The Food Challenge….Here we go!
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow begins our quest of spending only $100 on food for FOUR WEEKS. That’s $100 to split between our little family of 3 – Me, Jon & Seven.
Yes, that includes every meal we eat at home AND any meals we eat at restaurants or fast food. I forsee that being especially difficult for my Husband, who works as a surveyor and is not used to packing his lunch. We typically spend a minimum of $150 a month just on his lunches. Sorry, hon, you’ll be packing for a few weeks!
We also tend to spend an average $100 a week on food at the grocery store. We can get by on so much less than that. While my freezer isn’t stocked for a nuclear fall out, and my pantry won’t feed a third world country, we certainly have more than enough to eat. I think the grocery store becomes a thing of habit – you just assume you need to go. If nothing else, this challenge will be a way to clean up some of those items lingering in the bottom of the freezer and wipe out a few of those things pushed into the back of the cabinets.
I stated in an earlier post that I intended to list what I plan to start with, and that I feel like this amount of food is probably found in any typical American house…not a stockpile, in other words. I reiterate this because I want this month to be a wake-up call for anyone out there who wants to try to complete this challenge themselves. It is surely about the quickest and (hopefully) easiest way to save a good sum of money without suffering. So many of us these days are looking for ways to save a dollar or two, but we tend not to think of cutting our food budget. Restaurants alone can destroy a wallet. We used to be that couple who went out every weekend, plus had at least one fast food meal or pizza a week. That behavior cost us a minimum of $250 a month…and that doesn’t include the grocery bill. Wow. I would love to have that money back.
So here goes…this is what I have to start with:
In the Freezer:
1 pack of chicken legs
2 packs of chicken breasts
4 packs of hamburger
2 packs of deer burger
1 bag shrimp
1 bag scallops
1 pound Ham
3 Boston Market boxed dinners
1 Bertolli Bag
Partial Box Eggos
Box Shrimp Scampi
2 Bags of Corn on the Cob
2 Bags frozen corn
Homemade puff pastry
1 bag mixed vegetable stirfry
1/2 container of Edy’s Ice Cream
Homemade Peach Ice Cream
2 servings Homemade Ravioli
2 Single Serve lunches – Bundinos
2 Pillsbury Cookie Dough
8 homemade hamburger buns
Fridge:
18 eggs
1/2 Gallon Milk
3 bricks cream cheese
3 packs butter
16oz sour cream
Pack of American Cheese
partial bricks of other cheese
Lots of condiments and jelly
24 pack Diet Soda
6 Gatorades
24 Case Beer (for Jon)
Hot Dog Weiners
Partial pack of Bologna
Little bit of sliced ham
1/2 pound sliced turkey
2 packs flour tortillas
2 cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
some grapes
6 yogurts
14 fruit cups/applesauce
Pantry:
3 cans corn
3 cans green beans
3 cans diced tomatoes
Peanut Butter & Nutella
Baking Stuffs – flour, sugar, etc – normal amounts
Chocolates for Baking
Seasonings – normal amounts
3 boxes Shells & Cheese
3 single serve mac n cheese
handful of mini candy bars (leftover from Fathers Day)
3 cans Cream of Chicken
2 cans Sweetened Condensed Milk
Lots of Ronzoni noodles, spaghetti, lasagna, etc. (it was free)
2 Chef Boyardee Ravioli
1 can baked beans
1 can water chestnuts
3 Hamburger Helper
4 RiceaRoni or Zatarains
2 jars Bertolli Sauce
1 jar Alfredo sauce
4 Cake Mixes
3 Brownie Mixes
Lemonade Mix
A few tea bags
2 boxes Jello
3 Gravy Mixes
2 Boxes Scalloped Potatoes
3 Boxes Romanos Macaroni Grill (free)
4 Bags Microwave Popcorn
Homemade loaf of bread
Half bag of Marshmallows
3 partial boxes of cereal, some stale. 🙂
Update: Fresh Food – I forgot about it!
an apple
half bag of apple slices
2 bananas
2 peaches
2 kiwis
Blueberries from my garden
Also – we have a garden. We’ll be getting zucchini and berries for a few more days, and possibly peaches by the end of the month. Maybe a few tomatoes. Almost out of spinach, who knows about the peppers. Not a big garden, but it will help!
Okay- I probably have more things than this, but this is what I intend to use. Is any of this out of the ordinary? Perhaps I am jaded..but I think I could go to my Moms or Aunts right now and find a similar stash…which leads me to believe I am pretty average. Please do tell me if I am off the mark – i want to represent a TYPICAL American Household. This will help me prove that we can, in fact, be smarter consumers…and maybe learn from this.
I intend to post once a day listing what we ate and what we spent (if I go to the store). I also intend to make it as varied as possible – not eating Ramen everyday. Hopefully I will inspire you to try this challenge yourself in the future…the savings could be huge! In fact, we are starting with an envelope of $600 – our typical food budget for a month. What’s left at the end of the month is hopefully going to a new Canon Digital Camera, complete with extra lenses! (what a treat, right?!)
Cross your fingers and wish us luck, I hope to see you back here everyday in July!
