My boys have regular check-ups and are declared healthy by the doctor. We rarely have any illness here beyond a common cold. I have to fill a prescription generally once or twice a year, and not for the same person. My grocery budget was $120/week, including hygiene, paper goods, cleaning supplies, and stamps. I will admit it is closing in on $150 because the prices at the stores just keep climbing. I also admit that I could easily bring it back down if I didn’t buy so many extras. We have a movie night every Saturday night at home, and I like to have special snacks for the kids. Some weeks are better snacks than others, lol. I am going to go through your site and see what kinds of recipes you have for more vegetables and beans/lentils/rice.

Whenever the argument is brought up that the way I raise my children is inadequate because the rest of the country doesn’t do it that way, I am secretly glad. I don’t think the rest of the country is doing it right, or even well. Has anyone noticed the economy lately? We over-consume. If you have a decent house that is warm and doesn’t leak when it rains, if you have food for every meal, if you have health care available when you need it, then you are ahead of the game. WHY would we *need* more than that? Stuff just brings you down, and credit buries you. That is a major message I am hoping to impart to my children at home; and one I believe is just the opposite of what they learn at school.

You sound like a great mom, milehimamma, and I am happy to hear about your soon-to-be baby, congratulations! If I am lucky, maybe I will be blessed with a #8 too.

By the way, we have hot dogs for dinner about every 2 weeks, and eat about 2 packs at that meal. That is 2 packs of 8 hot dogs. How in the world can 4 packs of 8 hot dogs make 4 meals for a family of 9??? And we eat the chicken hot dogs, though ingredient-wise I’m sure the additives are not much better.

I heard about an awesome project (in CA I think?) that master gardeners are teamed up with FS recipients/welfare recipients to plant a vegetable garden together, in their little yard or on their stoop or in containers. Awesome!
I’ll have to try to find the link.

A few days and a few dozen comments ago, Susan/Karen-woman mentioned (and I paraphrase-you can scroll up) that certain areas of the world have the U.S government and other agencies donate food to them. Well, families on food stamps receive what the U.S. government deems “adequate” for its own citizens. Imagine what living on food stamps is like- there is no room for going over-budget, and families are often limited to what food they are allowed to purchase. For instance, organic food isn’t typically covered, nor do most “health grocers” accept them.
In addition, families on food stamps typically don’t have access to the internet in their home and often are limited to public transportation. Not all grocery store are on the routes, complicating shopping trips further.
I shop at three different stores for my three children, who happen to eat hot dogs once a week, and I find it exhausting trying to stay on budget, driving around town for the best deals. I commend MHM for all the thought she puts into her menu planning, and in addition, puts it out there so others can get ideas, recipes and inspiration from her work.
Bless you, MHM!

Oh and I agree with Tom-I’m not a big fan of lentils myself, but I love beans and Quinoa!

I think it DOES have to do with insurance guidelines. I’ll ask my doc when I go in tomorrow.

This is the same workplace where I was judged a hypocrite for eating French fries—because I had once made a comment that sugary soda “will kill you.” It’s an offhand remark I often make: “That stuff’ll kill you.” And I believe that it will, if you drink too much of it. My coworkers assumed I was therefore a hardcore health food nut, and since I ate French fries (that one of them GAVE me!), I was a horrible hypocrite. (If only they knew I have also been known to eat DONUTS!)

It was actually a pretty dysfunctional workplace in every imaginable way. Still, it was eye-opening about how people not only view food, but how they view other people’s relationships with food. We often assume others are extremists, when really some of us (like MHM and me) just understand the value of moderation in all things.

Love Tom

Does that fall under the proper amount of animal protein?

BTW I have 5 children with one newly on the way and we eat for between $400-500 per month (Aussie dollars). We eat better most of the time than many people I know who spend much more. So whats-her-name can *bite me*.

Seriously, Mitzi, if you’re going to do parody, do it right fer crying out loud.