$30 dinner -- yowza

Last night after dinner, Erich and I were talking about my new blog and how we're eating well, but this week is going to definitely be tight.  I don't remember exactly what we were talking about when Tim (15yo) said, "What costs $30?"  He had mis-heard what we were talking about, but I then asked the question, "Wow.  What would it look like if I spent $30 a dinner?"

For starters, $30 a dinner would still be far from steak and lobster if you're feeding eight.  I think for us the big difference would be meals that were less "one-dish meals" and more "course meals" with separate meat, potatoes/noodles/rice, veg, salad, dessert, etc.  I'm sure there's some fancy chef term for what I'm saying, but it hasn't reached us yet here in the mobile home park.  (If you know what it's called when you have the opposite of a one-dish meal, tell me in the comments.)  As it is right now, I think each of us might have gotten about 1½ oz of meat last night.  I would love to have a meal where I put a large pork loin or a full chicken breast on each plate.

But, right now, that's just not feasible.  $30 per dinner, while it would definitely lower our lunch costs due to leftovers, would mean we'd be spending $210 per week on groceries that would just cover evening meals.  That is more than I have now for our entire grocery budget, which includes other meals, toiletries, paper products and pet food.

Don't get me wrong... we are extremely blessed.  Just for some "re-centering," check out this slideshow from Time Magazine:  What the World Eats.  Seeing a family of six from Chad who spends $1.23 a WEEK on food makes our table seem like a banquet.

Thankful....