I have been working on a a pantry cleanout for a while, which basically meant that I stopped buying food until most of the stuff in my pantry is gone.

I started buying pieces here and there, like cheese and bread, and eggs and milk, but if the meal didn’t include something from the overfilled pantry, it didn’t get cooked.

My pantry is looking much more like a pantry and less like an overfilled closet. I have spent less than $40 on groceries in the past 9 days, and I have realized that there is a food abundance in my life, which means I can permanently bring my grocery bill waaaaaaay down. What a blessing.

Soon, my spoiled, American, overeating (but still healthy) kids started complaining about not liking this meal or that meal.

How could you not like spaghetti which was your "favorite" just last week?

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At first I got annoyed, and tried the whole: “If you don’t like what we have, then you don’t have to eat.” Mentality.

Then I realized that my style of parenting doesn’t go well with those sentiments.

Fix your “problems” and find a solution is more my sentiment.

I got tired of not eating lentils because 1 or 2 of the kids didn’t like it. I got tired of the grump face when I made perfectly delicious spaghetti. I got tired of having to make more than one meal. Ok, I got tired of thinking of making more than one meal, cause I didn’t (lol).

So, peanut butter and jelly to the rescue. Or, for my boy who doesn’t like “nuts” butter and jelly to the rescue.

Now, if one of the kids does not like a meal, they are welcome to take 2 bites out of it. (A requirement of mine, cause, hey, how do you know a meal didn’t “grow” on you, if you don’t try it?) Then make themselves a peanut butter and jelly sandwich AND clean up after themselves.

I am a great cook, so I know they won’t be eating peanut butter and jelly every day.

Why peanut butter and jelly and not quesadillas, or bean tacos, or anything else that is perfectly good and easy to make?

Because I don’t want their imaginations to take off and have them start making their own meals. I cook healthy, delicious, fresh, and tasty. You aren’t replacing my cooking with maac and cheese boxes buddy. Plus peanut butter and jelly are always available, don’t eat into my meal plans inventory for the rest of the week, and there is an abundance of them in my home.

Plus it is a nighttime treat that I let them have often, so any other kid that does like my perfectly delicious dinner can know that all they have to do is wait until their bedtime snack, and then they can eat peanut butter and jelly too.

Two of the kids have opted for the jelly sandwiches one time each. My middle child who really didn't want spaghetti, and my noy, who was just excited to be allowed to make his own meal. He wanted a chance to make his own meal so bad that he eat the meal I made AND a sandwich.

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