Frugal Food Challenge - Final Day

November comes to an end and so does this challenge. It's great though, I'm gaining a greater enjoyment from making my own meals. While I won't be tracking the dollars and cents every meal, I walk away more conscientious of my diet and spending then ever before.

Given the fun of this challenge and learning from it, I may continue this blog with further challenges. Probably related to food, diet, or exercise. I'd like to challenge myself to eating out at places that will fit my frugal food budget and also be (decently) healthy. I'm also interested in an exercise challenge to see how much I can walk in a month.

In slightly related news I camped last night because the local fire ban was finally lifted. I found some of the common camp food (smoked sausage and chili in the case) to be reasonably priced. A slight change up from most the meals I've been having this month.

I'm signing off on this challenge with a "toast" if you will. My usual breakfast here, toast, eggs, and a variable side which was black beans on this day. =) Enjoy!

Frugal Food Challenge - Day 27

The month challenge is winding down. We made it through Thanksgiving without too much damage. I didn't track cost of the meals on Thanksgiving and black Friday. Mainly I ate turkey, mashed potatoes, etc. at my families house. No surprises there and I had that for left overs the next day as well.

Saturday I got right back into the swing of my $4 a day challenge. I ate:

Usual Breakfast: Toast, Egg, Coffee - $0.57
Snack: Cereal with milk and 1/2 banana sliced - $0.71
Lunch: Two small tacos with beans, pico, and avocado - $1.14
Dinner: Toast with PB and agave syrup - $0.37

Total for the day was $2.79. It was a light eating day. You may have experienced the same after eating a ton of food on the day prior.

With most of the month completed I learned that it was much easier than originally thought to keep my budget under $4 a day. Grocery store food is a great deal compared to eating out. There are of course unaccounted for costs like left-overs that spoil. Gas is another cost but I don't consider it to be extra, since we normally would have to pay the same to get to a restaurant or have food delivered.

At $4 a day, that would amount to approximately $1460 a year for food or $2920 for two people. Right now I spend closer to $5000 a year on food. Sticking to this plan would get significant savings, I just need to convince my wife. =) Of course, it wouldn't be any fun to never eat out and I think setting aside a budget for that is reasonable. It could be done and still have a savings at the end of the year versus my normal spending.

I believe anyone could benefit from limited their food budget and see how creative they can get with their food. Give it a try!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Thanksgiving and I'm getting ready to eat a lot. I hope everyone is able to relax, enjoy the holiday, and eat well!

I don't know the costs of all this great stuff here. I'm just going to be try and be reasonable with second servings! =)

Frugal Food Challenge - Meal Snapshot

Just a quick meal snapshot. Free work coffee, carrot, and an apple.

It's a strange feeling to be the outcast when eating something simple like this!

Frugal Food Challenge - Day 15

We are at the halfway mark. Today I'm going to get my average cost so far to get a sense of how well this is going. A couple of thoughts beforehand.

First the obvious. I haven't eaten out at all. it really just doesn't fit the budget. I could get something off a dollar menu at Taco Bell in a pinch but it hasn't been necessary. The quality just wouldn't compare either! =P

I've also noticed, there have been some days that I over-ate. Some food are so dang filling AND cheap. Peanut butter is probably the best example and probably why it's an inferior good in economic terms.

Lastly, I've been eating less meat overall. This wasn't so much a conscious choice, just when it boils down to it there are excellent replacements for much less cost. Think avocados, black beans, quinoa, and peanut butter.

This is a dish I had a couple days ago. It was not only delicious but easy to make. Pasta isn't as expensive as I thought. I'm using Dreamfields low carb pasta so the blood sugar spike isn't too bad. Mixed with some broccoli, pepper, and butter. It is approximately $1.38 for the pasta and broccoli.

Now on to my average cost for the first 15 days. Totaling up each day and dividing by fifteen days brings me to $3.43 average per day. There were four days I went over $4 a bit, not by much, and I'm still well under that on average.

Some of the meals/foods I've enjoy so far are bananas, whole wheat bread with PB and agave syrup, breakfast tacos, fajita tacos, turkey salad, pasta, broccoli, mixed vegetables, lima beans, black beans, eggs, carrots, and apples. Some days the meals end up being pretty random and others everything just works out well.

I'm signing off today with today's meals and another picture, because tacos are so damn good!

Breakfast $0.90
Buttered Whole Wheat Toast - 13cents
Peanut Butter with Agave - 29cents (I know...I'm weird)
Applesauce - 18cents
Coffee - 30cents

Lunch $1.43
Two tacos with 1/2 avocado, pico, beans, and bell peppers

Snack $0.78
Coffee 30cents
Banana 15cents
Mixed Nuts 33cents

Dinner $1.31
Pasta 63cents
Lima Beans 28cents
Broccoli 40cents
and more PB + Agave 29 cents

Total Cost $ 4.71