Bountiful Baskets Meal #1

I've gotten a lot of positive feedback since my post about how to eat well for $20/week for 2 people, but the biggest concern was that people didn't think you can get fresh produce on that budget. I am a firm believer that if there's a will, there's a way! So, as of this week, I have started to get Bountiful Baskets (you can get more information about locations of distribution at www.bountifulbaskets.org. Every week for $16.50 (including the handling fee), they aim to give you 5 types of fruites and 5 types of vegetables, and they sometimes have extras! This week, I got 5 bananas, 3 tomatoes, 2 apple pears, 1 pineapple, 1 lb. red seedless grapes, 2 butternut squashes, 1 head of lettuce, 1 head of kale, 1 onion, and 2 pomegranates! I am starting a month-long trial where every other week I buy a Bountiful Basket, 1 gallon of milk, and a dozen eggs (totaling right under $20), and the other week buy meat and baking necessities. Not only will this help us eat a little healthier and try out new things, but it will still be completely affordable!
Ok, but what can you actually cook with a bunch of fruits and veggies and stuff? Well, today we separated the pomegranate and took out the seeds, so we had those and some grapes for breakfast. For lunch, we wanted something that we could take with us along with the grapes to the Desert Botanical Gardens. After looking from a few recipes, combining, taking away, and adding my own ideas, I made this butternut squash dish:

Ingredients:
1/2 Peeled Butternut Squash
1.5 Tbsps. Olive Oil
1/4 Tsp. Black Pepper
3 Cloves of Minced Garlic
1 Tbsp. Parsley

In order to peel the squash more easily, I cut the two ends off and microwaved it for 3 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then, cut it in half lengthwise and pull out the gunk and seeds. Take the seeds and rinse them, then set them aside. Next, cube the squash in 1/2-1 inch cubes and place in a bowl. Toss with the olive oil, pepper, garlic, parsley, and seeds. Line a cake pan with aluminum foil and spread the squash evenly across the pan. Cook the squash for about 40 minutes, taking it out and turning the cubes after 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Sample Menu for a $20/week Grocery Bill

I hope that my last post was helpful in giving you ideas about how to cut down your weekly grocery budget to about $10/person. Just think of what you can do with that extra money! Even if you just cut your budget by $5/week, your savings will add up to $260 a year, and I think most people can cut a lot more than $5 out!
I thought it might also be helpful to share with you a sample weekly meal menu from our home. I usually do my shopping on Thursday or Friday (because the grocery ads come out on Wednesday), so my menu starts on Thursday. Do whatever works for you!
As you can see, we are really basic for breakfasts. Besides the occasional breakfast dish or casserole, we typically eat either Yoplait yogurt (which I easily get on sale for .40/yogurt every week), a piece of fruit, and/or toast. Again, lunches one weekdays usually consist of leftovers for Sam and eating at work for me (which only costs up to $8 a week).
Dinner, however, is where it's at! Taco Tuesdays have become a new fixture at our place. All you need is a pound of ground beef ($1.59), taco seasoning (.50), and corn tortillas ($1.99/80). We will also use cheese and sour cream if we had room in the budget. As you can see, this is a cheap, easy, and tasty dinner that makes for great leftovers.
Spaghetti is another super cheap dinner. Again, you only need a pound of ground beef, tomato sauce (usually under $1), pasta (I got a great sale for .33 for a pound of spaghetti and stocked up), and homemade bread and whatever veggies were on sale for the week!
I do like to be a little adventurous, however. For example, the sweet and sour chicken is one I have been saving up for! However, once you have the ingredients, by portion size, it's a pretty cheap meal. Again, DO NOT just go out and buy ingredients you will only use for one meal. That's how you get those costs to go up.
Alrighty then! If you have any questions or suggestions, let me know :)

Thursday

B: yogurt, fruit, toast
L: leftovers (S), Work (K)

D: Sweet and Sour Chicken, white rice

Friday

B: yogurt, fruit, toast
L: leftovers (S), Work (K)

D: Eat Out

Saturday

B: yogurt, fruit, toast
L: PB& Honey sandwich, leftovers, bake
D: Friend’s House

Sunday

B: yogurt, fruit, toast
L: Free College Lunch
D: leftovers, PB& Honey sandwich

Monday

B: yogurt, fruit, toast
L: leftovers (S), Work (K)
D: Spaghetti

Tuesday

B: yogurt, fruit, toast
L: leftovers (S), Work (K)
D: Taco Tuesday

Wednesday

B: yogurt, fruit, toast
L: leftovers (S), Work (K)
D: Crockpot Herb Chicken Drumsticks, butter/garlic pasta

Eating Well for $20/Week (for 2!)

I have been getting asked a lot recently how I only spend $20/week on groceries (and this includes shampoo, toilet paper, deodorant, etc.). I know many people who have been spending a lot more every week than they want or even plan on. Here are some simple solutions to help you get started on cutting your budget down to $10/person/week.

1. PLAN: Ok, so I don't always have the time to write out exactly what we are eating for every meal each week and don't know what I will be craving on Saturday at 1 o'clock. However, it's good to take stock of what is in your kitchen every week and have a general idea of what you can make. My goal is to have at least four possible big dinner options every week. For example, this coming week I plan on making spaghetti, herb chicken drumsticks and garlic/butter pasta, hamburger helper, and sweet and sour chicken with white rice. For the other nights, Sam and I like to eat out about once a week for dinner ($10 for both of us), might be going over to a friend's house, and are ok with eating leftovers.

2. WEEKLY SHOPPING: I hear a lot of times about people running to the store a couple of times a week because they run out of "necessitites" like eggs or bread. I've noticed with myself and others that these quick trips cost a lot more in the long run than one planned trip every week. I go to the store with my $20 and get what I need for the week; no going back unless it is something important (like I forgot to get ice cream for my 21st birthday party...). This helps cut down on those impulse buys and really makes you think out your week (back to step 1). But what if you do run out? Get creative! Out of milk and you were going to make that hamburger helper? Get on Pinterest and look for another recipe! Investigate substitutes for different ingredients. Or, do a simple search online for recipes with what ingredients you do have. There are lots of ways to go around missing one ingredient.

3. STOCK UP: When I first started out on my $20/week budget, it was tough to make anything that wasn't super basic because I was spending 99% of my money on meat, fresh produce, and basic ingredients. It takes awhile to be able to build up your pantry. A good way to help this is to stock up when something is on a good sale. I will stock up on boneless skinless chicken breast (which I use an awful lot) when it goes on sale for $1.59/lb and ground beef when it is on sale for $1.69/lb and not have to buy those items the next week or two. That first week is tougher because I will pretty much only buy meat, milk, and bananas, but the next couple of weeks you can start diversifying your pantry. Those are the weeks I get to have fun picking out sauces, buying the olive oil, and getting my brussel sprouts! The majority of those items last a lot longer so you only have to pick those up once in awhile.

4. DON'T BUY FOR 1 RECIPE: There's this sweet and sour chicken recipe that I've been wanting to try forever (and I get to try it this week!), but I've had to wait on it because it had a bunch of ingredients that I don't normally use and didn't have. For example, this recipe calls for corn starch, ketchup, and soy sauce. If I went out and bought those in one week for the one dinner, I would spend about 1/3 of my budget for the week on 1/21 of my meals. That's crazy! So, you wait for a coupon to come out on corn starch and buy that one week, and so on and so forth. I only go out and start buying random ingredients if I start seeing a couple recipes that I would like to try that call for them. That way your ingredients go a lot farther.

5. PRICE MATCH: 4 out of 5 weeks I go to Walmart to do my shopping. It's not that I really like the store or their selections, but I do love the price match. The only time I don't go to Walmart is when a store (like Fry's) has a really good sale and I have coupons that will be increased to $1 that go with the sale. That's more rare. However, every week I can mix and match different sales from about 8 stores that conveniently send me their ads every Sunday and Wednesday. I make my list for what I need first (that way you don't just buy something because you find a coupon), and then go through the ads and coupon inserts to find the lowest price for the item. I then make my final list with the exact item, the sale price, and what store the sale is from. That way, when I go to the store, I avoid impulse purchases because I have my exact list, and I know that I am going to stay on budget. If Walmart has it cheaper, all the better!

6. EAT LEFTOVERS: When I cook my "big dinners," I always make a little more than I know we are going to eat. It rarely costs much more and saves you more in the long run. Sam is really good about eating leftovers for his lunches when he goes to work. He will happily eat the same thing a couple of days in a row. However, I normally eat at work as I either get free or 50% off lunches Monday-Friday (it costs about $8 at most per week). Sam eating the leftovers for lunch saves a bunch and makes it easy to get out the door in the mornings.

So these are just a few tips to get you started on cutting down your grocery budget for the week. It's not about cutting the quality of your food, just eating quality food on a budget. Sam always jokes that since he has gotten married he eats twice as well for half as much :) Do you have any other tips to share? Let me know how it goes!