I've already come to a lesson in all of this and I think my husband has too. We did have to add cereal into our expenses today and one fruit leather (for our son's breakfast and lunch) but since I haven't used all my money I figure it should even out. I really feel that it is tough not to use what is in stock - of course not everyone has what I have in my cupboards, but I would imagine that most housed individuals have something in their cupboards from day to day/ week to week - even if minimal. I am keenly aware of the lack of variety that I spoke of yesterday. And what a shame for those children who aren't able to experience a variety of foods... and in our education to the public we talk about, not only the experience of variety, but of allowing control to children through choices. It is difficult to provide choices if there aren't many choices to provide. I know that my approach will be a bit more thoughtful and consciencous when educating families on these matters. And how easy it is to give recipes saying "just try it" when a person doesn't have the time to try it or the know how to read and understand a recipe. It isn't as easy for everyone to read a recipe as those of us who can - think it should be. I do feel that if you can learn some of those basic cooking skills it would assist in making a larger variety of healthy choices on a minimal income - bread making for instance isn't something many people do (and I admit, I use a bread machine) but the ingredients don't cost much in bulk and they last for quite a while... bread is expensive otherwise. I was fortunate to have lunch provided to me today at a presentation I did - I found that I didn't use my mayo packets for my sandwich and will bring them home and make chicken salad for tomorrow's lunch (as mayo was my only missing ingredient and it isn't in my weekly budget) - my mother-in-law would be proud (as she is a saver and a user of anything)!