This month's challenge has been so fabulous in that it has reminded me to be aware of our shopping, eating, and cooking habits. For example, I have been reminded just how much we like fresh produce. It is where the bulk of our food spending goes. We luckily live in Coastal California, where the growing season is long (never ending?), so we have access to good food. It means we can also be better about growing our own food year round, not just in the summer. It will be trial and error, but I was motivated to resume growing, even in small amounts, in our yard that has been in upheaval for some time.
In September, we planted into our seasonal raised beds. This month, we have continued working on the rest of our yard (we have been all summer and now all autumn) and got started on our perennial plantings.
My main learning from this month has been that when I think I am "out of food" or my list is long, just look around at what we have and find a new recipe to match. I won't pretend that my current shopping list is short , but we ended up eating very little from the "preserved" foods we had on hand at the beginning of the month, so October's total feels re-doable. I still feel confident that I can continue this challenge going forward. I hope to cap our edibles at $400 monthly and our total grocery (pet and health & body) at $500.
Our total spending for edibles this month was $343.60.
This week's meals included pizza, enchiladas,
crepes (with arugula pesto), and
chard pasta. All homemade, all gluten-free.
So as we transition into November, I know my major shopping happens at the beginning of the month. In the past week, we have also had a half dozen earthquakes, so given that non perishable food is one of the areas in which we haven't ever been fully prepared, I will be stocking up on those, but not out of our food budget, since this won't be consumed anytime soon. In a year or so, when I feel we need to eat and replace emergency food, I will use food budget money at that point.
Below is the delicious pesto recipe we made (and froze excess) this week.
Arugula Pestofrom Frugal Foodie, by Lara Starr
1/4 cup toasted almonds (Nicola's note: toasted is essential)
2 large garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 cup fresh arugula leaves
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup olive oil
Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend. Add salt to taste.
Thanks for following along with me in this challenge! I feel really good about how well we have eaten and for how little. I needed this to pull me back on track and feel positive about reducing our overall (not just food) spending. Check out all the others doing it over at
Beauty that Moves.
Some other posts I have written in the past, may be of interest.
After T's birthday party ended on Saturday, it began to rain. And it rained. Buy on Sunday, it dawned with sunshine, rain clouds teasing in the background. To us, that meant the perfect day for an outing to the beach. It had been awhile since we went to a sand beach with Mike. (Our favorite family outing beaches have small rock beaches!) I learned that Mike thinks big. We took the usual sand toys, but he wanted to play, too, so he brought big buckets and real shovels. And the thing with the sandy beach down the street from where we live is that it is urban, so Mike took a little walk to find coffee for himself and came back with french fries for the kids. Talk about an infrequent fast food treat! I think the highlight (besides Mike and I reading, side by side, in pop up chairs) was watching the sky shifting and changing.
