Healthy Shopping in a World of Supermarkets

Well as fired up as I am about knowing where my food is coming from I felt almost powerless when I made my grocery list today. My children have to eat this week, my garden will not be producing for quite a while, and I have even gotten my pigs yet much less had them slaughtered!

SO.....what's an organic health lovin' mama on a budget to do??

I started out by making a list of what I knew was good for us. Then I bought the most important items first...here is a few of the items I got:

Cage Free Eggs - These were considerably higher than the regular eggs but all I could think about were those poor hens in battery cages laying cheap eggs. I just could do it. So I found these eggs instead. They were more than I normally spend but I only bought 2 instead of 3. Plus my long term resolution to this issue is that we are getting our own free range chickens this spring. In the meantime I will buy free range eggs.

One very important part of healthy living is to only use pure foods. We have been using pure cane syrup all year and we love it. We use this instead of pure maple syrup because it is about half the price ($3/can). Artificial syrup is a created product and it is not a good idea to put those kind of things in your family's bodies. Also this brand of syrup is made/canned in Abbeville, LA....so it is local. You can buy this little jar at Walmart.

Fill your buggy with produce first. Get all those good fruits that the kids love. Now, I have also learned that many off season fruits and vegetables are carried in from far away, picked before being ripe and then ripened with a gas.....GROSS! BUT...I have to feed them something so I bought organic as often as possible (especially when there was little price difference). The strawberries were the most off season fruit I bought but my little boy was standing by them saying...."look mama, strawberries!"....I couldnt help it. I will be posting how to keep/use all this produce without waisting it soon.

Buying milk and cheese made from cows that are not treated with rBST is another important thing we can do to help shield our babies from chemicals. Bordon milk and cheese is sold at Walmart.

I also found whole chickens for about $4 each that were free range chickens. I bought 2 for this week.

Making these little changes is how we begin to change our lives!

Now I am off to make homemade yogurt, homemade granola, & homemade bread......babysteps lead me to this....haha! Yeehaw!

Grocery Store Confessionals

Have you even gotten to the grocery store with your list in hand ready to tackle the big bad supermarket??

OR

Have you ever sat down to write a grocery list of what you NEED only to truly fill it up with what you WANT?? and then to make it worse, you buy everything on your list!

Seriously, how can we expect ourselves to live on a grocery budget until we get a real perspective on what we NEED! And then we must ask God to help us enjoy aquiring these needs, not focusing on the fact that we did not get that 1/2 gallon of praline pecan ice cream!

If you have been in any situation like this then...........

GROCERY STORE CONFESSIONALS

is for

YOU.

During the first week of my challenge I cheated and sent Billy to the store (he never buys anything extra!). Since I have been on a major spending freeze with my grocery budget, I am low on everything! Below you will see what I made off with during the 2nd week. I added a few things and dropped a few things from the original list.

This week I went A-L-O-N-E..

..well Abi went with me and did hook me for $1 erasers

(they were shaped like eggs in a frying pan....who could pass that up)

but overall it was

me and my money

against

the store.

I obtained my buggy, walked straight to the milk fridge (as this is where most of my money is spent anyway!), obtained 2 milks, 1 carton of eggs, only 1 creamer (not 2 as in my original grocery list because I have been using less), 2 bags of shredded cheese, $1 2-liter of Sprite, 24 double roll pack of toilet paper, hair gel for daddy (those men have to fix their hair!), baby soap, and a 50% off skein of yarn for knitting next years Christmas presents.

My total was

$41.83

- $32.72 giftcard balance

$9.11

YEAH!

Menu Plan - December 26th to January 1st

Well, I am gearing up for my Live on Less challenge this coming year! I am so excited, I hope I will be this excited in 4 more weeks!

Since I have company (which I love play hostess!) I need to be sure that my meals are feeding 7-12 people each night. I also am coming off of spending hundreds of dollars for Christmas dinner and gifts (which I am purposing not to do this next year! In part by planning ahead.) SO....I am going to reuse a lot of leftover meats and make them into totally different meals.

Here is my plan:

First week of $75 budget
- Actually use $25 for this weeks budget
- $50 for the next week

7 Dinners
Turkey stew – turkey, pasta, veggies (leftover turkey &veggies/pasta is in the freezer)
Gumbo – Chicken & sausage (all leftover)
BBQ beef – (leftover brisket)
Roast w/rice & gravy – gravy packet (roast is in freezer, I bought it on sale)
Spaghetti w/fresh garden salad (ground beef I bought on sale - in freezer)
Beans & rice (in the cupboard - always a low price go to! Keep bacon fat/lefovers to flavor)
Beef & cheese quesadillas (use part of that leftover brisket for these)

Breakfast
Leftover quiche & fruit
Yogurt w/fruit (I make my own yogurt to save a TON of money and it is whole fat)
Eggs & cheese w/toast
Oatmeal w/cane syrup
Cinnamon & sugar nuggets w/ syrup
Cereal

Lunch
Tuna sandwiches
ramen noodles
Pb & J fruit & yogurt
Mac N Cheese w/hotdogs wienies
smoothies
Italian chicken w/corn
Hot dogs w/buns & fruit

All of these items I have in my storage except I will need the following:
- milk (whole milk) - 3 gallons - $4.50/gallon - $13.50
- creamer (coffee is my major weakness) - 2 quarts - $2.70/quart - $5.40

$18.90 + tax

I may need to pick up the 3 packs of ramen noodles as well (my kids LOVE these stinkin things!)

This menu will use lots of leftovers (not wasting food is key when trying to keep a low budget) and it will provide larger 1 pot meals for feeding big groups.

Now lets just see if I can get out of that store without spending a ton of money! haha!

UPDATE: I did make it out of the store without buying ANYTHING extra!! YEAH!!

MY secret: I sent Billy to the store...hahaha