Day 2. Tonight I had a board meeting and I had to stick to our rule that if we consume it, it must come out of our budget. And, as much as I wanted to eat snacks with friends, I could not give up on my goal after just 2 days. I'll admit, it was difficult to watch others eat delicious food and drink wine knowing that I could not partake. But, it was also satisfying to know that I was sticking to the plan.
One of my goals for creating a food budget is to learn to better plan for meals. In the past, I know I've wasted money buying food that was never eaten: it either lingered in the fridge until it spoiled or it expired after years on a shelf. That's a waste of food and money. I'm definitely guilty of buying food for convenience; picking up already prepared food or heading to a restaurant because it's easier. I have cookbooks and access to the Internet, I should be able to cook food for my family that is nutritious, tasty and frugal. But, it's impossible to change a lifetime of bad habits overnight; this is definitely a work in progress.
Here's what we ate...
Breakfast
- S&K Oatmeal with brown sugar
- C&G Toast with margarine, 1 banana each, milk
$1.06
Lunch
- S&K, 1/2 of a large sandwich (aka The BOSS)
- C&G Cheese, Crackers, lunchmeat, and milk
$4.06
Dinner
-SKC&G Chili, cornbread muffins, corn, milk
$4.33
Dessert
-C&G 3 cookies each
-S&K Banana each
$0.65
Total for the day $10.10
We have about half of the chili that we made leftover and we'll recreate it tomorrow as chili-mac with pasta. I bought ground beef in bulk so I browned more and mixed it with pasta sauce for Sunday's dinner and shaped more beef into hamburger patties for Friday. I know that we're all going to love burgers with homemade sweet potato fries. I did more grocery shopping today for oranges, cereal, milk and more soup. I think we have enough food until the next coupon double day.
When the mail came today, I was excited to see the grocery store flier; I have already sat down and planned some of the meals for next week. FYI-Chicken legs are on sale, I'm going to stock up!!
Tomorrow: What we used to spend
Wait -- you want to save money on groceries, but you go to the store nearly every day. So how much are you using on gas? (No doubt in your Yukon, or Mecedes crossover.)
ReplyDeleteI forgot to tell you, Dave and I were cracking up this morning that you guys ate a BOSS! We call that "the wettest burger known to man."
ReplyDeleteI love bananas! I should try this. And I had that BOSS sandwhich once...it alone could feed a family of 4...for the whole day
ReplyDeleteKirk Wiskus
Very cool. You guys are doing great so far. Here is a question: Do you count the free food at Costco against the budget? I mean, it's free, right?!
ReplyDeleteI like Scott's question about samples. I don't think it should count. Eat away!
ReplyDeleteAccording to our rules, if we eat it, it comes out of our budget, so no FREE samples for us.
ReplyDelete:(
This is an amazing project and as someone who has been out of work for 9 months, but likes to cook from scratch, I'm hoping to pick up a few tidbits. I do have one bone (you should pardon the expression) to pick. I know these are the rules you set, but I really feel like free food should not come off your budget. We are not islands, we have a community of friends and neighbors and what binds us together is friendship and kinship and we need each other to get by. You might respond that on $11 a day you could not repay the favor of party food but you could repay (and you probably already do) in a different way: picking up a neighbor's newspaper and mail when they're away; looking after or ferrying someone else's kids along with yours; sharing a recipe; etc. The trade does not have to be tit for tat and it doesn't have to be paid back to the person, it can be paid forward. Sharing has to be part of the budget and taking a free sample at Costco (where you may in fact discover a product you like and might buy) being fed at a work-related function (for which they are getting your expertise, time and attention), accepting a cookout at a neighbor's house or encouraging potlucks I think should be allowable. Coupons, bargains stretch your dollars, which you are doing. Partaking in free food, samples or meals does the same thing. I am not suggesting you hang out at the Costco and eat 15 samples of every demo, or even become a freegan (which by the way is not a bad idea) but employing the same kind of thoughtfulness you are already using, you can make the $11 mean more. BTW, the cheapest lunch in the entire U.S. is the Costco hot dog and drink deal, $1.50 for a giant dog (which would feed 2 kids) and refillable drinks. Much good luck to you and family.
ReplyDelete