Eating on a Budget

Oh, hi! I’m back! It’s been a hectic few weeks, what with softball practice, softball games, a concert, birthday parties, user group meetings, etc. It’s all good. Just a very busy good.

And when we’re very busy, we’re not always behaving in a frugal way. Oh, we haven’t been out buying flat-screen TVs and designer athletic shoes. It’s just that we’ve been relying more than usual on convenience foods and eating out. So now it’s the end of the month, and we need to tighten our belts (meaning both that we need to save money and that I need to lose a few pounds).

We’ve got a few things on the shelves and in the freezer to use up. So today, I went grocery shopping for the week and spent $22.36.

I didn’t use a single coupon. I generally don’t use coupons, unless they’re for something I would buy anyway and they’re attached to the store shelves. We don’t subscribe to the newspaper, and we don’t usually buy name-brand items, so I don’t feel it’s worth it.

No, I just kept it simple, and bought things that would supplement what we have already.

Here’s the tentative menu plan (dinners only):

• Baked salmon w/ zucchini (I have a slab of salmon from the farmers’ market in the freezer)
• Macaroni and cheese
• Pancakes
• Scrambled eggs
• Black beans w/ salsa and rice
• Split pea soup with bacon (I have a package of bacon ends to use up)

You may notice that I didn’t buy any fruits or vegetables except for the zucchini. We have on hand frozen veggies, apples, carrots, canned beets and canned mandarin oranges.  I might pick up some frozen apple juice another time; I forgot about it today. We also have young lettuces that we can thin out of the garden — yum!

We have both hot and cold breakfast cereals in stock, and plenty of coffee and milk.  We also have yogurt and cheese for a little protein boost.

For lunches, I restocked bread, mayo and peanut butter and bought a package of bologna and some tuna. We already had a package of hot dogs, and I bought buns today.  I often take leftovers for lunch, but I actually don’t anticipate having leftovers from the meals I have planned.

These aren’t the healthiest, most earth-friendly meals I’ve ever planned.  Well, except that they don’t contain a lot of meat! That’s earth-friendly. But they will get us through, and quite comfortably.

More resources on frugal eating:

• The Oregonian‘s Leslie Cole wrote a detailed article (with a video and recipes) last week on feeding a family well on a limited income.
• Jacquelyn at Broad Brains has been doing a series on Breaking Up With the Grocery Store, in which she has decided not to shop at the grocery store for a month. She’s using up her pantry stock and finding alternative ways to get food.
• Like I said, I mostly don’t do coupons, but if you do, be sure to check out Hot Coupon World for resources.
• Katy at The Non-Consumer Advocate is hosting a June Food Stamp Challenge, in which participants pledge to eat on a food stamp budget for the month.