Feed a family of 2 for a week (or more)

... or you could feed a family of 7 for a day or two, I suppose. I am speaking of the jambalaya I made for dinner last night -- and which will be served for lunch the rest of the week and should last for dinner through the end of the week if we supplement with bread and salad.

I don't like sausage, so this was chicken and shrimp jambalaya. The shrimp was on sale, and that was the only ingredient besides onions that I did not already have on hand this week. Therefore, I only had to spend $5 on lunch and dinner -- a net of about $0.50 per meal. Not bad! Our food budget per week is $50 (I know, this is a lot for a family of 2... but I'm kind of new to this whole grocery shopping thing), so this left me free to buy some other foods which we enjoy but do not usually get to eat. For example, one of JM's favorite fruits is pineapple, but in the wintertime it is difficult to come by at a good price. I can stock up on foods that are on sale this week, like the chuck roast that is on sale. Which means next week we can have my grandmother's wonderful roast beef. Mmmm.... I also used some of the extra money to buy medicine "just in case," which we haven't been able to get thus far. There's something to be said for using the extra money for things you don't need now but might not be able to afford later.

Two notes on the jambalaya recipe. The rice takes longer than the 35 minutes the recipe calls for. Or perhaps this was because we used brown rice instead of white. In any event, when the recipe said that the food should be done, the rice was still crunchy. Fifteen minutes later, it seemed to have softened sufficiently. Also, use a big stock pot. I used my 16 qt pot, and it was filled just at the halfway point. The last time I attempted to make the recipe, I used our 6 qt stockpot and almost panicked halfway through when I had to rush around for another pot to be able to finish the meal. Don't let that happen to you!