A Typical Day of Food

There is no doubt in my mind that we will be spending a fortune on food as Emily and the triplets get older, but I thought for sure I would have more time before that happened. Emily is 2 and a half now and the triplets are 14 months and already we are going through more food than I had ever imagined at this stage. I was always under the impression we would have until they were at least 10 years old before our grocery bills equaled our mortgage bills, clearly I was very mistaken.

My parents always made it very clear that we were not to waste food and whatever we had on our plate we had to eat. I can now understand exactly what they mean and I know I will be saying the exact same thing to Emily, Jackson, Olivia and Levi as they get older. Not only does the cost of food add up, but your time and effort put in to preparing and cooking everything adds up. After spending a couple of hours preparing dinner, the last thing I want is to see no one eat it and have it all go to waste.

If I am not making extra dinner for another day, I try to make close to the exact amounts that I know they will eat for dinner, to avoid wasted food. I have a pretty good idea of how much they can eat now, but there are days where they want more and days where they want less.

After talking about the three meals of the day I thought it would be fun to share all the food we go through in a typical day. After stopping to write it all down, I am shocked at how much we go through and I can only imagine what it will be like when they are a few years older.

So here it is!

Breakfast

I try to make a good breakfast for Emily and the triplets each morning with a variety of food to eat. Eggs are a big part of our breakfast and with so many ways to cook them or ways to use them, they make it easy to switch it up for everyone each day. From scrambled, to hard-boiled or used for pancakes or french toast, we eat eggs pretty much everyday.

This would be our breakfast for all 6 of us.

• 12 Eggs – 2 for Emily, 4 for the triplets to split, 3 each for Dan and I
• 1/2 bag of spinach chopped and mixed with eggs
• 5 Bananas – 1 for Emily, 2 for the triplets, 1 for Dan and I
• 6 yogurts – 1 for each of us
• 1 package of Strawberries
• 1 package of raspberries

Lunch

Lunch does vary depending on what we are doing, but I find making some kind of sandwich to be the easiest. I haven’t tried the triplets with a full sandwich yet, so they have a deconstructed one. I would give them the tuna separately and then break up the bread for them into little pieces.  I like to give them a little side of something too, which is usually some kind of fruit, or crackers.

If all of us were home this is one lunch we would have.

• 3 cans of tuna mixed with mayo – split between everyone
• 9 pieces of bread – Dan, Emily and I have a sandwich and the triplets have a piece each broken up
• 1/4 cup of blueberries for Emily and 1/2 cup for the triplets to split OR
• 1/2 a cucumber cut up for Emily and the triplets to eat, 1 whole one if Dan and I eat some too

Dinner

Dinner also varies and changes with what we buy for the week or what we feel like eating that day. Chicken is an easy dinner to go with, as it’s easy to prepare and cut up for the triplets and Emily loves it.

Here is an example of a dinner all of us enjoy! It is the typical meat, veggies and potato dinner.

• 5 Chicken Breasts – 1 for Emily, Dan and I and 2 for the triplets to split
• a mixed variation of vegetables, either frozen or fresh
  • frozen would be almost 1/2 a bag
  • fresh would be 1 head of broccoli, 2 zucchini and carrots
• some type of carb component – 2 cups of rice, 3 packages of sidekick noodles or potatoes
  • 3 large sweet potatoes, or 6 medium white potatoes

Snacks

I cannot forget about the snacks. Throughout the day Emily and the triplets have some snacks, sometimes to keep them occupied and sometimes to fill them up a little longer. Whenever I take them out, I always make sure to have some kind of snack for them to eat, that way if they get a little fussy before we make it home I have a way to keep them calm and buy myself a little more time.

There are so many snacks that they enjoy, which is good because I can always add them into a meal or switch up a part of their meal with one of the snacks as a side.

Here is a list of some of my go to snacks!

• Cheerios
• Puffs
• Crackers
• Fruit of any kind
• Mum Mums
• Homemade banana muffins
• Carrots for Emily
• Cheese

What we eat changes everyday and I try to mix it up a little bit for each meal so everyone has a variety of foods to eat each day. Some days it is hard when they decide to be picky, especially on those days I spend more time making a good meal and they want nothing to do with it. In the end I have to decide is it worth trying something new and having them not eat, or keep it simple and make the same thing, knowing they will eat it.

I find the best thing to do is keep a very big list of what I know everyone likes and what they will eat, then go out and buy as much as I can from that list to keep on hand all the time. If I have everything at home then I can easily grab what I need or if I need to quickly make something new then I have that option. By knowing what they like and what they will eat I will also save money by not spending it on things I know they wont eat. Hopefully I can continue this way, as I know it will be important when they are older and eating more!

 

What are some of your favorite meals to make that you know your kids will love?