with a tortilla, or even some toast - we'll be making bread tomorrow, but as for today… we had to do without.  Here are the results of Day 2: 

Breakfast (10 am): Total Cost: $1.90 Rice Cereal w/ a Banana
Ingredients - 1 cup rice - 1 cup milk - 2 tsp brown sugar - 1 banana Directions Place rice, milk, and brown sugar in a blender (it's usually easier to make this in larger quantities unless you have an immersion blender, or a smoothie blender).  Heat in saucepan over medium heat (or in microwave) until just warm.  Top with fresh fruit.  Lunch (1:45 pm): Total Cost: $1.52
Maple Beans and Rice - 1/2 cup rice - 1/2 can maple beans

Dinner (5:30 pm): Total Cost: $3.98
Chicken Noodle Soup 
Ingredients - 1/4 roasted chicken + chicken frame (leftovers from Day 1) - 2 carrots - 1 onion - 3 cloves garlic - 1 tsp basil - pinch of salt  - 1/2 recipe for Homemade Pasta
Directions I made the chicken stock using this method.  I threw everything into the slow cooker last night after I made the roast chicken, but you can always freeze a chicken or turkey frame for future use.  Add chopped chicken to the broth and bring to a simmer.  Add chopped carrots, onions, garlic, basil, and salt.   Meanwhile make Homemade Pasta, rolling out with a rolling pin vs a pasta machine (which I did for this exercise).  Add 1/2 the recipe to the boiling soup, cooking for 1-2 minutes or until pasta is floating.  Refrigerate the other 1/2 of recipe for another use.  You can either use this within 24 hours, or freeze it and use within a month.  Total time spent preparing food today:  1 hour  (I also prepped and froze chicken fried rice and rice cereal for another day, as well as part of tomorrow's meals, which is why my total time in the kitchen was longer today - it will save me time in the future, however). Total Daily Meal Cost: $3.70/person ($7.40 total)
Under Budget: $0.30/person ($0.60 total)
Enjoy!