A Month Without Groceries - Lessons Learned

September 16, 2009

We wrapped up the Month Without Grocery Challenge yesterday. There were a few surprises along the way, but all in all, I think things went well. No one starved, I made a different meal each night, and for the most part the family enjoyed the meals. I'd call that a roaring success.

I took a lot of heat for spending so much on groceries from friends and strangers alike. Who knew so many people cared what we spent per month? More so, who knew that so many people where so passionate about it? To clarify, our original spending per month on “groceries” included food, beverages, household supplies, cleaning supplies, personal care items, vitamins, over the counter medicines, and food for the birds in the backyard. We have a family of three and we feed about 500 birds a day. =)

Now that we have wrapped things up and I have had some time to reflect, there are a lot of things I have taken away from this challenge. Namely,

• We spend more on groceries when I am working.

• Some frozen produce is just yucky. Peas, corn, and green beans seem to be the best. Broccoli, snow peas, and cauliflower get mushy when reheated.

• We ate fewer fruits and vegetables than we would have normally which isn't a positive. If I had this to do again, I would limit grocery visits to fresh produce and dairy products only.

• It didn't take much to expand my normal menu to include a larger variety of meals.

• I was able to make most of the meals in the past month in 30 minutes or less. The meals that took longer were the result of baking time, not prep time.

Additionally, there are some things that were a bit surprising to me including:

• We didn't throw out a single leftover the entire challenge. I can honestly say that is a first in our house. Since the refrigerator was so empty, the leftovers had nowhere to hide.

• American cheese lasts a very long time in the refrigerator. That kind of makes you think doesn't it?

Now that I have learned a few things and expanded my meal repertoire, I plan to implement some changes in our future grocery trips. More on that over the next few days.