Snackuary: January Food Budget Challenge

[Qristy]

Ok I’m doing this, albeit on easy mode:

• no more than two delivery meals a week
• no letting meal kits go to waste: use or freeze!

[esme]

My goals for this month:

• $400 food budget (this is $100 less than normal/average)

• No supermarket runs to ‘fill in’ between official food shopping trips

• one restaurant meal (when my dad visits in a couple weeks)

• no spending my own money on coffee (we have a gift card to the local coffee place - that can be used)

[LifeInBalance]

I’m going to have to drop out of this challenge. I’m on week 2 of bronchitis and it’s still not getting better. I’m impressed with everything you all have accomplished this first week.

[Illathrael]

Goals:

• Prep lunches for work week Done! Roasted veggies and chicken. Ate for all five work lunches.
• Eat more fruit There was apple on my pizza last night! And I ate two oranges and have an apple in waiting for this weekend.
• Buy less prepared food Bought veggies and packaged chicken for my week long lunches, did also buy morningstar chik patties and cheese.
• Only eat out if necessary or planned with company Had pizza last night with friends that I supplemented with roasted asparagus

[Gdogg]

@Gdogg

Goals:

1. Eat down the pantry - including freezer;
2. Eat at least 2 salads / week;
3. Make at least 2 pots of soup.

Well…
If I eat two salads this weekend I can stay on track for Goal 2.
I will make homemade pizza, which will help with Goal 1 - this will use tomato, ham, pepperoni, and cheese from the freezer.
Need to make some soup also.

TL;DR - so far I have done nothing… these challenges are good reminders though.

ETA: ate a salad for dinner, so one down, one to go this week.
ETA2: side salad tonight, so on track for 1/3 goals
ETA3: making a pot of soup (goal#3), which used up salsa verde, and beans from the freezer (goal#1). Progress on all fronts.

[rural]

I’m going to make a goal to eat something from that freezer at least five times a week, and another to add nothing to that freezer except chicken if we run out or leftovers

I’m making either a curry or fried rice for supper, either of which will use some pepper and onion mix, some broccoli, and some spring rolls from that freezer. May use chicken as well unless we decide to go with tofu. But frozen veggies, spring rolls, and chicken are like the three things we are most likely to use from that freezer, so I’m not sure it’s a real win (the burgers were a win). Also, if we run out of veggies and spring rolls, I will cheat and replace them.

What I need to do is inventory that freezer and the one on the fridge, and I don’t wanna.

[LadyDuck]

@LadyDuck

• home made lunch minimum 3 times per week
• grocery delivery every Friday.
• meal plan the week before.

We ate most lunches at home. We were on holiday, though, so we bought a few dinners.
We DID plan meals and do grocery shopping on Friday, so that one is a win. Meal plan is working so far.

[TrisPrior]

@TrisPrior

My goals are:

• spend no more than $80 every 2-week pay period on groceries. (I budget per pay period, not month; I’m paid every other Friday.)
• get real about how much food I actually need to eat during my work day and bring that amount of food to work. (I, uh, actually have a lot of shame about this one. I feel like the amount of food I need to not be hangry is enormous and embarrassing - but, if I bring tiny meals that I feel “should” be enough and then end up eating out of the vending machine because I’m so hangry I can’t concentrate on my job, that’s not helpful.)
• this is not really budget-related, but Boyfriend and I are planning a January Cleanse in which we will not eat any grains. We have been relying too much on carbs and it shows in our appearance and our energy levels, OOF.

• Got paid yesterday, did the grocery shop, spent $41.46 (which included wine). We are pretty well stocked. Not sure what else I’ll need in the next couple weeks. More wine, definitely, haha. Maybe cheese. Eggs? Since I’m doing no grains I’ll mostly be doing eggs for breakfast.

• I actually haven’t been that hangry at work - my stomach’s been a little off, which isn’t uncommon for me when I’m sleeping very poorly. I don’t feel sick exactly but food often doesn’t seem appetizing. Shrug. I did pick up some larabars in the grocery shop to keep in my desk in case of hanger emergencies.

• I amended this to “no grains after the cooked grains we have are out of the house.” because I didn’t want to throw out food. Had the rest of the coconut rice with my curry for lunch and finished off some baked brown rice pasta with red peppers and tomatoes and cheese. That’s it for the grains I had on hand. Also have still been eating oatmeal for breakfast because I just didn’t have the time to batch cook any non-grain breakfast food - I did that today though, made a frittata.

ETA: I found some leftover taco-seasoned fake ground beef that I’d frozen a while ago and forgotten about. (I take fake ground beef and simmer it in salsa - homemade, if I have it, which I did. ) Tacos for dinner! Yum!

[rural]

Doing my part for the cause: I’ve chilled my sangria-from-a-box with some of the frozen blueberries from that freezer.

Also used most of the chicken thighs in supper tonight. That’s more of a win as I don’t like them. Basically I don’t like meat that has grease or any bones. I can handle boneless skinless chicken breast and venison. Oh, and Turkey sausage and beef hot dogs. I’d be much happier never to have to eat another kind of meat.

[olschelsea]

Have you looked at maybe doing a breakfast hash with the eggs, potatoes, meat, celery, and sweet onions? You could also use the grape tomatoes there too!

For the grapes, celery, apples … maybe you could look up how to make a waldorf salad?

[sheila]

Week 1 Update:

• Eat down freezer Cooked some frozen broccoli
• Eat that Trader Joe’s lentil soup that’s been in my cupboard for 6+ months Not yet
• Buy snacks from bulk section with reusable containers Not yet
• Drink 1 cup of tea a day So far, so good
• Make pitcher of iced tea Not yet
• Bring lunch and snacks to work, and bring utensils, reusable napkins, reusable containers, etc when doing so I was only in 2 days, but successful on both days.
• Avoid buying from cafeteria and vending machines at work (I put a container of oatmeal in my desk in case I run out of packed food. I will bring a spoon and jar tomorrow to leave at my desk so I don’t use single use cups or plastic). Same as above
• Bring my own mug and tea to work Same as above

[daffodil2001]

@daffodil2001

• Do a lot of meal prep/batch cooking and stock the freezer with easy meals while I’m unemployed, so that we can do less cooking for a while once I get another job lined up.
• Use up our freezer banana stash. I keep buying bananas to make a chia seed pudding for breakfasts, and we keep not making it and then tossing the bananas in the freezer when they start to go bad.
• Actually make at least one batch of chia seed pudding because we have a lot of chia seeds. Or figure out something else to do with the seeds.

1. I bought a bunch of groceries. We’re planning to make a veggie lasagna to bring to a relative’s house for lunch, and while we’re working on that I’ll also put together an easy curry and rice dish for lunches.
2. Baking banana bread is on my agenda for early next week.
3. I bought fresh bananas for the chia pudding. I think they’ll be just the right amount of ripe tomorrow.

[bucketsofrain]

• I’d like to limit our groceries (does not include household items like dish soap or booze) to $350, $300 as a stretch goal. This is for two people. Our freezer and pantry are extremely full, and I’d like to prioritize eating that down, especially my freezer.
• I have a few friends in town, and it’s my husband’s birthday in January, so eating out will happen (the friends specifically want to see a vegan place I told them about). I’m gonna try to limit our restaurant eating to $125, $100 stretch. Again, for two people.
• For the 2020 Bingo challenge, I’m trying to make 12 recipes from cookbooks I own in 2020, so in January my goal is to make one cookbook recipe!

Week one status:

• We have spent $18.61 on groceries – no major purchases, just odds and ends. I pulled some beef stew from the freezer for my husband’s lunch and currently have some Thai curry sausage (no idea what that will taste like) defrosting for fried rice to use up broccoli in the fridge and some turkey stock defrosting to make kimchi stew. Tonight I am going to braise some cabbage that has been languishing in the fridge which will also use some bacon we have and some white wine I do not want to drink.

• I have not done well on the eating out goal! We are at $81.06. This includes all outside food and beverage, so the surprise pho charge, plus beers out with friends and a latte. We still have my husband’s birthday later in the month, and I’d really like to take him out to brunch but hopefully we can still hit our original goal of $125.

• No new recipes made yet.

[krmit]

@krmit

I’ll make this my eat down the pantry/freezer month. Goal grocery spend $200, stretch goal $150 for the month.

Brownie points for working through tea and random spice mixes.

This week I sorted through the pantry pretty thoroughly and made a pile of old random items to eat through. I cooked up an old packet of instant soup when I was sick and am planning to use up goat cheese and a jar of caramelized onion relish in a tart for dinner tonight.

I also started a batch of kombucha and will use one of my random fruity herbal teas to flavor it once it’s done fermenting.

No grocery money spent yet. Planning to do a small shop tomorrow.

I have a Whole Foods gift card floating around my purse- I haven’t decided if that will count towards my $200 grocery budget or if it’s a freebie.

[esme]

@esme

My goals for this month:

• $400 food budget (this is $100 less than normal/average)
• No supermarket runs to ‘fill in’ between official food shopping trips
• one restaurant meal (when my dad visits in a couple weeks)
• no spending my own money on coffee (we have a gift card to the local coffee place - that can be used)

• $0 spent so far (planned shopping trip is Jan 18th)
• haven’t been to the supermarket for anything
• no restaurant meals
• we got hot chocolate (and cookies!) last night at the local coffee shop - used the gift card for that

[rural]

Freezer clean-out continues. I used some homemade chicken broth making lunch for the dog.

We’re trying easy foods on him, so brown rice and chicken broth “soup” it is.

[Gdogg]

@rural

We’re trying easy foods on him, so brown rice and chicken broth “soup” it is.

My dogs (both quite senior) had trouble with brown rice when they were having GI issues - I switched to Minute Rice and that worked a dream. Regular white rice should work if you have it in the house.

[anomalily]

Oh noooo feel better! I’m so sorry

[rural]

Good to hear. He seems to be doing fine, but I can definitely get some white rice just for him. No point taking chances.

[anomalily]

Should I do a vegan donut review on my patron livestream today?

Is this content that will make you tune in?

…and thenn… Can I then write off donut costs as a business expense and not count them in Snackuary?