by Claire
As I sat waiting for my flight home today I happened to catch a segment on CNN about a family who took a 100-days-of-real-food-challenge. This caught my attention because of the recent posts and comments on groceries and I was fascinated! I could relate to this mom (Lisa Leake) as she explained how her journey started and what a huge difference it has made in her life. So I just googled and found her blog at http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/ I am not saying I am ready to jump off into this intimidating world but I am definitely ready to take some of her advice and start making some changes. Like her at the beginning—I like to think we do okay on our diet–but after reading just a bit I can see we will definitely benefit. Of course, my biggest concern right now was the cost and she addressed that right off the bat. Yes, real food is more expensive…and she received so many comments about that reality in the beginning that she then took another challenge: Eating real food for $125 per week for a family of 4! When I saw that number and looked at her plan…I took it as a sign! So, I’m going to start exploring her website and I’ll report back of course.
I told Steve about this tonight and he was very supportive of trying something new. We know we can all benefit from some changes. He also made the point that he thinks it might be helpful if I find something like this to put my attention toward while the debt payoff gains momentum and, to some extent, needs to go on autopilot. Now, before you think he’s saying that we need to stop paying attention to money…he isn’t. He’s just telling me that this debt payoff thing might be a bit like watching grass grow and to keep me from going crazy (and driving him crazy)…maybe I should focus on food! 🙂
Born and raised in Texas. I’ve at least driven through every state in the US courtesy of a roadtrip loving Dad.
I’m single with two children and a good parenting relationship with their father.
I am a “life is just half full of funny” kinda gal. Humor is my saving grace and I am thankful for it every single day. I have a strong Catholic faith and am thankful for that foundation.
I read a lot for a living but still enjoy a good book. I love biographies but in recent years have found the need for fun fictional books–sadly, for a long time I just didn’t enjoy fiction!
I love live theatre of any kind–from local productions to Broadway.
I love to scrapbook and pride myself in my kids’ albums.
I love being a mom but also love my career. I’m blessed to have found a balance allowing me to be at everything my kids need and want me to be at–while also having a career.
Favorite Quotes: Well behaved women rarely make history.
Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out. -James Bryant Conant
I think anything that includes a PLAN and thought towards HEALTH is a great place to start in the grocery department. I’m trying to lose LBS and pay down debt, and your hubby is right…focusing on the $ part of things is crazy and looking at how to feed your family in a healthy way might be better time spend….for myself as well! The budget has been set…let it “work”…and focus on new ways to save and make healthy food…sounds like a win-win to me! 🙂
I’m excited to check out that blog, thanks! And the $125 matches up nicely, must be meant to be! 🙂 I think Steve’s got a great point about having something else productive that you can put some energy into. I always am a little bummed during the time after I transfer money to the right accounts after getting paid before I have more income to redirect again.
My mom used to stretch out our milk by adding Carnation Dry Milk (and water) when the gallon got down halfway.
You could save up for a Food Saver and a freezer so you could take advantage of sales. You could raid the meat bargain bin at your grocery store.
The web is a great place to get some information. I personally like the blogs budget bytes and cheap, healthy good. Hillbilly Housewife is a good site as well.
And this article has some helpful information and links. http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/create-cheap-healthy-meals.html
I’ve been working very hard to cook every day (or at least most days) and eat real food. I spent a TON of money at first because I didn’t even have the most basic cooking supplies, but I’m starting to see a difference in what I spend and how I feel. Real food is a good thing!
Getting away from processed food will definitely save money however it does cost money to eat well. We eat mostly organic food and it’s expensive. I make nearly everything from scratch and that takes time. I think a good first start would be a bread machine. You can make bread for at little as $.44/loaf with only a few ingredients (water, milk, flour, sugar, salt and yeast). You can make pizza dough too. I make mine in the bread machine (I have a small 1 pound machine.) and then cut it in half and keep one half in the refrigerator and one half in the freezer. When I want pizza, it takes less than 5 minutes to assemble-spread dough, add olive oil, add homemade sauce (you could buy that), add onion, garlic, oregano and then cheese and spinach on top. Costs much less than buying bread or pizza. I have a Zojirushi bread machine that also makes jam (delicious) too. A bread machine would save some money and doesn’t take much time.
Had no idea about this project. Thanks for the info…