It was a really good exercise. I made some food discoveries that will save me money every week.
That was without any planning ahead. I'd think people who have that limit can plan ahead for future menus and get even further ahead.
There’s been times I’ve spent 30-40 dollars for the whole month, much less a week. There’s only one of me (in the past there was a cat too, but she’s now in kitty heaven), but even so, $40 for a whole month is a stretch, but I’ve done it. One set of my relatives (2 person household) gets about $180 a month in food stamps, and their freezers are stacked with food. I must admit to some jealousy, as I scrape by. Actually, now I’m hungry. Am going to forage for food now.
Hey, grania, thanks for the ping. I just made some yum cabbage soup with organic carrots and organic celery leftover from our $30 week, and some potatoes too. Plus a lot of other stuff, including some dried lentils, so it’s got protein and really tastes great. If it needs more protein, I can top it with a big tablespoon of nonfat yogurt, my version of sour cream.
Other good news: I lost a little weight. Every bite I put into my mouth had outstanding nutritional value during our $30 week except the vanilla/sugar wafers from Mexico, but you’ve gotta have a little fun. Those wafers were $1.11 for the package; the equivalent Nabisco package is OVER $5 at my market...checked yesterday. So it’s worth it to drive 8 miles to the el cheapo store. Just one package of cookies pays for the gas.
We should write a FR cookbook that presents recipes on the cheap from all over the country.
My dad was in the restaurant business, was very smart about getting us kids to eat and enjoy everything. We were NOT allowed to turn down any food we had not actually tasted, we were not allowed to eat much bread except for sandwiches, and we always had well-balanced meals. We almost never had dessert of any kind. Nor dinner rolls. (”Not enough food value,” he’d say. — today we’d say nutritional value.)
The only thing I ever tried that I really wanted to gag on was nopales cactus, which I had in a Mexican restaurant and have managed to avoid for the rest of my life.
Guess I’m saying that parents can make mealtimes not only delicious and nutritious, but also can instill a sense of adventure and discovery in their kids. When mine were preschoolers, I took them to the grocery store and we started alphabetically through the vegetables, from artichokes to zucchini. I had a very hard time getting beyond the artichokes because they absolutely loved them. Perhaps because they chose them themselves. My son honestly didn’t like peas. So he didn’t have to eat them; he had all the other veggies he did like..