We did it! We finished 31 days of limiting our food budget to $400. The final numbers are in and we spent $369.21 on groceries and entertainment, and consumed $343.34 worth of food. The leftover and uneaten food are a great base for next month where we will still maintain our $400 budget, but I likely won't blog every night.
This was a really enjoyable process, both doing it and writing about it. It was sometimes difficult to not have some of the conveniences that I'd once relied upon, and I do look forward to using some of the food items that have been "off limits" for the past 31 days. Most notably, coffee. I am not a huge coffee drinker, but I will definitely make brewing a pot of coffee the first order of the day tomorrow.
Over the past 31 days, I've spent a lot of time thinking about food. Not only what I can and can't have, but what my family wants to eat, and wishing I was braver to try more recipes. I read somewhere, that the average family has about 8 meals (I'm assuming dinners) that they eat again and again. My family definitely cycles through the same few meals. Because I've been learning about meal planning, that makes sense, if my family has 8-10 meals that we like and eat on a regular basis, I should learn to stock up on those meal components when they are on sale rather than buying all ingredients anew every time we're preparing each meal. Of course, this takes a lot of planning, and organization and time, and all of these are commodities that are in short supply for many families. I can't think of a single family that I know that isn't busy with work, activities, and responsibilities who doesn't wish for more hours in the day. I'm not a sociologist or food historian, but I'm sure that many of the convenience foods that grocery stores stock are in direct response to the busy lifestyles that we all lead.
The first week or January, I really had no idea what I was doing. Meals were slapdash, meal planning was non-existent and as a result, we were hungry. The second week, I realized that I had no clue and started to look for solutions. Week 3, I found people who were successfully creating delicious meals for their families and I started to learn about meal planning. And week 4, I feel like I know how I want to live and feed my family and I think I'll eventually get there. This is a process, and it's going to take me a while to become completely efficient. But, I think I'll also be able to relax and not make my family's food consumption my main focus.
Over the last 31 days, I learned the real cost of food and discovered my family's eating habits, but the biggest thing I've come to appreciate is the luxury of time. Food was the central focus of my life, and I spent countless hours preparing, cooking, and enjoying food with my family. Had I not committed myself to creating a less expensive lifestyle, I would never have cooked as many meals as I did. I know that some of the meals weren't culinarally taxing (oatmeal, I'm talking about you!), but still, I didn't just blink and the food appeared. It still took time. Why is it that I used to reserve homemade food for holidays or special occasions? It shouldn't have to be a special occasion to feed my family something extraordinary. Every meal that we eat together is a treat upon itself and I need to commit myself to taking small steps to maintain that feeling of gratitude whenever we're together. I've always dressed our kitchen table with an inexpensive white tablecloth; it's my small way to show my family how much I value our time together. I am as excited to eat with my screaming 18 month-old as I am with any guest who graces my table. But I need to put the same care into what goes
onto the table, not just the table itself.
True, as our lives get even more and more busy, it will become harder and harder to maintain a food budget. But, as I become more adept at planning and purchasing, I'm sure I'll learn to adapt as my family's needs and tastes change. I doubt I'll ever have another month where I eat every single meal with at least member of my family. But I'm so grateful for this month and to those people who took the time to read about our adventure, send me e-mails, suggestions, and recipes, post comments, or just took a few minutes to think about us.
Over a month ago, I wrote this: "Our family of 4 is attempting to limit our food budget to a meager $400 for a month. After we subtract money for tasks we are requiring ourselves to perform, we will have to feed our family on less than $11 per day. How will we survive and what will we eat?"
The answer is simple, We will survive and be a stronger family than we've ever been, and we will eat better than we ever have.
Here's what we ate today:
Breakfast
- S Cereal and Milk
- KC&G Oatmeal with Brown Sugar
- C&G Milk
Total $0.58
Snack
- G Milk
Total $0.06
Lunch
- SKC&G Homemade Bread and Homemade Soup (Homemade chicken stock, celery, carrots, green onion, leftover pasta)
- S Apple and Peanuts
- C&G Milk
Total $2.65
Dinner
- SKC&G Chicken Enchiladas (tortillas, chicken thighs, tomato sauce, enchilada mix, shredded cheese, tomato, sour cream, scallions)
- C&G Milk, Banana, Mandarin Oranges, and Crackers
- S&K Tea
Total $4.55
Dessert
- SKC&G Brownies and Snow Ice Cream, (you read that right, Snow Ice Cream!!! Try it, Recipe under the Recipe's post)
* charged self $0.50 Spice fee for the use of Vanilla
Total $1.40
Total Spend $9.24
Tomorrow, What's left in our pantry, and the rest of our lives
