January 2012 – Healthy Food Budget

Project Food Budget / My Healthy Budget: January Wk 4

Project: Food Budget Weekly total: $127.85

My healthy budget goal is to eat seasonal, home-cooked meals while sticking to a $308.49 ~~$400~~ monthly budget for all food including groceries, dining out, entertaining, vitamins/supplements, and spices/herbs.

There’s two of us eating 3 (mostly) meals per day. My husband occasionally eats take-out lunch at work, & that $ comes out of his personal cash stash.

January – Month Three, Week Four

I’m a little long-winded this week, but a lot has happened and I wanted to document it, not necessarily for others to read, but to keep an account for myself.

This week, I’ve spent $127.85, leaving $21.10 for the remaining days of January.

Purchases For the Week

This week, I set a spending limit, and stuck to it. I carefully made my shopping list only adding the necessary produce items that were needed for my planned meals this week. My list was calculated to the exact dollar I wanted to spend, thanks to my Grocery IQ iPhone app.

Dining Out: $0
Groceries: $127.85 (including meat CSA)

Market Basket (Thursday): $9.80 = broccoli crowns, bag of oranges, organic pears and bananas.

Whole Foods (Friday): $34.71 = organic celery, organic baby bok choy, organic kale, organic carrots (2lb bag), pineapple, organic gala apples, bagged frozen organic Mediterranean blend veggies, fresh mozzarella (local), 4+ lbs of chicken breast (madness sale @2.99lb)

Even though I usually try to buy only pastured meat now, the Whole Foods chicken breast sale was too good. I ended up tossing all four pounds on a large baking sheet into the oven so I could have lots of freezer portions of pre-cooked chicken for dishes like soups, pastas, tortillas, and stir fries.

I had planned on purchasing the wild Alaskan salmon on sale ($7.99lb) but they only had 2+ lb frozen packs (way too much), and I didn’t want the defrosted at the fish counter, so I passed. Next month, I might get a package of their vacuum-packed Wild Catch Alaskan salmon. Yes, it’ll be more expensive, but the portions are 6 oz each, and that is much more manageable than 2 lbs at once. So, for the same amount of $, I bought the chicken instead.

Local Meat CSA (Saturday delivery): $83.34 = 4 lbs whole chicken legs, .80 lb boneless chicken breast, 3.5 lb whole chicken, 1.5 lb beef shanks, 1 lb beefalo flat iron steak, and 2 lb ground beefalo.

Feeling a New Appreciation & Respect

Last week, I was feeling sorry for myself (wah wah), feeling the pinch of my lower budget and wishing the month were over so I could go back to my higher amount next month.

Then something clicked.

It was brought about because of a comment from Katy on the Project Food Budget Facebook group. I won’t go into the specifics because it really doesn’t directly pertain to the situation, but the comment set my thoughts in motion, and I realized…

No, I do not need to keep to this budget out of necessity. Yes, of course I want to spend less, but it’s not like I cannot afford to throw in an extra $20 or $30 or even $100 to spend for my groceries.

I realized WOW, I am so lucky! I have a choice!

I hope it doesn’t sound pretentious, but I found a new appreciation and respect for families that budget because that is all they have to spend. How dare I complain when these families experience the “pinch” every single week and every single month; there is no luxury of rolling a spending overage into the next week/month, they have an allotted amount and that’s that.

And more kudos to them if they are committed to spending their hard-earned dollars on healthier whole foods, even though it might be easier to compromise with processed foods.

This has been such a great month for me! Full of challenges and epiphanies. I have learned so much about myself, it sounds so corny, but I really am lucky!

Week of Meals

I forced myself to start planning meals last week and it’s really turned out well so far. In fact, I’ve turned into a planning monster. LOL. I set up a “note” on my iPad with a long list of my food inventory and then a meal planned for every day for about 2 weeks.

I think what made it easier to stick to my meal plans was keeping my list handy so don’t forget what was planned. In that past, I’d make a meal plan, then never look at it again; I’d end up making something last minute because I’d forget the details.

I also include as many ingredients as I can think of for each meal, sort of like a mini recipe I can see at a glance.

I’m amazed how many complete meals I can make with food ingredients I already have on hand. The culinary creativity really started flowing when I put my mind to it!

I’m also getting back into feeding my freezer since my reserves were getting low. I found a great site called Once a Month Mom and there is a ton of info and tips available about make ahead cooking and menu planning. I especially loved their Create Your Own Menu series of articles especially helpful.

I also found some great videos on YouTube for make ahead and freezer cooking. I think watching someone complete a recipe visually is more beneficial than reading a recipe.

Thursday: Bread pizza with roasted peppers, tomatoes, spinach & feta with a side of caraway cabbage carrot slaw.
Friday: baked boneless chicken with side of quinoa and broccoli
Saturday: soup: Chicken, pasta, pinto beans & tomato, chile peppers (from freezer), bok choy, celery, carrot topped w/ fresh mozzarella
Sunday: Roasted potatoes, onions, sweet potatoes topped w/ egg
Monday: Leftover frozen beefalo brisket with BBQ sauce & frozen jalapeño corn muffin w/ kale and broccoli
Tuesday: bread pizzas with mozzarella, salsa, roasted peppers
Wednesday: boneless pork ribs braised in wine with carrots and potatoes

Want to Join the Project Food Budget?

project food budget

It’s never too late to join the Project Food Budget!

If you’d like to participate, get the details and let Emily know you’re on board!

Here’s who else is budgeting this week:

Project Food Budget / My Healthy Budget: January Wk 3

Project: Food Budget Weekly total: $27.47

There’s two of us eating 3 (mostly) meals per day. My husband occasionally eats take-out lunch at work, & that $ comes out of his personal cash stash.

January – Month Three, Week Three

This week, I’ve spent $27.47 for a monthly total of $148.95. After my $83.34 CSA meat delivery coming this weekend, that leaves about $65 for the rest of January.

Dining Out: $13.00
Groceries: $14.47

(Saturday) Market Basket: $14.47 = organic spinach, bananas, Haagen daz vanilla ice cream (for the big playoff game), and California olive oil. Not a whole lot of product for the money – the olive oil quashed me, but I was down to about 1.5 Tbsp and it was desperately needed.

This Week’s Struggle

It was a struggle (mentally) this week.

One part of me was telling myself to relax, it’s not the end of the world if I overspend a little. I can just roll any overage into Feb. Who’s going to care if I couldn’t fully absorb December’s $100 overage in January! It would be fine if I needed to split the overage into 2 months.

Then the other part of me was saying no, I have to stick with it! If I give in to extra spending when it gets tough, then what’s to stop me from overspending every other time!

So, I quit whining and I took a quick inventory of my pantry, fridge and freezer; then I created a list of the remaining days left in January, and proceeded to set a tentative meal plan for each day.

Meals are not set in stone, but it least gives me an idea of what’s possible; I have hope that I will indeed have plenty of food for the rest of January.

It may sound silly to some, that I’m worrying about this so intensely, but it’s become a personal challenge for me to stick to my budget this month. I will feel so accomplished on January 31st!

Week of Meals

Lots of freezer leftovers this week.

Thursday: Take out
Friday: leftover freezer veggie soup with beans, lentils & white rice
Saturday: Pasta with tomatoes, roasted peppers, and spinach
Sunday: Leftover freezer pork chops with sauce of mushrooms, beets, onions & tomatoes over quinoa and lentils
Monday: leftover freezer ham bean tomato soup with added mushrooms and leftover lentils & quinoa
Tuesday: leftover freezer grass fed (local) burgers with butternut squash & bulgar cooked with tamari & sesame oil
Wednesday: Jalapeno corn muffins with fried egg & sides of cranberry apple compote (freezer) and caraway cabbage slaw

Want to Join the Project Food Budget?

project food budget

Everyone is doing a great job with the project!

It’s never to late to join us! They officially started in October 2011, but there are new bloggers joining every week!

If you’d like to participate in the Project Food Budget, get the details and let Emily know you’re on board!

Here’s who else is budget blogging this week:

Project Food Budget / My Healthy Budget: January Wk 2

Project: Food Budget Weekly total: $92.33

There’s two of us eating 3 (mostly) meals per day. Breakfasts are usually light, and we try to eat left-overs for lunch. My husband occasionally eats take-out lunch at work, & that $ comes out of his personal cash stash.

January – Month Three, Week Two

This week, I’ve spent $92.33 for a monthly grand total of $132.07, which leaves $176.42 for the rest of the January.

I don’t want to jinx myself and say I’m doing well this month! ;P

Dining Out: $21.00
Groceries: $71.33

Lots of stock up shopping this week.

Walmart = $3.62: I had 75 and 85 cents online coupons for Muir Glen organic tomatoes, so I purchased six small cans of diced tomatoes – great deal! That averages to .60 for each! I’m going back with more coupons next week!

Market Basket = $16.19: (1.29 less for returned mango from last week.) 32 oz Stonyfield plain yogurt, bag of navel oranges, baby bella mushrooms, 2lb bag of organic sweet potatoes, organic apples & pears, and bananas

Trader Joes = $32.45: TJ’s bacon ends/pieces, mushrooms, feta cheese, bag o’ organic apples, quinoa, shell-on pistachios, peanuts, chicken broth, kiwis, frozen veg lasagna* (*Instead of getting take-out next week, I bought a TJ’s frozen veggie lasagna. For only $6 I don’t have to cook, and it’s a lot cheaper than getting lasagna from a restaurant!)

Whole Foods = $19.07: organic red lentils, butternut squash (local), cara cara oranges, organic lemon, organic kiwis, organic cauliflower, and chocolate bars.

Week of Meals

Thursday: Take out – eggplant parm sub
Friday: Niman Ranch ham steak with brown rice, coleslaw and onion soup
Saturday: Ham Bean soup made with leftover onion soup, tomatoes, & carrots
Sunday: Grassfed beef burgers (local) with brown/white rice, broccoli and coleslaw
Monday: Pork loin slow cooked with diced tomatoes, mushrooms, & carrots with baked potatoes
Tuesday: Bread pizzas with salsa, olives, spinach and cheddar
Wednesday: Roasted cauliflower with fried eggs and salsa

This week’s meals were a little more “meat-sentric” than I usually like, but I was trying to use up some of my frozen CSA meats. Hopefully there will be more veggie meals this next week.

Want to Join the Project Food Budget?

project food budget

If you’d like to participate in the Project Food Budget, get the details and let Emily know you’re on board!

Here’s who else is participating:

Project Food Budget / My Healthy Budget: January Wk 1

Project: Food Budget Weekly total: $35.74

January – Month Three, Week One

Since I was over in December, my budget was reduced for January, leaving approximately $56 for each week (not including my local meat CSA).

Whoo Hoo! This first week of January, I’m under budget with $35.74 spent, leaving $272.75 left for the rest of the month. I shopped at two grocery stores this week (Market Basket & Whole Foods).

Since I felt I did pretty well this week, I was inspired by my budget buddy Angela from Test Kitchen Tuesday to take a photo of my purchases:

click to view larger:

Market Basket: $17.96 – Whole Foods: $17.78 = $35.74
Broccoli, organic baby spinach, organic pears, organic apples, avocados, bananas, mango (which turned out to be spoiled & will be returned/replaced), whole peeled organic tomatoes, local green cabbage, organic chicken broth, yogurt, kiwis, organic flat-leaf parsley, organic carrot, olives from bar, beet bulbs, bag o’ oranges, bag o’ onions.

Dining Out: $0
Groceries: $35.74

Week of Meals (short week)

Sunday: Tomato Veggie Soup w/ bacon, mushrooms, green beans, corn, cranberry beans, & sharp cheddar.
Monday: Pork ribs (local) with barley and winter squash
Tuesday: Bread pizzas with spinach, roasted peppers, olives & aged cheddar
Wednesday: Veg minestrone with beans, pasta and guacamole topping

Want to Join the Project Food Budget?

project food budget

If you’d like to participate in the Project Food Budget, get the details and let Emily know you’re on board!

Here’s who else is participating (Welcome all the new blogs this week!):