How do I stretch 2- 8 oz yogurts and feed four kids?
When I realized that we were going through 4 gallons of milk and 4 boxes of cereal a week in our grocery budget, I knew that I had to put a stop to the cereal "bleed" in our house. My four children were eating a box of cereal every two days! It was out of control! When I did the math and realized that we were eating through $20.00 a week to feed four kids cereal, I knew that I could make healthier choices for our kids and save money at the same time.
Making a change from cereal to oatmeal was easy. My kids love oatmeal and I can serve it many different ways (check out my oatmeal cup recipe!), but we also needed other alternative breakfast options to not only save money, but to give my kids the variety they deserve.
I came up with yogurt. It is a healthy alternative that offers them more than a simple glass of milk. But yogurt can be expensive, and even at $0.39 a cup, I have four kids so those costs add up quickly. So now I stretch the yogurt. I have it on the menu once or twice a week, I serve it with 1/3 cup of homemade granola, a glass of milk, and a banana. They love the crunch of the granola and each child gets a half a yogurt instead of a whole. This allows me to offer it more than once a week and all of my kids get a healthy breakfast!
It may not seem like enough food, but once I put the yogurt and the granola together, I realized that it was the perfect serving size.
In addition to serving yogurt, I also make a double batch of pancakes on the weekend and reheat them on a busy morning, and occasionally I will make the kids a cheese omelet or scrambled eggs for breakfast as well. All of these alternatives help us to cut down our cereal purchases to just one box a week! We still go through 3 gallons of milk a week, but just shaving 1 gallon from the budget saves me almost $3.00 a week which I can then spend on more fresh produce.
Little changes can make a big difference when you are living on a budget!
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