This month I am issuing a $25 grocery challenge to myself. If you’d like to know more or care to join me, you can read about the original challenge here.
It’s week two! So far, so good- we are on track and feeling more like this is a feasible goal. Let me give you a few updates from my week one plan:
- I did buy sprouting seeds from a local health food store. They cost me $7.95 for half a pound (on par with what Amazon offered), but I figured I could try a particular mix without buying a whole pound first. This brought my grand total for week one up to $13.23. Under budget!
- I felt like I was (figuratively) dying for fresh spinach and apples this past week. I made do with adding frozen greens to everything and eating canned applesauce. On the upside, I forgot how much I love good applesauce and I am now looking forward to eating the last jars of it from the pantry.
- I changed my meal plan a bit. My bean and cheese burritos turned into black-bean and veggie burritos. Close enough. I ate tuna for lunch instead of dinner and replaced dinner with soup. And I (apparently) was out of chicken, so a beef-veggie skillet thinger replaced the roasted chicken and veggies. And I maybe added oatmeal to the breakfast plan. I imagine this won’t be the first time I change my plans this month. Hope you don’t mind too much.
That being said, here’s the plan for week two:
The grocery bill:
- One gallon of milk (half for yogurt, half for drinking)- $3.55
- Oatmeal- $2.48
- Organic spinach, 10 oz- $4.98
- 1 lb unbleached flour- $2.98
- Bananas, 2.5 lbs- $1.38
- Organic apples, 2 lbs- $3.97
- Frozen corn, 12 oz- $0.88
- Natural peanut butter, 26 oz- $4.27
Total: $24.49!
I just squeaked in under budget this week. I originally had a larger bag of corn in my hand, but then the apples were calling to me from their bin. I turned to my husband and asked him searchingly, “Apples or corn? Which is more important?”
“It’s up to you,” he replied. “Twenty-five dollars.”
After much hemming and hawing, I realized if I bought a small bag of corn, I could get the corn AND the apples and still come in under budget. Phew! Here’s what we’re planning on eating this week:
Meal plan:
- Monday– Easy Pea Soup from Cheap Healthy Good. I’m not really into pea soup but I love this recipe. Simple pea soup with a balsamic vinegar twist!
- Tuesday– Pork, veggies (probably broccoli?), rice. (Do you like how specific that is?)
- Wednesday– Eggplant Parmesan, using frozen & prepped eggplant from last summer’s garden, home-canned tomato sauce, and cheese that I happen to have already.
- Thursday- Mexican casserole, inspired by this Mexican stuffed peppers recipe.
- Friday- Pasta with home-canned tomatoes or tomato sauce. I’ve got a lot of that leftover!
- Saturday- Leftover night.
- Sunday– Comforting Carrot Onion Soup from Syncopated Mama.
Breakfast: Oatmeal. Sourdough & eggs. Yogurt. Etc.
Lunch- Leftovers! The heroes of the real food kitchen, as Trina Holden says.
Snacks: Fruit & peanut butter, applesauce, smoothies, cheese, and whatever else I happen to have ready to be eaten.
Prep: I made sourdough and yogurt again this weekend. That’s pretty typical for us! I wasn’t able to make any new chicken stock last week (since I didn’t actually have chicken in the freezer), but thankfully I have a jar or two left in the pantry that I can use for this week’s soups.
If you’re joining in, drop me a line here or on my Facebook page, so we can encourage each other! I’d love to know how you’re doing.
I’ll be anxious to hear what you! think of the carrot onion soup, Abi! We love it so much, I had to make another batch last week. Thanks so much for linking to my post
Lisa- I was supposed to make it tonight, but we ended up having dinner with my in-laws! It will have to be bumped to next week- I am excited to try it!!