I'd like to update on that post with what we bought this week, what was cooked, what went bad, and what carried over to this week.
We bought too much fresh berries. Half of the strawberries and blackberries went bad before we could eat them, leading to $2 wasted. We've been doing pretty good otherwise about actually eating the food we've bought and not adding it to the landfill.
Of everything we bought, many things carried over to this week, including a fair number of limes, carrots, yogurt, meat, lettuce, squash, cantaloupe, mushrooms, tomatoes, etc..
The items we used up completely or went bad only accounted for roughly $10 of last week's purchase. It's a lot harder to account for items partially used up, so I will just not count those at all right now.
As for this week's purchases, here's the breakdown:
(No staples, all "consumables")
Item
|
Pounds
|
Cost
($$)
|
Lebanese pita bread
|
1
|
0.99
|
Bagels (mini, double-fiber)
|
1
|
1.99
|
Lavash
|
0.5
|
1.25
|
Light sour cream
|
0.5
|
3.39
|
Greek yogurt, nonfat
|
1
|
4.39
|
Large white eggs (18 ct)
|
1.5
|
2.99
|
Queso fresco (SPLURGE!!)
|
0.8
|
2.00
|
Lebne cheese (SPLURGE!!)
|
0.5
|
2.19
|
Ground beef
|
2.02
|
4.02
|
Tilapia, whole
|
2.40
|
2.14
|
Chicken breast, bone-in
|
4.35
|
4.31
|
Apples
|
5.18
|
3.57
|
Avocado
|
(2 fruit)
|
1.38
|
Burro bananas
|
0.97
|
0.38
|
Yellow bananas
|
1.92
|
0.63
|
Carrots
|
2
|
0.66
|
Collard greens
|
(1 bunch)
|
0.79
|
Cucumbers
|
(4 ‘cukes)
|
0.99
|
Cucubmers, Persian
|
1.44
|
0.99
|
Blackberries
|
0.8
|
1.29
|
Eggplant, large
|
(2 fruits)
|
1.38
|
Garlic
|
0.46
|
0.46
|
Ginger (fresh)
|
0.28
|
0.09
|
Jicama
|
0.86
|
0.43
|
Kiwi
|
(4 fruit)
|
0.99
|
Lemons
|
(5 fruit)
|
0.99
|
Honeydew melon
|
3.06
|
1.01
|
Oranges, navel
|
2.96
|
1.15
|
Parsnips
|
1.50
|
1.49
|
Chayote squash
|
(2 squash)
|
0.50
|
Mexican squash
|
0.86
|
0.43
|
Tomatoes
|
1.24
|
0.86
|
Ice cream (SPLURGE!!)
|
1
|
3.49
|
Total
|
40.1
|
53.61
|
Despite the fact that we now have enough food in the apartment to not have to go shopping next week at all, and have blatantly splurged a fair bit, let's assume that the last two week's spending is representative of an average two weeks. Our total food spending for these two weeks is $111. If we double that for a 4 week month, we're at $222, well under the USDA's "thrifty" plan for a family of 2 at $375 a month.
Well, I did a little looking around the internets, and found out there is a "food stamp challenge" that some people attempt to subject themselves to for a week or two in order to experience the "social, physical, and emotional difficulties of poverty and food insecurity by living on a food stamp budget for just a week." http://povertyandpolicy.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/what-good-is-the-food-stamp-challenge/ The take-home message from that blog, and I would like to re-enforce it here, is that "Let's not confuse a short-term, voluntary experiment in self-deprivation with the real thing." By no means do I ever want to convey that my experiments with eating well on a low budget has anything to do with how people who are seriously poor can live on a similarly low budget.....
...also remember that no where did I suggest this was an experiment in self-deprivation. We're eating on a low budget here, but we're by no means giving up tasty, healthy food.
Anyway, I tried to find the food stamps budget here in California, where I am making our budget, cooking, and dining. It's apparently around $25 per person per week, lining us up nicely with a roughly $200 a month budget for two people. We're a little over that at the moment (by $22, but remember we've not only purchased staples but also splurged a little), but we also now have enough food to last us another 2 weeks, probably.
Hmmm.... while it's not EASY to live within the $25 per person per week goal, it's a LOT easier than living within the $25 per 2 people per week goal that we once had. I'll post a synopsis of yesterday's and today's meals as an overview on "eating well on a low budget," and soon I'll get back to less math and more photos as a way to show you how we're handling the experiment.... And maybe one of these days I'll be able to say, with confidence, that assuming you can invest in the necessary infrastructure of a freezer/fridge combo (~$400 new from Home Depot with delivery), a decent set of pans and a reasonable knife (free if you hit the right estate sale at the right time), and live where I do, that you can not only eat well but really healthy food on a food stamp budget.
I'm pretty sure I'll be able to say that. Now, there may be political ramifications of making such a statement, but those are beyond the purview of this blog! I'll let you Californians now go and discuss among yourselves and leave comments....
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