Sunday supper

I realize now that I didn't actually eat breakfast or lunch today. Whoops on the lunch, but the breakfast is fairly normal. I am rarely hungry in the morning. 

This evening, I kept it simple with a salad of butter lettuce, tomatoes, and scallions (just oil, vinegar, and salt). I also had homemade bread and a steamed head of broccoli with lemon, olive oil, salt, and pepper. 

Tomorrow, I'm going out for lunch (I'm taking care of a pair of kids that I tutor and their mom is sending me out to lunch with them). For dinner, I'll be making some wild rice soup. Again, I'm fairly surprised at some of the things I find in my cupboard... a bag of roasted wild rice! Wow! I cooked way more than I'll wind up eating in the soup, so I'm also going to sprinkle it in salads and possibly use it in a dragon bowl or something. We'll see. e

I'm terrible at this game!

It's a good thing that I don't actually need to stick to a food stamp budget. If I did, I'd be in trouble. I went to the Grocery Outlet, as I had a coupon from a friend. The coupon was for $5 off of a $35 purchase, so I had to find $35 worth of things. It wasn't easy, but not for the reasons that I expected.

Initially, I was thinking about all of my leftovers from last week and imagining that it would be pretty darned easy for me to make it on less. I started off by buying a bottle of sherry. We love sherry in my family, and our go-to is Harvey's Bristol Cream. It was selling for $7 instead of the usual $20, so I went for it.

Then, I grabbed a pack of rolls, because I had been missing bread last week. I wound up putting them back, because I can make my own bread. It's much cheaper when you make it yourself, and the time investment isn't all that bad.

In the produce section, I sifted through boxed greens until I found the one that was the least sad, a butter lettuce with its roots still attached. I am happy with the quality and flavor, but I learned that it's best to remove the roots prior to cleaning. When you swish the lettuce around in the water, some of them will fall off and stick to the leaves.

I also found some grape tomatoes that were very reasonable and an orange pepper. I grabbed another pack of scallions as well. Hopefully, my salads will be tastier from here on out. I also found some RoTel and veggie ground round.

When I got home, I found some mold growing on the veggie grounds. Gross, especially since the package was sealed. I dumped about a quarter of it out in the hopes that I'd get rid of the visible mold and any invisible roots. I combined some garlic and onion with a bit of the ground round and RoTel to make chili. Thank heaven for my spice cabinet. Cumin, marjoram, paprika, and cayenne made it quite palatable.

Dining in, dining out

Since my last post, I've eaten out a few times, which is emphatically not good in terms of the SNAP challenge. Most people who are on a strict budget probably aren't going to be eating out twice (Thai once and Indian once), no matter how good the prices are. Ten bucks on cashew tofu simply isn't going to factor into it, even if one gets two meals out of it. Ditto korma and mushrooms paneer.

In terms of grocery budget, I've done just fine. In addition to the previous list, I bought one bottle of Dr. Pepper @ $2.00 and one six-pack of seltzer @$1.50. I'm going to need to go back for a bit more of both, but it will keep me on track.

Next week, I'm probably going to re-think the way I run my budget and snag a deal by picking up a few 12-packs. It would put me over my weekly budget, but if I consider the fact that the expense will be spread out over multiple weeks, I think it will be worth it. I do go through quite a bit of pop. If I can stick to an average of one 12-pack a week, it will wind up being about $4/week for the soda. As for the seltzer water, I do drink more, but it will still clock in at just $3 instead of six.

And no, without further ado, the meals that I have enjoyed at home:
- the rest of the salad mix, with original toppings
- leftover cereal that I bought awhile ago
- a bean and kale soup with tomatoes
- salad with lots of veggies and marinated beans
- homemade pasta sauce over microwaved potatoes (2 times)

Tonight, I'm going to try my hand at making some black bean soup to serve over the sweet potatoes. I will also probably steam some of my broccoli and have it with lemon juice and olive oil. (Truly delicious.)

Enhanced salad, meal one

Because I know that it won't last long, I started with the Asian sesame salad. I chopped up one extra leaf of the red cabbage, one green onion, and one celery stalk. I peeled one carrot and used the peeler to cut most of it into strips as well. Then, I put in half of the bagged mix. I used half of the dressing, but left the almonds and wonton strips for later... I'll probably eat the remaining salad for lunch tomorrow.

A bit of Greek yogurt with honey and chia seeds made a tasty sweet finish. (Bonus: my dessert gave me about a quarter of my daily protein requirements!)

Now, it's time for me to do a bit of prep. The celery has to be used ASAP. So does the leftover half an onion. I'm going to make some mirepoix and put it into baggies to be used as the week progresses. I'm also going to do some basic prep to make mealtimes easier. Tomorrow night, I'll put the beans in water to soak and cook a few servings of brown rice.

Oh, SNAP!

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I've updated this blog. Holy moly!

I've been paying a bit more attention to my spending lately, as I want to be more aggressive about saving money. After a surprise plumbing disaster, I've become more aware of just how important it is to have some good savings. Thank goodness I also have good insurance, let me tell you. I downloaded Mint and learned that food is a huge expense for me. (Mint says that I spent about $540 last month, but I know that's not quite right. Some of the transactions that were logged as grocery were gas and pharmacy expenses. Still, I probably spend at least $400 on groceries. Lots of that is snacks.)

I've decided to try the SNAP challenge as a way of cutting back on my grocery and food expenses. The basic theory is that I should set my grocery budget to what it would be if I were on food stamp benefits. Benefits have decreased recently, putting my monthly grocery budget at just under--get ready--$130. Basically, if I can pull this off, I probably stand to save around $300 a month, which will help me add to my emergency fund and my "my sister is getting married next fall" fund.

(For more on the SNAP Challenge, see: http://feedingamerica.org/get-involved/hunger-action-month/snap-challenge.aspx)

I went grocery shopping today to get my food for the next week. Some people who do the SNAP challenge assume that they are starting from scratch, but I'm going on the assumption that most people, even those who receive food stamp benefits, have got some pantry basics on hand. I'm not getting rid of any of my sundries, like flour, sugar, and oil. I'm also not going to forego my precious carbonated water or Dr. Pepper TEN. I have a small supply of both, and I will need to replenish them sometime this week. I am allowing for this in my budget.

My weekly budget for groceries is around $30. I do have some wiggle room on that (technically, I have $32.50), but I'm hoping to be pretty close to it each week.

Without further ado, I give you this week's grocery purchases and their costs:
From Grocery Outlet
1 bag of brown rice, $0.69
3-lb bag of onions, $1.99
1 bunch parsley, $0.69
Total Grocery Outlet: $3.57

From Safeway
1 bag frozen veggies (Tuscan Blend) $1.67
2 cans of Hunt's diced tomatoes $2
2/3 lb. broccoli $1.31
1 green bell pepper $1
3 Gala apples $2.29
1 red cabbage $2.90
1 bunch of kale $1.50
3 garnet yams $1.89
1 Asian sesame salad kit $2.50
Total Safeway: $18.35

Total for trip one: $21.92



I also already had a few things laying around:
3 very sad green onions
1 red onion
half a yellow onion (also quite sad)
most of a bunch of celery (saddest yet)
2 cans of kidney beans
1 can of white beans (which I don't entirely trust)
1 bag of dry black beans
a few small Yukon Gold potatoes (slightly sad)
3 lemons
1 large can of tomato puree
1 small carton of tomato sauce
1 bag wild rice
part of a bag of dry split-pea/pasta soup
various herbs, spices, vinegars, oils, etc.

These may work themselves into some dishes, as I don't particularly want to waste them.