Eating smart..On a budget!

People assume I spend a lot on groceries. After all, "eating healthy is expensive". They assume I go to Whole Foods and "ball out". Well, as an unemployed graduate student, housewife, full-time stepmom to 3 boys, living on one income, I can assure you that I. Do. Not. We've all been to the grocery store and witnessed people spending hundreds of dollars on one grocery trip! Yikes!

It doesn't have to be this way.

I spend $80 or less per family member (5 of us) per month. Yeah. You read that right. This includes breakfast and lunch for my husband and I, dinner for the entire week, and snacks and food for the kids during the week and on the weekend. And this is my absolute limit. I tend to spend less. When you go to the store and spend $300 per trip, besides wasting money, you waste time at the grocery store, and you waste food when the unused and spoiled portion goes into the garbage! Here are some tips to eat healthy without breaking the bank.

Everything on this table came up to $25.77

1. PLAN
 Every Sunday I sit down and make a list of what I'll make for the week. I'll have my list of lunch and what I'll make for our dinner (my breakfast is always a smoothie), and a list of my husband's breakfast and lunch for the week. From this list of weekly meals, I write a grocery list that corresponds with it, and all the items I'll need for those meals. Also, I'll write down any necessities we've run out of (toiletries, milk, etc.)

2. BROWSE CIRCULARS 
 Always have more than one store you shop from. From each of these stores, browse the weekly circular. Many grocery stores have these online. Every Sunday, I browse the Shoprite, Pathmark, Trader Joe's, and Corrado's Market circulars to see which has the items on my list for the cheapest price. I write down how much the item costs next to the name of the item on my grocery list, and I also write down where I'll be buying the item (Shoprite, farmer's market, Corrado's, etc). The point of this is to keep me on track with my budget, and make my trip more efficient. For the farmer's market items, since there's no circular, I put down how much I think it will cost (from previous experience in going there). So, for example, my list would look like this:
     -wheat bread $1.99 (Shoprite)
     -almond milk $1.99 x 2 (Trader Joe's)
     -bag of spinach $1.79 (farmer's market)

3. DON'T BUY PRODUCE AT REGULAR GROCERY STORES. 
  Produce markets or farmer's markets always have produce for waaayyyyy less than your run of the mill grocery stores. This is usually my first stop on my grocery trip, because sometimes the prices are SO good, that I pay less for an item than I thought I would, and then that money can either be used up for something else at the grocery store, OR I can just save that money for another day!

4. SHOP WEEKLY
 It sounds annoying, I know. But set one day a week, and do your shopping on that day. When you buy only what you need for the week, you tend to eliminate the wasting of spoiled food.

5. BUY MANAGER'S SPECIALIS
  I will GLADLY purchase produce that goes on sale because it is close to becoming too ripe and unsellable. This week, I purchased 4 lbs of tomatoes for $1, and about 12 ears of corn for $1. All because they were becoming too ripe. I made the corn that night, and whatever part of it looked a little shriveled, I cut it off, and threw it into my compost bin. The tomatoes are all fine, though some are more ripe than others! If they become too soft and ripe, I'll make them into a tomato sauce, which I'll freeze until needed. Recently, I bought a 5 lb bag of bananas that were a day or two away from jumping into the grave,  brought it home, and immediately put it in the freezer. I use 1 banana in my smoothie every day, and haven't bought bananas in a month. For whichever portion of fruits/veggies that are too ripe to eat, I cut them up and throw them in my compost bin. It's a win win!

6. WHEN FOOD IS SEVERELY ON SALE, GO OVER BUDGET.
  I know it seems counterintuitive for saving money, but if something you normally buy is severely marked down for some special sale, go over your allocated funds for that item. Sometimes Purdue chicken is 40% off at my Shoprite, and during those times I buy more than I initially intended to buy. I'll spend more now, but I'll save more for the next week or two when I don't have to purchase any meat!

7. DO. NOT. STRAY. FROM. YOUR. LIST
  It seems contradictory from the tip above, but under normal circumstances, don't buy anything off the list. If you saved money on one item, and want to transfer those funds to use toward another item, GREAT. For example, If I see that lettuce is 99 cents, instead of the 1.99 I budgeted for it, I just saved $1 that can go towards something else, or I can just leave the money there for another day and count it as a penny saved. If I take my step-kids shopping with me, and I use less money than I budgeted, I'll treat them to an extra snack or something.

8. MARK EACH ITEM OFF YOUR LIST AS YOU BUY IT
  Just to keep you organized and on track. Plus, it feels really good to know you're sticking to your budget and getting everything you need!


Most of the foods I buy aren't coupon eligible. So, following these rules has saved me lots of money without the use of coupons. Not only that, but planning your meals for the week takes the whole guesswork out of "What am I making for dinner, tonight?". Also, if you plan to make healthy meals, you are more likely to stick to it. Don't give yourself the opportunity to choose unhealthy meals or spend unnecessary money on lunch Monday through Friday. Eating smart and healthy doesn't have to be expensive! Plan ahead!

Do you have any money-saving tips?? Share!

Let's get ready to compooooosssst!!

One day, as I was browsing Pinterest (what else is new?), I saw someone had pinned some "Composting 101" tips. Me being the Suzy Homemaker Martha Stewart wanna be that I am, I figured, why not find out more about this magical dirt-making process. As soon as I saw how easy it looked, I HAD to try it. With me being more conscientious and all, this was right up my alley! So, I begged my husband to come with me to Home Depot to get all of the supplies (Just kidding--what man do you know needs to convincing to frolic in the manly playground that is Home Depot?).

Here's what I got:

1   orange Home Depot bucket with cover
2   Rubbermaid garbage bins (only because they were on sale for $14 for 2. Who could say no to that??)
2   12" bunjee cords


That's all you need!

Before I go further, let me give you a little crash course in what composting is. Veggie/Fruit Scraps. Dry leaves/paper. Heat. Moisture. Time. BOOM, Composting.

Now that you have your composting degree, let's keep it moving. Next, I used a power drill to make holes in the "sides" and top of one garbage bin so that my impending compost pile would be nice and aerated.

You have no idea how long it took me to figure out how to change the drill bit size. But I was determined to do it before my husband realized I was struggling. 

Next, I used the bunjee cords to secure the lid to the bin.

In the other bin, I began to gather my "brown" composting items. This consisted of shredded newspaper, shredded cardboard, an old t-shirt (torn and shredded)...oh, and my entire Christmas tree. By the time I was done ripping up and shredding all the brown material, my hands were dryer than Gandhi's sandals, but this is why God invented lotion.

Ok maybe not my ENTIRE Christmas tree, but just the leaves. 

Over the next week, I collected all my scraps from the cutting board, salad that went uneaten at dinner, onion peels, fruit peels, used coffee grounds, used tea bags, corn husks, etc. Here's a nice comprehensive list of green and brown items you can compost. I was really surprised at the amount of space I saved in my garbage bag by collecting veggie and fruit scraps!

Just one week of green item collection

Before you just dump everything together, it's important to know that a certain ratio of browns and greens is desired in order for the bacteria to break down the composting items into dirt. From many of the sites I read, a 1:1 ratio is fine. Some even spoke of a 1:3 green to brown ratio. I chose to stick to a rough 1:1 estimate. We'll see what happens in time. I made a thick "bed" of dry brown items at the bottom of the compost bin (the one with the holes and bunjee cords), then added my green items. On top of that, I added some more brown items, mixed it all around, then sprinkled some water to the mix. I'm about 80% sure I did this wrong, but after some Googling, I saw that I was ok for the time being. The next time I add to my pile, I'll sprinkle some water on top of each layer of items. After everything was all mixed up and sexy, it was time for the fun step.

My puppy went nuts when I was rolling this thing around. And that, folks, is my first composting experience!! Let's hope it actually makes dirt! LOL. I have a tendency to mess things up the first time I try so here's hoping I didn't! I'll regularly post updates on my compost, and whether I'll have some deliciously rich dirt for my veggie garden this summer, or just piles of rotten crap sitting in my yard.