Cheap Clean Eating

So, here is the list of what we spent money on this February:

From Wholeshare/Regional Access:
French Lentils (25 lbs) = $26.08
5 Lettuce @ $1.95 each = $9.75
45 lbs Oats, Rolled Thick Organic @ $1.29/lb = $57.88
Olive Oil, Extra Virgin (3 L) = $26.87
0.5 lbs Peppercorns = $5.45
1 Pumpkin Seeds(10 lbs) = $37.06
1 Sea Salt, Finely Ground, Celtic (1 lbs)= $7.62
1 Sea Salt, Light Grey, Celtic (1 lbs) = $5.44
1 Walnuts, Light Halves & Pieces (10 lbs) = $75.21

From Wholeshare/Four Seasons
24 CT Hass Avocados @ $1.07ea = $25.76
1 Tommy Atkins Mangos (10 CT) = $7.84
10 LB Yams @ $0.78/lb = $7.77

Farmer's market week one- $24 potatoes, cabbage, onions, apples
Farmer's market week two- $53 maple syrup, honey, apples and more apples
Farmer's market week three- $25 potatoes, apples, carrots, garlic

Wegmans week one- $9 clementines, blood oranges
Wegmans week two- $40 milk, hot sauce, rice noodles, blood oranges, grapefruit, clementines, butter

Price chopper week one- $6 ice cream, bananas
Price chopper week two- $10 donuts, bagels, cream cheese (mental health splurge!)
Price Chopper week three- $6.50 clementines, bananas

Total for February: $467

How we put it together:

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Week One		noodles + sauce*	pesto* pizza	beef enchiladas*	falafel + hummus*	quiche*	guacamole and chips*
Week Two	venison pho	lentil + spinach soup	pancakes (Fat Tuesday!!)	sushi	spring rolls	avocado soup*	leftovers/eggs
Week Three	leftovers	homemade ice cream + candied nuts**	spinach + egg pie*	zuke burgers* + yam fries	pesto* pizza	skillet lasagna*	greens + beans*
Week Four	quinoa + veggies*	venison spanish rice*	garlic biscuits + sauce*	spinach dahl*	sweet potato latkes

*meals that depend heavily on our freezer/pantry
**Everyone left Mama and littlest to fend for themselves and this is what happened!

Makes me hungry just looking at that menu! While we might not be buying much food, and I might be spending all of my time in the kitchen, we have been eating like KINGS!

For breakfast we primarily eat oatmeal with berries/walnuts, with occasional substitutions of eggs and homefries or some pancake variation. Lunches generally are leftovers, or apples and sunflower butter/honey, tortilla + sunflower butter/honey or tortilla + egg sandwiches. Snacks include apples, oranges, carrots, applesauce, nuts, smoothies, fruits, yogurt, chips, avocado creations....

So, as you can see, we eat out of our freezer and pantry for nearly every meal. Can I confess that my favorite season to cook in is winter? All of my produce is already chopped and ready to throw in the pot! Booyah!

Because I'm really trying to rein in those numbers, I've taken this food budget even deeper and have begun to figure the costs of individual meals. I've figured that if I keep each day to under $14, we have some wiggle room to stay well under the $450/month limit and everything is gravy.

I am going to write my calculations all out here because it helps me to see it written out and because I am hoping it helps you think about food and budgeting on these terms also. By nickel and dime-ing my menu, with practice, I'll be able to pair things up and stay within budget a little bit easier each day. It will also help me make decisions about the food we buy and how I use it. If I find oranges for $1.00 each, I will portion them out a bit differently than our $.50 apples. Please note that most of the costs are by estimating, but are still fairly accurate. I figure if I buy about 20 apples for $8, each apple is $.50. If I buy 10 lbs of onions for $8.00, each 1/4 lb of onions (approximately equivalent to 1 onion) is $.20. So on and so forth.

So, for example, let's say for breakfast we have oatmeal with berries, walnuts, and syrup. If we use a pound of oats($1.29/lb), plus 1/4 lb berries(2.99/lb), 1/4 lb of walnuts($7.52/lb), plus 1/2 cup of syrup($48/gallon=16 cups) our first meal of the day works out to be $5.42.

For lunch, we eat leftovers, tortillas($.05 each) with eggs($.10 each) and apples($.50 each). So lunch works out to be about $2.75.

Our tea time snack includes 1/3 container yogurt(2.79/half gallon) with syrup($1.50/1/2 cup) and a clementine($.25 each) and costs $3.42. We now have $2.41 left over for dinner.

But don't fear! We're having Venison Spanish Rice, in which the only thing we've had to buy were the onions, garlic, and rice. I used 1/2 lb rice($1.35/lb), one onion( $.20 each), and one garlic bulb($1.00/each). Our dinner costs $1.88 in total. Total for the day? $13.47!! Maybe if we keep saving that $.50 and maybe we can afford a "40oz" at the end of the month :P

I also didn't figure in the costs of things like salt, oil, or coffee-- so we are really close to going over. Now, to complicate matters, some of that cost is offset by my work with Wholeshare, but I'm not going to calculate that because I'd like to leave it as a "cushion." So I'm just going to keep aiming at $14 dollars per day, keeping in mind that it's a loose approximation, because I value my sanity over weighing out pinches of salt.

So where do I go from there? I feel like I am feeding my family well with locally/regionally sourced food, and we are staying inside of our price point. I would like to feel more solid about my shopping choices and so I will spend some effort comparing costs more thoroughly, gathering a list to use as a reference for the prices that I should look for with our typically used foodstuffs. I'll put some effort into combining ingredients so that our more expensive items are not used together (like avocados with walnuts.) I also will be looking into ways to reduce our sweetener consumption. Spending $3/day on syrup is a bit much even for an over-estimate!

If you see anything on my list that you think that I could be saving money on-- feel free to share! Where do you get your apples/onions/potatoes/garlic?

In a future post I would like to dive into why we are eating this low gluten/low dairy menu, in which I will probably stand on a soap box to shout the merits of eating local.

Life is!

Living on the Cheap AND Green

I've been writing this post in my head for days, unsure of where to start. I've got a lot of tips and tricks that we do here at the homestead to save money, but we've been doing them for so long that I've lost touch with what parts of our life are not exactly normal. Or perhaps I could even go so far as to say that in our house, abnormal is the new normal.

For instance, it wasn't until someone suggested saving money by foregoing toilet paper that I remembered that we already DO that. When our biggest little was a baby I found myself growing jealous over her soft wet hiney wipes, and it didn't take me long to cut up a few more squares of old towel, serge their edges, and throw them into a shelf above the potty for our own use. I keep a bucket next to the toilet to hold the dirty wipes until diaper and wipe washing day. (Don't worry about visiting us though, we still keep TP around for guests!!)

Speaking of laundry, here is the detergent recipe I promised:

2 bars Castile soap, grated
2 cups of borax
2 cups of washing soda

I use Kirk's Castile soap but am searching for a cheaper option, that still doesn't contain fragrances or lathering agents. Tough to find these days. Know of any?

I usually make a double batch, mix it all up well, and store it in an old 9lb bucket. I use one or two tablespoons depending on the load, and it generally lasts me 6-8 weeks. I have not noticed that our clothes are any cleaner nor any dirtier than when we used the other stuff. Most importantly, our dirtiest, smelliest kitchen rags, consistantly come out clean. So, I consider that a success!

The kitchen is another place where I try to scrimp and save in the paper products department. We've moved from disposable sponges to washable washcloths, from paper towels to hand towels and cloth napkins. We use reusable containers for lunches and snacks on the go instead of plastic baggies.

We've also started using straight washing soda in our dishwasher, with a tablespoon or so of citric acid. Once in a while we put vinegar in as our rinse aid. And that all works perfectly fine for about half the cost.

On a related note, I have tried using Dr. Bronner's Unscented Liquid Soap (since I use Dr. B for so much else!) for dish-washing soap, but haven't found it to be as effective for cutting grease. So I still buy regular dish-soap and try to be conscious of how much I'm using.

Dr. Bronner's does seem to work fabulous in the bathroom though! We use it as hand soap, as body soap in the shower, and also as shampoo when needed. Now, the kids and I very rarely wash our hair. When we shower we massage our scalp under the hot water, and that's it. Only after lots of pool swimming or fantastic dirt playing-- when we really, really need sudsy action in there, we use soap. After rinsing out the soap we will then use an apple cider vinegar rinse to remove the residue. (And no, we don't smell like pickles!) Soft, clean hair, for super cheap!

But, a word of warning, before jumping onto the Dr. Bronner's bandwagon, read the label and do as the bottle says, dilute, dilute, dilute!

We also use Dr. Bronner's as toothpaste. Of course, every camper will tell you that using it straight isn't much fun, so I mix Dr. Bronner's unscented liquid soap with baking soda, water, a pinch of salt, about 20+ drops of Grapefruit Seed Extract, and a few drops of peppermint or orange or cinnamon essential oil. I wish I could tell you amounts but we mix it up differently each time. When the jar gets low we fill almost to the top with baking soda. Then, we add the water and soap in a ratio of about 1 parts soap : 2 parts water. By this time the jar is overflowing, and the kids are getting out of hand because it's past bedtime. We stir in the rest of the ingredients quickly, spilling toothpaste everywhere. The kids cheer! They love when we have a new batch of toothpaste because it's fun and foamy. Then they ever-so-cooperatively brush their teeth while we scrub off the counter grime with the excess paste that spilled out.

What a convenient segue to talk about home cleaning products!
We use vinegar and hot water for just about every surface in our house. If it needs more "uumph" I might add some baking soda, or Dr. Bronner's. Most things just need a little extra elbow grease when you aren't using chemical cleaners! I've also heard that vodka makes a great cleaner/sanitizer, but I haven't tried that one yet. I would be more likely to drink the vodka while cleaning (which still sounds like cheap and natural way to clean your house! Right?!?)

I've got a lot more things to share about living on the cheap, but I've got to take some time to organize them. Do you have a preference for where I go next with this?

In the meantime, I thought that I would share our budget spreadsheet and numbers so that you can have something to go by if/when you think about your budget. It's in google docs, check it out!
(Oh, and this is especially for family, don't worry about our negative balance! That figure is including the things that we want to start setting money aside for, like house and car repairs. It also is based off of reduced work hours. We're are consistantly well fed and very happy! I'll share more later about how we manage to eat well, as well as entertain ourselves for free!)

So, it's almost February. Do I have any takers on that grocery budget challenge??

The "B" Word

So, while I don't generally approve of the "B" word in my house, right now I feel no other choice than to use it.

I'm just so frustrated about this situation!

I can't believe this is about to come out of my mouth.

I'm talking about a "Budget."

A capital "B" Budget at that.

Sat down for some financial counseling yesterday, thanks to my friend Thom Dellwo at Cooperative Federal Credit Union! I made the appointment because they have free hours for Coop Fed members (for a limited time-- so go now if you are a member!) and my childcare situation has eased immensely since my father-in-law moved to town (Thanks Grandpa!) So, no excuses.

I have sat down and written out a budget before, but I usually get to the part where I don't understand why we are still well-fed and have clothes on our backs while not hugely in debt. For us, budgeting isn't really an "exact" science. So previously, I've just kept the ongoing tally in my head of how much we had spent overall and when payday was, and perhaps most importantly, when our tax refund was coming. And that worked.

Looking at the sheet with the numbers on it just makes me panic. And then when I start to explore our options for things like public assistance, I get really, really upset. If we were to make $800.00 less per month, and qualified for foodstamps/state health insurance/etc, we would have $1000.000 more in our pocket each month. Where is our incentive? But I digress.

So, living without a budget based on exact science won't work to do the things that I want in the future (and neither will getting angry about our broken system), like remodeling the downstairs apartment, going debt-free by 2016, and buying a small fortune of liquor to use for bartering once the economy collapses (ha ha...oye..?)

So Thom helped me work through all that budgeting angst and anxiety and now, what I'm left with is finding $300+ dollars/month to start breaking even consistently, stop going without so often, and to squirrel money away somewhere.

Finding $300/month isn't that bad, until you realize how bare bones our budget already is. We have two leads to pursue, one is to get school loans consolidated and hopefully waived temporarily, and two is to move our food(including takeout) and toiletry budget from $700/month to $500/month.

So that will be my challenge for February. Want to join me?

My first step is quitting coffee. Starts Monday.

You don't have to quit coffee or start Monday, but I would appreciate some Budgeting Buddies. Drop me a line and tell me what you are looking to do with the money you save.

I'll be logging in soon with some menu ideas as well as how I'm going to source those ingredients. Fun stuff, right?

I'll also spend some time sharing with you how our family of five survives on a shoestring, like recipes for our DIY cleaners and toothpaste as well as what to do for free family fun.

So look forward to that, I am!