A Month Without Groceries - After Thoughts

September 17, 2009

I made my first visit to the grocery store yesterday and MAN did it feel good. I purchased some fresh produce to have a nice big salad with dinner and a few other items. My total was $56.67 which isn't too bad considering the state of my pantry. I expect that trip to the store will last us about a week for the produce and about 3 weeks for the other items (meats, cheese, etc). Not too shabby.

I have included a few pictures of our refrigerator, freezer, and pantry shelves after the challenge concluded. Pretty barren, but we still have a few things! With those few items we have remaining, I can make at least four dinners.

Rather than completely restock, I am really going to change the way I shop. Less focus on convenience and more focus on whole foods. Additionally, I will not purchase too much produce at a time to eliminate the possibility of things going bad or getting mushy before we can enjoy them.

I plan on keeping track of our spending over the next few months to ensure we stay on track and don't revert back to our old habits. I will likely post something approximately once a week or once every two weeks in the future.

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.

Day 34 - A Month Without Groceries

September 15, 2009

Today is Day 34 and after dinner this evening, we will have officially made it through the Month Without Groceries Challenge. Phew! We have run out of quite a few ingredients, but surprisingly, we still have quite a few staples such as rice and pasta. Over the last week or so, I have been consistently using up the last of various ingredients from ketchup to mozzarella cheese. With no fresh produce on hand, I am really looking forward to a visit to the grocery store to get some ingredients for salad. I make this official though, I can't actually go to the store until tomorrow.

Our entire grocery bill this month was $9.21 for milk. Our milk bill could have been significantly smaller, but we have to buy lactose free milk which is approximately four times as expensive for a gallon. That is not ideal, but I have to say, well worth it.

For tonight's meal, I will be making patty melts. We had a couple of onions (the last of the fresh produce), bread, cheese, and hamburger remaining. I can't imagine that the family won't like those!

Tomorrow I will provide some insight into what I have learned. Future posts will include what I plan to do in the future, the new budget, and how this has changed our eating habits.

Day 33 - A Month Without Groceries

September 14, 2009

Monday again. We made it through our last weekend of the challenge without too many issues. A little moaning and groaning from the family, but not too bad.

I was watching Food Network this past weekend and found Melissa deArabian's new show interesting. Her shtick is to make a meal for four for $10. Initially, it sounds impressive, but if you think about it, that is $300 a month for dinner alone. If you add in breakfasts and lunches, for say $5 each per day for the family, that brings your grocery total to $600 a month. Call me crazy, but that doesn't really sound that economical. I am hoping we can bring our grocery bill in much lower than that once this challenge is over.

Tonight I plan to make lasagna. I will definitely have to make adjustments to my typical recipe, but I expect it will turn out OK. We still have some mozzarella cheese in the freezer and I have ground beef on hand for the filling. The only thing I am missing is ricotta or cottage cheese. I don't think that will make too big of a difference and in the end, the meal will have less fat and sodium. I may add in some spinach to the sauce to get the family to eat more vegetables. I wonder if my daughter will notice.

Day 32 - A Month Without Groceries

Another weekend day and I swear, these breakfasts are going to kill me! We have cold cereal, but that is what the family has all week long and typically, I like to make breakfast somewhat special on weekends. I managed to dig up some waffle mix so breakfast was respectable.

This challenge has impacted more than just our eating habits. It has also significantly decreased the number of grocery bags we have on hand. I try to use the eco-friendly bags when I go to the store, but sometimes the bags are not enough to hold the food I buy. In those cases, we get plastic bags to supplement the ones I bring with me. To ensure we make use of those plastic bags, we use them to pick up after the dogs. After feeling guilty because we had way too many, we now have only a few left. We won't run out, but boy would that ever stink (no pun intended) if we did! Enough about that...it is gross.

For dinner this evening I will be making chow mein. I know it isn't my husband's favorite meal, but we have most of the ingredients and at this point, that is good enough! I don't have a recipe to follow so it will be more of a use what you've got approach. I am curious to know what the family will think.

Day 31 - A Month Without Groceries

September 12, 2009

Today is Day 31 and we would be finished with this challenge if it not for the wonderful generosity of our friends and neighbors. It seems that has been both a blessing and a curse. We absolutely love the fact that our friends have invited us into their homes, but in keeping with the challenge, it has resulted in an extension of the original 30 days to 34.

Last night for dinner, I made tacos. The meal was a little more interesting than anticipated. Expecting to find a bag of Mexican blend cheese in the refrigerator, I was surprised when it wasn't there. My husband seems to have used it in the chili last weekend when I was away. As a substitute, I had to use mozzarella. Surprisingly, it was not noticeable! Note to self: You an substitute mozzarella for cheddar jack cheese in a pinch.

On that note, I wanted to mention that I often freeze cheese to extend it's life. I just toss it in the freezer and take out what I need when I need it. This works best for shredded cheeses, especially since they usually have resealable bags. If you don't already do this, you should try it! You will eliminate mold and extend the life of your cheese significantly.

There is a bit of a nip in the air today so for dinner, I plan to make meatloaf with potatoes and vegetables for dinner. It is one of those comforting meals that I know both my husband and daughter will love.

Day 30 - A Month Without Groceries

September 11, 2009

Yesterday's dinner was much better than I had anticipated. I've got to be honest, I thought it would be one of those meals that I had to force myself to eat. Fortunately, that didn't happen. The salmon cakes had a nice crunch to them and the dijon sauce (dijon mustard and mayonnaise) went very well with the dish. I served the dinner with a black bean and sweet corn salsa to which I added the last remaining jalapenos and red pepper and onion relish from the refrigerator. All in all, it was pretty darn good. My husband also thought the meal was good and gave it a high rating.

One thing I am glad we still have on the shelves is cold cereal. It is a staple for my daughter in the mornings when she has school and a favorite snack in the afternoons. I have concluded that if I didn't have cereal, this challenge would have been very difficult. I used to buy brand name cereals trying for the most part to stay away from too much sugar. Our pantry typically has Rice Crispies, Fruity Cheerios, Kix, Granola, and some variety of shredded wheat. I have noticed however, that those large bags of cereal in the grocery really do taste just as good as the brand names. They cost so much less too! Once this is over, I plan to scale back the cereals and purchase those more often.

Tonight for dinner, I plan to make tacos. Unfortunately, we don't have any fresh lettuce or tomatoes, but I do have some salsa and cheese to use as toppings. We'll see how that goes over.