Well, we did it. Made it through a month making all our meals at home (except one lunch we ate out at the coast when we stayed overnight there). Breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners all made. By the end of the month I'll admit our fridge was looking pretty bare lol. When we seemed to be running out of "snacky" foods, the boys and I started baking. We made lots of banana bread muffins. I always have some baking ingredients! We spent $345 on groceries in January- though technically only $305 since we used a $40 Christmas gift card. It's definitely do-able but also a lot of work. If I was teaching full time I think I'd spend a lot more just for lack of time and to make things easier. My versions of making things "easier" usually equate using my crock pot or defrosting something from the freezer- but whatever you can do in your situation to simplify or streamline things is a plus.
January 25th: Crock pot Tortilla Mexican Lasagna, Spanish style rice, and fruit
OOPS...so we had company over for dinner this night and I totally spaced taking a picture. I did, however, link the recipe just in case anyone wants to see what it looks like or how to make it.
January 26th: Japanese Curry with fruit salad. The in-laws joined us for dinner this night and requested Aaron's famous Japanese curry. It had chicken, potatoes, carrots, edamame, and water chesnuts in it. Yum. Served on white rice. Aaron started making his own sauce instead of using the bricks you can buy because homemade is gluten free and MSG free.
January 27th: Leftover Curry with pear
January 28th: Baked Cornflake Chicken (gf way of "breading" it), green beans and mashed cauliflower, and applesauce.
January 29th: Crock pot chicken, quinoa pilaf with corn(red and reg. quinoa mixed), and leftover green beans & mashed cauliflower. Smoothies too!
January 30th: Breakfast for the guys while I teach: scrambled eggs, bacon, gf pan cakes, and whole wheat waffles. Also the blender was full of yummy goodness for a batch of smoothies! Blueberry, banana, and spinach. I find it hard to incorporate veggies into a "breakfast" dinner so spinach in a smoothie works! We also generally slather the boys' pancakes with plenty of Adam's peanut butter for extra fat and protein :)January 31st: Steak, mashed potatoes, steamed veggies (broccoli and carrots), bread sticks. Oops. Twice in one week I forgot to snag a pic! And on the last day of the month no less. My parents joined us for dinner this night and my mom brought some yummy steaks to broil and we made some sides. Wish I had a picture!
It's nice not to have to take pictures of my food anymore but I did enjoy getting to keep myself accountable with spending and force myself to be creative with the food that we already have. Which often means basing my planning on what I have instead of finding a new recipe that I am missing ingredients for. It iS indeed possible to eat a wholesome diet without spending a fortune. Keeping an ongoing grocery list helps me as well as menu planning, and making things myself. Whatever budget you need to stick to- happy budgeting and meal planning to you!! Enjoy the fellowship of food and family!
Check out this article for more reasons that eating on a tight budget can still equate healthy!
