How much do these tykes consume?

People used to tell me how expensive it was to feed kids. I must admit I would sometimes think, "Well, yeah. When they are older. But how much can three little people eat?"

 

Let me tell you! They can eat A LOT! I thought it would be interesting, now that the boys are starting to really eat and Abigail is no longer eating like a baby, to document what it takes to feed three children: ages 4, 3, and 1.

 

7:30am Typical Breakfast:

• 3 waffles
• 2 kashi cereal granola bars
• 3 bananas
• 1 bowl of cereal
• 2 cups of milk
• 1 cup diluted apple juice

10:00am Typical Snack:

• 2 bags fruit snacks
• 2 granola bars
• 2 graham crackers
• 2 apples



 

12:00pm Typical Lunch (pictured above -- the boys food is in the tupperware and Abigail's is cut up on the cutting mat):

• 3-4 cups melon
• 1 can pears -or- 3 whole pears
• 1 can peaches -or- 2 whole peaches
• 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup diluted apple juice

3:00pm Typical snack:

• one cup animal crackers
• three apples
• 2 cups grapes
• 1 can pears
• 2 cups milk
• 1 glass water

6:00pm Typical Dinner (pictured above -- Abigail's plate is not included as it was cut up on the cutting mat already).

• 6-8 baby carrots
• 12 chicken nuggets
• 1/2 bag sweet potato french fries
• 2 cups canned fruit -or- 3 cups apple sauce/mixed fruit
• 2 cups milk
• 1 water

This list, obviously, varries from day to day, but this is pretty typical of what my kids eat. This also does not include JB's food or my own food. This is just the kids. I also thought it interesting to estimate the time involved in preparing these meals. It takes approximately 30 minutes to prepare each meal, 30 minutes to consume it (everyone eats at a different rate), and 20 minutes to do all the cleaning up associated with the meal. That means that I am spending 1:20min per meal each day. This is a total of 4 hours each day just dealing with food! If you add in the snacks, I figure it is a little over 4 hours a day spent devoted to food.

And this isn't even my food.

So the answer is: these little munchkins eat quite a lot!