Day 19 - A Month Without Groceries

August 31, 2009

Yesterday was our first casualty from the pantry. I went to use up some of the oyster crackers in the soup last night and I noticed they were exceptionally stale. Not just tasting a little stale, but completely inedible with a potent odor. I had to discard them.

On that note, I have heard feedback from a lot of people about donating the extra food I may have around the house to a local food bank. This is a fantastic idea and one I support. However, it is important to note there are specific guidelines that need to be followed for individual food donations. Specifically, food banks typically do not want:

• perishable items

• rusty or unlabeled cans

• noncommercial or homemade canned or packaged items

• alcoholic beverages, mixes, or soda

• open or partially used items

In our case, we had a lot of perishable (fresh and frozen) foods as well as many open packages. Rather than have those items we are not able to donate go to waste, we are choosing to use them in a creative way. And, just for the record, we donate food via local programs (9 Cares Colorado Shares, US Postal Service Food Drive, and the Boy Scouts of America) on a regular basis and will continue to do so. I would strongly encourage others to do the same.

For tonight's meal, I will be making cod with an orange glaze. I will make the glaze out of some marmalade I have in the refrigerator. I don't have a recipe, so this will be more of an experiment than anything. I will try to post the recipe and response from the family a bit later after I have the chance to put the ingredients together.

If you have an interesting way to use ingredients, please post some comments and share your ideas. I'd love to hear how others are able to cook with what they have on hand.

Just finished dinner. I used 1/4 cup orange marmalade with 1/8 cup dijon mustard and 1/8 cup water. It was delicious!

Day 18 - A Month Without Groceries

August 30, 2009

I am definitely starting to run out of ingredients and as a result need to be more creative in what I use to make my meals. One thing that remains important is to keep the meals interesting and tasty for my family. In looking for alternatives, I realized there are a lot of options for coating chicken, fish or pork for baking. The obvious bread crumbs is a good stand by, but equally as good is ground up nuts, crushed saltine crackers or pretzels, hash brown potatoes, potato buds, or the broken chips at the bottom of a bag (potato or otherwise). To make the coating stick, you can brush on a small amount of salad dressing (Italian, Ranch, French, Russian, Thousand Island) or mayonnaise. It is a great way to use up items in the refrigerator that are close to their expiration dates while adding flavor to your meals.

Tonight for dinner, I plan to make split pea with smoked turkey soup. The photo will not likely do the meal justice as the color of split pea soup is, well, pea green. Don't be afraid of trying it. The flavors are wonderful. It is important to note that you can use ham hocks, leftover ham, sausage, or whatever protein you may have left in your refrigerator to make this soup. I like to use turkey to lighten up the meal. You can also make it vegetarian by using vegetable bouillon and omitting the meat. My basic recipe is as follows:

SPLIT PEA SOUP
1 pound smoked turkey, shredded (you can substitute ham hocks, ham, bacon, sausage, etc)
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 cup carrot, shredded
1 stalk celery, finely diced
2 cups dried split peas (you can substitute soaked navy beans)
6 teaspoons chicken bouillon (you can substitute beef or vegetable bouillon or a packet of onion soup mix)
12 cups water
salt and pepper

In a large pot, bring the water, onion, and bouillon to a boil. Turn down heat to low and add shredded turkey and split peas. Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes or until the peas are soft. Salt and pepper to taste.

Leftovers can be frozen. You may have to add more water to the soup when it is leftover. This meal goes a long way. Additionally, the total cost for the whole batch (as outlined above) comes in at approximately $4.50 and feeds 6 conservatively. Today, I don't have carrots or celery so I will leave them out.

Day 17 - A Month Without Groceries

August 29, 2009

A couple of days ago I was on Sirius radio speaking about my challenge. I followed a segment by a woman in Massachusetts who uses coupons and loyalty programs to feed her family of 6 on less than $10 a week. She has an amazing story and does a lot of charitable giving in her community. For those of us with the time and patience to use coupons, I say Bravo!! Keep up the good work. I think we can all learn to be more frugal and she has definitely figured out a system that works for her.

I have to be honest. As much as I would like to use coupons to save money, I don't always find it is effective for me. We tried that approach a couple of years ago and determined the coupons were mainly for processed foods or items we wouldn't normally buy. I believe you can significantly reduce your grocery bills by using them, but your menu options may be limited and there are very few coupons that work for fresh meats, fruits, and vegetables. That being said, if you have got them, use them. It's free money.

For lunch today, we will be eating some of the leftovers we have from the last couple of dinners. We need to use those up soon. This evening we have been invited to a friend's house for dinner and a send off for one of our friends that is moving so I don't have to cook.

Day 16 - A Month Without Groceries

August 28, 2009

Thanks everyone for the comments on my Month Without Groceries challenge. As was expected, some people cannot relate. Many others however, have provided wonderful feedback that is greatly appreciated and keeps me motivated to continue. I think it is important for people, no matter what their situation, to evaluate their lifestyles to determine if there are areas of waste that can be addressed.

One key area of focus in our house has been using our leftovers for lunches. In the past, my husband would bring a frozen meal to work for lunch (approximately $3.00 each) or would eat out (approximately $6.50 for fast food). Based on what I have seen in the workplace, the number of people who eat out for lunch far exceeds the number who brown bag it. The added benefit for me is that we no longer have those leftovers getting forgotten in the back of the refrigerator. C'mon, be honest, we all have them. In the last 14 days I have not thrown out a single leftover and my husband has not eaten out or brought a frozen meal for lunch. That has already saved us a minimum of $30 this month...and we are only half done. Tomorrow, I will share another way I am extending the value of the ingredients I have on hand.

Tonight for dinner, I plan to make chicken pot pies. To make this meal, I will use up some of the frozen vegetables I have in the freezer as well as some of those long forgotten baking ingredients such as shortening and flour for the crust. For the sauce, I plan to use some of the potato soup mix I have in the pantry. I've never made pot pies this way before, so it should be interesting to hear the family's response. I hope it is a success so I can use the ideas for other meals in the future.

Day 15 - A Month Without Groceries

August 27, 2009

Yesterday was pretty cool. Heidi McGuire from 9News came by the house to interview me for the Month Without Groceries challenge. She came by for a couple of hours to discuss why I started, how I plan my meals, and even a quick demo of my Pecan Crusted Tilapia. The story aired on Channel 9 last night on the 6pm newscast. For those of you interested in seeing the segment, here is a link to the story:
http://www.9news.com/rss/article.aspx?storyid=122078

I told her not to air anything that would make me look like a dork. You be the judge.

The viewer commentary on the story is a bit one sided indicating my lack of budgeting skills, etc. Certainly, everyone is allowed an opinion and I can't fault them for that. That being said, it is it is important to note that the reason we have spent so much on groceries is mainly because I went overseas for 12 weeks on a business trip and overstocked the freezer to ensure the family ate well in my absence. Needless to say, upon my return, there was still a freezer full of food. Now, I want to make sure that food that wasn't consumed when I was away is not wasted. Those poor folks who are spending $300 a month and eating ramen noodles (even for one meal) are really suffering. I am happy to say, we are not. We have pretty darn good meals every night.

Those of you who are questioning the validity of the story should take a look into your freezers and pantries and ask yourself, “Do I waste food?” Maybe this story isn't relatable to everyone, but certainly everyone can take a good hard look at their spending habits and eating habits and determine if there are ways they can reduce waste. I'll bet there is.

For tonight's dinner, I plan to make pizza. I have a package of Italian sausage in the freezer to use for the topping and will add some mushrooms and onions as well.

Day 14 - A Month Without Groceries

August 26, 2009

Just as I suspected, last night's dinner was not Mike's favorite. He did indicate the peanut sauce was good though. Poor Ania just had her palate expander (orthodontia treatment) put in yesterday and she was having a hard time eating anything. She did eat enough to mention that she really didn't like the peanut sauce. That being said, now I have an additional challenge of trying to feed Ania things that she can eat that won't get stuck behind her appliance. It is going to be very difficult and will require some additional thought on my part. Maybe soup for the next 6 months? Ugh.

Something interesting happened today. I was contacted by 9News to run a story on my 30 Days Without Groceries Challenge. It would be really interesting to see if it makes the news. I briefly spoke with Heidi McGuire who is a regular contributor. She is going to call back this morning to discuss further. Cool.

Today I will make pecan crusted tilapia in lemon sauce. Mike should be okay with the meal, but Ania will be bothered to have to eat fish again. Since it isn't too crunchy, I would expect Ania will be able to eat it just fine. It will be more a function of whether or not I can convince her to do so.

The recipe for this meal is as follows:

PECAN CRUSTED TILAPIA
4 tilapia filets
1/4 cup pecan pieces
3 tablespoons seasoned bread crumbs
cooking spray

Mix the pecan pieces (they need to be chopped finely) and bread crumbs together. Lightly spray each tilapia filet with cooking spray. Dredge fish in nut mixture and place on a lightly sprayed baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 10 minutes. Drizzle with lemon juice, if desired.

You can also use other nuts for this recipe including almonds, macadamia nuts, or hazelnuts.

Day 13 - A Month Without Groceries

August 25, 2009

Now that I am one third through the challenge, I have decided it was time to assess the ingredients I have remaining. In doing so, I have determined we are pathetically inefficient and an unobservant in how we use food. For example, I have two open bottles of soy sauce, two open bottles of dijon mustard, and eight open bottles of salad dressing. That is just crazy. I have gone through and consolidated what I could and will try to keep an eye on this in the future. I think when the refrigerator gets too full, it is harder to determine if we have an open bottle of something and we end up opening multiple bottles of the same thing.

I have also done an analysis of the food expenses for our family for the last year. On average, we spend $822.11 a month on food. For a family of three, that is downright gluttonous. I know there was a lot of waste included in that number either from fresh fruits and veggies that spoiled or from things that got buried in the freezer and were not salvageable. Pretty sad.

For today's meal, I can use the extra pork chops we had from last night. I plan to make peanut ginger seared pork over soba noodles. I made the peanut sauce yesterday so the meal will come together very quickly. It likely won't be Mike's favorite, but it will prevent the pork from going to waste.