Weekly Grocery Challenge week 1

(He has nothing to do with this post other than being cute)

How is the grocery challenge going? (the $40 a week one)

In a short sentence?

Like CRAP. 

I have never paid much attention to our grocery bill or how much we spend on what. I guess it never really mattered. 

Then I lost my job. 

One income down. 

Then we had a baby. 

Extra expenses.

Then another job was lost. (how do you like that bomb I just dropped on you...and it happened at the beginning of December)

Two incomes down. 

And all of this meant paying more attention which is why I challenged myself to have a $40 weekly budget for food and groceries. 

We lucked out and already had things like frozen chicken, frozen steaks, frozen ground beef, frozen green beans, wild rice, jam, almond butter, 4 cans of tuna (yes I counted), chicken stock, almonds, flour, sugar, some canned soup, protein powder, flaxseed oil, and some other things I can remember right now like beans and tortillas. 

I make this list because you might laugh when you see what I spent $37.78 leaving $2.62 left over until next Saturday. Groceries are expensive. I have been buying them for a long time and just now came to this realization. 

I am still off dairy which complicates things because non-dairy stuff is, lets face it, more expensive. 

Costco

• 3 lbs of bananas = $1.39
• 6 avacados = $5.99
• 2 packs of Daves killer bread = $6.99
• Mushrooms = $3.99
• 36 Eggs = $9.38 (this leaves us 6 eggs short for the week and I can't stomach not eating organic free range eggs, this is my splurge. I think we need to get our own chickens)

Fred Meyer

• 2 half gallon Almond milk = $3.98 on special
• 1 half gallon skim milk (organic because that's how I roll)=$2.50 on special
• Organic green onions = $3.16

See why I laugh? That is rediculous. That is like no food and it is supposed to last for a week. I do get screwed on having to buy almond milk and not being able to eat most bread because they contain dairy but really? This is just flat crazy. Oh and the avocado is necessary because it boosts breastmilk production. 

I am beginning to wonder how much I used to spend and my stomach is turning a little knowing it was a LOT. 

And did you notice the items that aren't even on there? No meat, no cheese, no drinks (other than milk and milk substitute), no broccoli, no spinach...

So tune in for updates as this challenge continues. 

40 dollar challenge

Can a family eat for $40 a week?

That is my challenge. 

Not just eat - but eat healthy. No freezer dinners or extreme couponers buying all the lean cuisine in the freezer at Fred Meyer. No - we are talking fresh food. 

I think the key to doing this is simplification of diet. If we eat many of the same things, I think we can do this. As such, no gourmet items. No experimental foods with lots of ingredients. 

The thing is, we have certain things already that make this challenge easier, but the challenge is to eat on $40 per week for - oh lets just say a month. 

The staple foods are as follows:

Eggs, eggs eggs

Almond milk

Spinach

Green Onion

Mushrooms

Broccoli

Green beans

Avocado

Bananas

Oranges

Tuna

Almond Butter

Jam (I made jam in the fall)

Rice

Bread

I anticipate going through a ton of eggs. Good thing we love scrambles. We will be having between the two of us, a 6 egg scramble with green onion, mushroom and spinach daily for a meal. 

Smoothie - almond milk, banana, soy protein, flax seed oil

Tuna sandwich

Almond butter and jam sandwich

I will keep you all posted on how this goes.