Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Sustainable Food Budget Report - Going off the wagon

Sustainable Food Budget Challenge - April 2009Oh dear. I have totally gone off the challenge wagon this week. I really feel like I lost control this week, mostly because I was being awfully lazy and by gum, I was too damn hungry when I went food shopping so my challenge went out the window.

Granted, I did buy more organic items than I normally do by about 50% but that still leaves a few items that weren't organic. Like the pineapple from Costa Rica (only $2.40 people) and the mango. Oh, and the grapes from Chile. They just didn't have the organic version available and, well, no excuse is a good one.

I did blow a wad on salmon for Easter dinner, but it was fresh, line caught Coho and it was friggin' amazing. So, my total for this week was another $177 for main food shopping. We also went out a few times earlier in the week for other items that cost around $20. Oh yeah, and the pizza we ordered on Friday. Hmmm. That was another $25. Not exactly sustainable, but at least it was from a local business. Oh yeah, and lunch at Le Pichet. I almost forgot about that. Another $30. Why did we wait for the food budget challenge to eat out all of a sudden?

Anyway, I hope that this upcoming week fares better. Otherwise, we'll be eating rocks and dandelions for the rest of the month to make it under budget. How are you doing?

17 comments:

The Internetter said...

Haha, similar thing happened to me this weekend. Must be the easter thing!! Actually, it was more coincidental: I was determined to make chocolate chip cookies, and gosh darn it if chocolate and sugar and whatnot aren't just as expensive as meat. I spent $30 (all organic) on most of the ingredients, making them the most expensive cookies I'd ever had (admittedly, I didn't use every single bit of the ingredients, but still)--but pretty dang good ones though, at least. :) But it was still over a sixth of my budget. So I honestly don't think I'm going to make it in under the wire. :(

Can I only count the cookies I ate towards my total...??

Fleecenik Farm said...

We did okay. But then we are still eating out of our freezer and storage. Easter dinner was green beans, parsnips just pulled from the ground and ham for Mr. Piggy. It was just milk and cheese this week.

I got thinking about when I was on a slim budget a few years ago. I also had a community garden. Although we didn't put up a lot of food for winter, we had fresh veggies all summer long. I think this challenge really goes to show that teaching folks how to grow food and providing the space to do that is going to be increasingly important.

The farmers market is this Saturday. Woo Hoo...Spring Spinach1

knutty knitter said...

It was those chocolate easter eggs - they just leap into your basket when you aren't looking. Otherwise nothing much to report.

viv in nz

Anonymous said...

CTDaffodil -
Yummy Fresh Coho!! the most local my holiday was rhubarb sauce from mom's freezer (she grew it though)

Adrienne said...

I am quite a bit over budget. I sort of blew it on some convenience food last week. But still, 72% of my food purchases this month have been local and/or organic, and I'm starting to feel like I'm finding a balance between buying local/organic and not feeling deprived or constrained by a smaller than usual (for me) budget.

Farmer's Daughter said...

Ed and I have $18.10 left for the month. Ha!

Here's a link to my challenge update post: http://farmersdaughterct.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/food-budget-update-and-cheesy-scrambled-eggs/

Greenpa said...

Never never never shop when you're hungry! I can't tell you how many times I've proven that! Just put it on your schedule; right before "grocery shopping" you MUST put "snack stop".

The upside is, when you're shopping with a full tummy, you'll find yourself making MUCH smarter decisions- and you can pat yourself on the back for them, and feel good about it. :-)

Chili said...

We’re mid-way through the Challenge and I hit my budgeted limit – I’m done. The challenge was an eye-opener to many things, mainly “industrial organics” of which I’m now totally opposed to (environmental reasons – mainly oil use and shipping) and will switch back to what I grow myself organically and what I can get locally. I purchased way too many industrial organics and feel guilty for doing so… so backyard here I come (of which, I think I stay cheaper that way).

Cheap Like Me said...

I am appreciating this challenge although it has blown me out of the water. Shopping last week, I was really conscious of what I was buying, but I was also just not willing to spend what would need to be spent (and give up my practice of stockpiling sale items for the future) for the sake of making a one-month statement. For instance, I pretty much always buy organic butter. But last week, with sale and coupons, I could buy 2 pounds of conventional butter for 50 cents a pound, or I could buy organic butter for $5 per pound. I couldn't stomach NOT saving. Let's not go into the other examples ... just consider me, like that butter, whipped. Or churned. Or whatever.

stella said...

We are continuing to eat locally and sustainably for the most part except for coffee and chocolate. Our food bill is still twice what it should be. We haven't been good at cutting out beer and going out for coffee.

Robj98168 said...

Mom took me out to Anthony;s Homeport for easter dinner- Glad she was buying cause it would have blown my budget as well. My week went like this $18.50(10.00freezer goods- home froze and boughten, breakfast out (car club meeting- $8.50); Trader Joes Food Items-$30.00; food I took for party 18.00 Starbucks visits $9; lunch at work-$6 Total spent- $90
$283 - $90= 193 left in budget

scifichick said...

I am not sure how we are doing, I'm still being lazy to add up the numbers. I have a good grasp of how much we are paying for food, but I need to add in the costs of stored food. For that I need to weigh the food we were using as I have no idea how much a cup of flour weighs and therefore no idea how much it costs. We did some small grocery shopping on the weekend where we bought local chicken and I said that it might be the last meat we eat this month :)

Anonymous said...

$60 this week....but my daughter is getting lunch at daycare now and I've been at my parents place studying a lot so I'm eating out of their cupboards..

Stacey said...

So far I am surprising myself by hitting this challenge out of the park. All organic and (some) local this week for my family of 3 for $66.31. Again, it has taken a lot of creativity (we'll be making our own vegan "loaf" from organic wheat gluten flour this week - wish us luck!) and planning, but it is so worth it to me. You can read about what we're eating here:
http://myfriendoprah.blogspot.com/2009/04/whats-cooking-413-419.html

Cheers!

Emily said...

Great idea, too bad the initial posts are so discouraging. I feed my family healthy and probably 50% organic foods on $100/week. I am going to take this challenge because I feel it can be done. I think it will take some work though. Like making the basics - homemade dressings, sauces, breads... eating less meat and more beans and whole grains. I found that Whole Foods has great prices on the organic basics - not so great on prepared food.
I seriously want my money to go to people that are doing the right thing - organic farming, cage free, natural ect...
It wouldn't help to take a crash course on bargain grocery shopping at www.moneysavingmom.com Basics on stockpiling during sales and couponning - there are coupons out there for organic products like milk and cheese ect...

The Crone at Wits End said...

Crunchy I'm so off the wagon it's not funny!

Morning sickness has turned into 24/7 sickness and The Husband has been grocery shopping and dial a dinner for the last two weeks.

I haven't even been able to get out into my garden that's how bad it is.

m3missy said...

I'm glad to read all the ups and downs from the posts. I need to get motivated to find all the receipts and do some adding. I'll have to guess about the organic, local percentages but I have been passing by things at Kroger, like tomatoes, and waiting for a trip to Trader Joe's or Whole foods. It's hard though since they are further away and I can't justify driving that far frequently just for food. I'll have to report back now that the whip has been snapped :)