Monday, March 4, 2013

Easily Entertained

So, I got inspired by Lili's grocery journal over at Creative Savv. She feeds a family of 5 on a remarkably small budget. I've wanted to try one of those SNAP/ food stamp challenges for a long time, but the problem is I just don't shop one week at a time, or even one month at a time! I tend to buy things I know I'll eat when they're on sale and then just fill in the blanks when I'm out of something crucial.


So I could never figure out how to do the challenge without completely changing the way I cook and shop, and/or letting a bunch of stuff in the fridge go uneaten... which I'm Not about to do!


But Lili shops the same way I do, only she's MUCH  better at it. So I got all inspired and figured I'd start by actually tracking what I spend on food for a month and see how it compares to the food stamp budget.

Can't wait to see this film, BTW

So, in the state of Colorado the average monthly food stamp benefit is $137 per person. Now, I suppose the fact that CatMan is here only about 1-2 days per week sorta throws a wrench into the calculations right off the bat, but I'll worry about that later. At the moment I just want to figure out how much I'm spending normally.


So for the month of March I'm gonna shop "frugal/normal" which means that I'm not going to go to any extreme lengths, but I'll abstain from buying $3/pound grapes flown in from Chile or treating myself to smoked salmon or pistachio nuts... you get the picture.


I figure this will give me a good baseline for comparisons. So I went shopping yesterday and spent a total of about $33.

I stopped at the Asian market because I'm getting low on my favorite shaoxing cooking wine, and discovered (much to my delight) that they had great prices on produce, and a whole bunch of other things... though I might need a translator in certain aisles!


I mostly stuck to the produce section and the only challenge will be that things came pre-packaged in rather large quantities, so I'm gonna have to eat a lot of veggies in order to use it all up!


Then I stopped at my neighborhood King Soopers (Kroger) to get some yummy organic Fuji apples for only $1/pound! And while I was there picked up a package of chicken leg quarters for $.79/pound. I can actually get them much cheaper at the discount grocery store if I'm willing to wait for the sales and buy them in 10lb bags... (they're usually around $5 for the bag) but, I'm trying to clean out the freezer at the moment so that's off the table.


ANYHOW... this brings me to the "Easily Entertained" part (you knew I'd get there eventually, didn't you?) At the moment I'm sitting in front of the oven watching my chicken roast through my newly cleaned oven window. I chopped up some potatoes, a sweet potato, an onion and one of the many winter squashes lurking in the basement, added some olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and rosemary and am thoroughly enjoying the sight, sound and smell of it all roasting.


I hope this doesn't offend any of you vegetarians out there, but there's something primally satisfying about the spitting sound of roasting chicken. Plus, it's the warmest spot in the house, and I'm having fun playing with the "gesture keyboard" (think handwriting detection) on my new tablet.


The chicken cost a total of $3.50 and the rest I already had on hand... should give me dinners for at least a week. We'll see how this goes...

So how about you? Do you know what you usually spend each month on groceries? Have you ever tried a food stamp challenge? And tell me about all of your techniques for frugal grocery shopping! Inquiring minds want to know!


41 comments :

  1. Unfortunately, once I got a bad bag of chicken, and I can't bring myself to buy another one. Therefore, I may spend more than I need to on chicken, but my mental health insists on it.

    Good luck with your challenge. I'm sure that it will be enlightening.

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    1. Yikes! That sounds disturbing. I think I might have bagged chicken paranoia too if I'd had that experience!

      My issue with the 10 pound bags is that they're frozen, so defrosting them is kind of a big project. Plus... there's NO WAY I can eat that much chicken, so I have to re-freeze it in smaller portions. I usually just cook it and then freeze the cooked pieces. It works, but it's more work than I wanted at the moment.

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  2. We go to the supermarket once every six weeks and spend around £100. On top of that there's a pound a day on milk, then the calculations get a little hazy... estimate another £20 per week on meat (from the butcher), fruit and veg. That's £183 per month for two of us, which works out at $139.50 per person (apparently a pound is currently worth one dollar fifty - I'm sure it was less than that last time I looked), just a little over the food stamp budget. Interesting.

    I find grocery shopping a minefield of competing values. Do I prioritize my budget, supporting the village shop, minimizing food miles, not poisoning the earth, or good treatment of animals? It ends up being some muddled combination of all of these and there comes a point where I have to just stop thinking about it or my head will explode.

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    1. I can totally relate to the minefield issue. It often feels like trying to choose between the lesser of about a zillion evils - and when you do well in one category, it usually means that you throw others out the window.

      Lately, when all else is equal, I choose me. Of course, what's important to me changes depending on circumstances. At the moment, money is a bit tight so I'm focusing on frugal.

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  3. I don't know exactly what I spend but I spend more than $137 in a month's time. Wayyy more! Actually in Kansas the allotment is $124 a month so it would even be worse. There is just the two of us with my husband traveling a lot but I also, buy some foods to accommodate my grandkids visits and having company from time to time. It is a rare visit to the grocery store that doesn't go over a hundred dollars and I am there at least once a week.

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    1. Well, it will be interesting to see how it turns out at the end of the month. I find that I'm MUCH more likely to splurge when I'm buying things for other people. I think nothing of buying out of season fresh asparagus when CatMan's coming for dinner, but would NEVER consider it for myself. Hmmm.... not sure what that says about me!

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  4. Interesting. I've been thinking about doing the "Eat for £1 a day for 5 days" challenge that I've seen on the net somewhere. Might be good for my waistline, too. Being vegan should be a *big* advantage. Tins of kidney beans are literally pennies at Lidl's (cheapo supermarket), as are "instant" noodles. Tinned new potatoes are (I think) 16p for a largeish tin. 50p for a medium sliced wholemeal loaf that would easily last me 5 days, probably a week. 25p for a tin of baked beans - the list goes on. Not hugely healthy (although plenty of people eat worse than this all the time). I would of course include some veg, whatever they had on offer, and it's hard to do yourself significant damage in 5 days.
    I've too many other things on my mind at the moment to concentrate on doing this, but I'm pretty sure I'll get to it eventually.
    At the moment I'm abstaining from alcohol for lent - I'm not religious in the slightest, but as someone with virtually no willpower, I like to prove to myself that I can at least do this. I think the church has its sums wrong though - no way is it 40 days and 40 nights between pancake day and Easter Sunday. Cheaters!
    Good luck. I imagine it will be a breeze for you to eat as cheaply as you're aiming to.
    cj

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    1. Hey CJ,

      Since I've started eating meat again I've been really surprised that it doesn't cost more. I guess it's partly because I don't eat much of it. Maybe a small serving or two per day... But I spend much, MUCH more on fresh produce. Sort of eye opening actually.

      I guess that will be the real challenge. Can you eat on this budget without resorting to a diet filled with pasta and other carbs... and still get plenty of fruits & veggies. We'll see...

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  5. I've recently started getting a veg box delivered (and fruit with it) in an attempt to eat more veg. The fruit and veg together is about £20 a week, and I spend about £10 on dairy stuff from the farmer's market. We spend a little bit more at the supermarket, plus occasionally buying meat etc- 1kg lamb mince from the fqrmer's market this week for £4, which will probably be about eight servings of shepherd's pie. We also get given sausages etc by mum, who works for a pig farmer.

    I reckon we spend £40 a week for two of us, although my bf is away at work for some of the week, so really it is for 1.5 people!

    At about £160 per month, we're definitely spending more than the food stamps a amount! But my current priority is local/organic/fresh, so the price has increased a bit.

    Hopefully going to start making my own cheese soon, too :)

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    1. I've tried a variety of those "box" services over the years. In my really broke days I participated in a program run by Catholic charities called the Share program - you paid $10 and did 2 hours of community service, and got a huge box of groceries each week. I've also done several CSA farms.

      The problem for me is that I have so many food allergies that it I can't eat many of the things that come in the box. So it ended up being sorta wasteful and not such a great deal - but it really does encourage you to learn how to cook from scratch and use ingredients you're not necessarily familiar with!

      Usually I have more frozen garden produce, but with the drought and heat last summer, the garden didn't do too well. Sigh. Hopefully this year will be better though!

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    2. I'm trying to be less rubbish at growing things in my garden this year, and my dad has just retired and got an allotment, so I am hoping that the veg box will be unnecessary for some weeks in the summer. It's been great so far though, as I have eaten veg that I would never have tried otherwise.. Celeriac, kohl rabi (which I had never heard of!). I'm also cooking loads more from scratch, as I can't bear to let stuff go to waste. So far, nothing's gone in the compost (other than a couple of blood oranges that went mouldy...)

      Next week I have artichokes, which I have never used before- adventurous times! :)

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    3. I really think that I would never have learned to cook if I hadn't been so broke as a young adult! Have fun experimenting with your new veggies! :-)

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  6. Hi Cat,
    Knowing I have a set amount to spend, and knowing I have to write it all down, keeps me on track with my eating-related priorities and budget.

    Also, I don't buy out of season fresh produce, in part because it costs more, but more because I don't think I'm getting the quality I expect in fresh fruits and vegetables. (This is really important in my book.) If it has had to be shipped in from another continent, it isn't all that "fresh", maybe has been sprayed with fungicides (berries, especially) to keep it looking "fresh", and I have no idea what the country of origin's policy is on pesticides, etc. I make a priority to eat locally and in season, as much as possible. Obviously, I don't have a local supply of foods like bananas or pineapple, so there are some exceptions.

    You've nailed the problem with most food stamp challenges. Most of us already have a supply of food in our pantries and freezers. Your typical food stamp recipient starts each month "fresh" with not much in the cupboard. My son volunteers at our local food bank. You can't just say to someone, "mix these items up with the flour, seasonings, oil, canned veggies, etc. that you already have in your pantry, and you'll have a complete meal", because for the most part, what's in their pantry is bare shelves.

    So, to do a food stamp challenge and get an accurate outcome, you either need to push everything you already have to the side and don't touch it, make an estimate of the bulk of the food on hand at the start and try to end the month with roughly the same amount, or do the challenge for several months, to see how easy or difficult it really is.

    It's true, we do feed 5 on a very small amount. But our variety of meals has been "built up" over the seasons, stocking up when I find outstanding prices, then spending next to nothing in months when it seems everything is overpriced. For example, I still have 1 whole turkey left in the freezer, from a pre-Thanksgiving great deal. I'll probably cook that up in April or May, and we'll get a dozen meals worth of meat out of it. I have several jars of homemade salsa, pickles, jams and jellies left from last summer's harvest. These will last until this next summer's harvest. I buy bread flour in 50 lb sacks, about 3-4 times per year. I have taken advantage of stocking up, at low price per unit. A food stamp recipient will need to work hard for the first several months to build any sort of stock pile of great deals, to make their money go farther, and their meals interesting. My first few weeks of living on a significantly reduced grocery budget were a challenge. A lot of carrots, onions, potatoes, dried beans and grains those first few weeks. But by the end of the month, I discovered that I had begun a stockpile of some variety that allowed me to only buy the super deals I found each week, and still have great meals.

    Good luck with your challenge. I do think you'll do great, if for no other reason, because you've made it a challenge for yourself, that you will find the motivation to keep your spending very low, while eating decently.

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    1. Hi Lili,

      You're such an inspiration!

      I totally agree about the "freshness" of that food that's been flown in from another continent. I generally won't touch anything from further away than California or Texas, but this time of year I start to grow weary of apples, oranges & grapefruit. Perhaps I should work on doing a better job of stocking up & freezing peaches and other summer fruit when they're in season.

      But I have to ask... how do you find time to defrost and clean the freezer? I've passed up some real deals lately, because I just don't want to add anything else to the freezer until I get it defrosted... I think I need a better system there.

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    2. Hi Cat,
      well, I have 3 freezers actually, so no problem with defrosting. One is the tiny one attached to the refrigerator in the kitchen (pathetically small, we use it to make ice cubes and store leftovers, but frost-free), the second is the old one attached to a fridge, kept in the garage, fair size, side by side, and also frost-free, and the third is the size of a dishwasher, kept in the garage. This last one is not frost-free and has to be defrosted once per year. I should be able to empty it's contents into one of the other freezers very soon, then I'll unplug and let defrost, and keep it unplugged until late summer.

      But I wasn't always so fortunate. For many years I just had the freezer with the kitchen fridge, and this one had to be defrosted every 6 mos. or so. It had a bad seal on it, and consequently it developed frost rapidly. So, first off, check the seal on your freezer. If it's an upright freezer, and on unlevel ground, just leveling it will get it to seal better, and reduce having to defrost.

      When I had to defrost, I just made a point of eating up everything frozen, like you're doing. And about early to late April, I would have it empty or mostly so, and could load what was left into an ice chest for a day while it defrosted.

      I did have to do as you have done, recently, pass up on good deals. But I figured that good deals would come again soon, and better to have the freezer ready for seasonal deals like produce in summer, and turkeys in fall.

      You might also be able to ask a neighbor or friend to "hold" some of your frozen stuff for 2 days while you defrost. I did have to ask a neighbor if I could put a whole turkey into her freezer for a day while I defrosted mine, one year. Then a few weeks later, I returned the favor and I kept a bunch of frozen veggies and meat in my freezer, while hers defrosted. I also know someone who defrosts her freezer in winter while the temps are still freezing outside, and keeps her frozen foods in an unheated garage, in the trunk of her car. If you have a safe place to put food items, where coyotes and raccoons can't get in, that's a possibility before it warms up.

      Do you can or dehydrate at all? For the future, you could can/dehydrate some of your excess produce, with the intention of eating it some time late spring, about when you might be wanting to defrost a freezer.

      Don't know if any of this helps.

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    3. Hey Lili,

      Thanks for the tips. The freezer that needs to be defrosted is my big chest freezer - it's not terribly bad, but I've owned it for 3 years now, and I've never defrosted it, so it's time. I never thought of doing it in winter and using the outside temperature to keep thing cold. Hmmm... I wonder how cold it is in the garage when it's 10 degrees out... I'll have to check and see.

      I have never explored either canning or dehydrating. I kinda have an irrational fear of botulism, so canning scares me. Dehydrated fruit on the other hand... I may have to consider that.

      Thanks again!
      :-)
      Cat

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  7. I need to live on a very small budget now, & I think I can do it if I just get the food budget under control. I spend a lot of money on food. I cook most of my own meals from scratch - I live on homemade soup in the winter, but I think a significant part of my food budget goes for pricey snacks. I do know these should be an occasional treat, and not a staple of my diet!

    I love roasting chicken - smells so mouthwatering. At my local grocers, a whole roaster costs more that the deli rotisserie chicken, which I find overly salty, soggy (no crispy skin!)and greasy. And for some reason the leftover bones and meat don't make a good stock. I don't know why it never occurred to me to roast chicken leg quarters - prefer dark meat anyway.

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    1. Oh yes... it's the "treats" that will get you every time! My most recent downfall was a run-in with some girl scouts. I fear I succumbed to three boxes of over priced "cookies." Seriously, how they can call something that's dipped in chocolate and filled with gooey peanut butter or caramel a "cookie" is beyond me - but I guess it's part of our collective societal delusion! Hopefully this little project will help to keep me on the straight & narrow.

      Oh, the "nasty rotisserie chicken" as a friend used to call them. Back in my "mostly vegetarian" days I'd occasionally splurge on one - cooking meat was out of the question, but somehow it felt less "yucky" if someone else did the cooking for me. But you're totally right, it tastes soooo much better if you cook it yourself - although it's totally crazy that an uncooked one would cost more! Hmmmm.....

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    2. Usually for treats I tell myself I can have them if I make them myself. Of course, making real food is a higher priority, so I end up putting off making treats, which is good for me anyway. But on the other hand I sometimes make cookies several weeks in a row (at least they're whole grain and the chocolate chips are shade-grown). These are cheaper than GS cookies even though they have more expensive ingredients.

      I also allow treats when they are on sale! Which means I do spend way too much time longingly checking out the cheese puffs and the chocolate granola...

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    3. "Seriously, how they can call something that's dipped in chocolate and filled with gooey peanut butter or caramel a "cookie" is beyond me"
      For some baffling distinctions between cookies (biscuits) and confectionery, have a look at which items do and do not attract sales tax (VAT) in the UK: VAT on Bakery products

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    4. Debbie - that's my general strategy too (making treats myself that is)... it helps to keep me honest. But those Girl Scouts looked up at me with their sad eyes, and I couldn't help but remember my days of indentured servitude as a Scout cookie seller... Anyhow, I caved!

      Rachel - that is totally hilarious! Reminds me of when I worked at the music school. We purchased and renovated an old church, and had to go through all sorts of permit requirements with building codes etc. Apparently if a building is used for concerts it has to meet different standards than if it's used for religious services.

      Anyhow, the one that still kills me was the "balcony." The main hall had a raised balcony in the back that could seat about 50 people... but, because there was only one staircase, the building codes limited us to 9 seats up there.

      But then, one of the architects on the project discovered that if we simply called it a "mezzanine" instead of a "balcony" we could seat 49 people up there with no problem. It still makes me shake my head!

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    5. I'm allowing myself cakes biscuits etc if they are homemade- not always by me, because people at work make YUMMY cakes, biscuits and puddings. It stops me eating the cheap, nasty shop bought biscuits though, which is a very good thing!

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    6. That strategy got me into trouble back when I was still working at the music school. We served yummy chocolate chip cookies at our concerts that were all homemade by one of our volunteers who was an AMAZING baker. We got to eat all the broken ones, and leftovers for free... it was sorta like living on a steady diet of cookies. We jokingly called it our "chocolate chip health care plan" since we didn't get health insurance, just cookies! :-)

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  8. I did this a couple of years ago. I think my baseline was $137/month (for just me). Now I spend $100/month. Some of the changes were small repetitive things like switching to graham crackers for my mid-afternoon work snack/dessert (from something more expensive which I've now forgotten). I've also tried out various recipes for some of my favorite box dishes--I finally can make a chili I love from scratch, but not a macaroni and cheese.

    There are all kinds of compromises going on. The funniest one is I mix my expensive, organic, semi-humanely-raised beef half and half with soy TVP.

    Another strategy is that when several ingredients are almost interchangeable, I'll pick the cheapest one. For example, when I make pasta, it's almost always spaghetti, which is the cheapest pasta for me.

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    1. Wow! That's quite impressive! I totally understand the compromises thing... and if I wasn't having problems with soy, I'd totally be doing the TVP thing!

      I know that my downfall is gonna be fresh fruit and veggies. I'm just a sucker for a juicy peach or some tender asparagus. We'll see how long I can go before I give in and end up with a big box of cherries or grapes. Let's hope I'm not at Costco when my will gives out! :-)

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  9. I had to laugh about the grapes - I bought about a kilo of clearance grapes for 29c the other day :)

    I also love Asian supermarkets :) I don't have one nearby that sells fruit and veg, but I wish I did. My mum has one near her and can get all kinds of green veggies cheap, plus bean sprouts loose (instead of in big packets).

    In terms of frugal grocery shopping, I usually spend $150-200 a month for just me. Lately I have been trying to cut that down. On the weekend I did a big shop and went to a shopping centre that has Aldi (for coconut cream, butter and tinned fish), a very cheap fruit and veg shop (29c a kilo pumpkin and 2 kilos of lemons for $1.99!) and a cheap meat place (I bought liver and mussels to try). I'm hoping that for the next couple of weeks I will only have to buy some fruit and veggies, nothing else.

    Unfortunately here whole chickens are as expensive per kilo as buying chicken breast. I usually buy the drumsticks, which are much cheaper and roast them :)

    Good luck with your challenge - it will be interesting to see how you go :)

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    1. I'm seething with jealousy about the grapes. Oh, to live in a warm climate where yummy things grow...

      I must say, you are much braver than I am in terms of experimenting with meat. I remember having to eat liver as a kid and thinking it was the most disgusting thing ever created. Can't see making myself go through that one again!

      If I get really brave I may check out the meat and fish section at the Asian market... looking at all the chicken feet sorta gave me the willies!

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  10. Hope it goes well, Cat! I am trying to think of a way to do the challenge, too, even for just a week. I would need to use up all of my perishable fruit and veg beforehand, and then not use anything from the pantry during the challenge, I think. Plus, will need to choose a week when there are no family birthdays or expected meals out. Harder than it sounds!

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    1. Thanks for inspiring me with your Foodstamped post! BTW, I found it at the library, and will be checking it out soon!

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  11. I have done the share packages where you do 2 hours of community service for your box, it really helped when the boys were young to cut down our food bills but it didn't stay around here very long. I don't know where they get these figures for the Food stamp amounts but around here you have no idea what you will get until you get a letter telling you. When I was in college I applied for benefits and received, are you ready, to feed myself and two small boys, they gave me $62 a month!

    I am so jealous of your $1 pound for apples. I have never found any that low. If I have to get them at the grocery store they are at least 3 times that amount.

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    1. $62/month for you and 2 kids?!!? Holy Moly! That's sort of starvation wages there. Can't imagine how you managed.

      I don't know how they calculate the food stamp benefit either... my guess based on the application FAQ is that it's a complicated equation based on income as well as the amount of "assets" you have (like money in the bank.) I finally found a website that had "average distributions" for each state, so that's what I went with. But if that's the average, then many people are having to get by on much less.

      And yes... the apples were a total steal... especially for organic ones. And these were huge juicy yummy apples too. It was a good score... I probably should have bought more than I did!

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    2. News flash!!! Not that anyone will see this... but... I just got back from running errands where I discovered to my delight that the special on apples was still going on - so I bought an enormous bag! Apples generally keep pretty well, so I doubt I'll have any troubles eating them all, especially since they're so yummy!

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    3. Cat, I bought a bag of Fuji apples last week and they have been perfect. Still crisp and juicy! Enjoy yours.

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  12. I typically spend 200-250 for the 3 of us (including holistic dry cat food and canned cat food). my son is 13 and does karate, so he can eat enough for 5 people. i am a vegetarian and they are not. (makes supper planning a little difficult). i cook from scratch all the time but do buy little 'extra's' from time to time...like little debbie snack cakes or a box of sweet tarts from the dollar store. the only other splurge item for us is ice cream and i just stock up whenever i see a good sale. we have a Market Basket chain in massachusetts that have really good prices and i shop lost leaders at other stores. i guess based on how much i spend, we are already living on a food stamp budget - which would be $526 for 3 people per month (according to massresource). holy crap! i wish i had that much to spend on food, i would certainly buy more fresh fruit for my family (and maybe a jar of Nutella for me!).

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    1. Wow! That's impressive! Can't wait to see what my numbers come out to at the end of the month, but I can say with absolute certainty that if I included the cat food I'd be way, way, WAAAAYYY over budget! I swear I spend more money feeding the fe-lions than I do feeding myself! :-)

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    2. it's not easy though! i don't buy steaks for my guys that cost $10/lb. I wait until Sirloin is on sale for 3.99. I look for managers sales, i buy chicken thighs instead of boneless breasts (thighs were actually my fave when i ate meat) things like that. I buy the holistic dry food from my feed store and regular can cat food when it goes on sale (she wont eat holistic canned - it goes to waste.) some months i go over but it makes it difficult to do other things...like buy oil for heat!

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    3. Oh... I fear things have gotten quite complicated and expensive over here in terms of kitty food. With Sputnik's bladder condition he's now on an all canned food diet, and since 2 of the other 3 vastly prefer canned food to dry, they have followed suit (seriously, how do you give one cat a "treat" without treating all of them?) Then I have Smoky who LOVES dry food and has to be convinced to eat canned... but in the process of researching stuff to help Sputnik, I've read a lot about cats with cystitis, which is thought to be caused by eating dry food - so of course, now I'm all paranoid about Smoky getting cystitis and have been trying to get him to eat canned...

      The result of all this is that we're going through a LOT of canned food and I fear more than I like is being wasted. Oh, the things we do for love! I feel very lucky to be in a financial position to be able to not worry about it in a practical sense though.

      BTW - I never liked white meat chicken either!

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  13. I've thought about doing a food stamp challenge but, really, I'm too lazy. To keep my food costs down, I try to ask myself questions at the grocery store ... is this nutritional? Is this item a want or a need? And of course I buy some wants ... but it does help me be more discerning. And yes, chocolate chips are a need, thankyouverymuch.

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    1. Ha! Well we'll see how I do with this experimental month and how motivated I am to continue beyond that point!

      I just got home from running errands... there was a huge dark chocolate candy bar on sale for $1. It was such a good deal that I instantly picked it up... but then I remembered that I'm trying to eat less crap. I practically had to pry the thing out of my hands and make myself put it back. Put down the chocolate and walk away!!!

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  14. Um, haven't you heard about the antioxidants in dark chocolate? Hello??????

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    1. Of course! What was I thinking! Chocolate is health food! :-)

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