This is part of an ongoing series that chronicles our challenges and (hopefully) successes living on a $4/person daily food budget. For the what and why of this series, please read our first post HERE.
The week prior to starting our food challenge, we set about the arduous (and strangely exciting) task of clearing out our cupboards. One of the main comments we received during our $200 food challenge in February was that we didn’t start with empty cupboards. At the time, we saw their contents not as food but as random odds and ends that wouldn’t prove useful. We were wrong. The cupboards held a surprising number of much needed meals made of those odds and ends of things we thought were trash.
But this time, we’re starting from scratch, so, the cupboards had to be cleaned. But we didn’t want to waste food where that could be avoided.
As in February, I looked at our cupboard contents in a new light – forgotten food we could make into meals with a few small additions. That week, our cupboard, freezer, and the random condiments in our fridge produced:
Risotto
Oatmeal cookies
Shrimp polenta
Roasted chickpeas
Hummus
Pizza
Bread
Shredded chicken
We still had leftovers, so we packed anything still good and still sealed into a box for the food bank, passed opened goods along to friends, stored a few items that we knew would keep until October, and ditched anything that had spoiled without notice.
During the week, we did a bit of pre-planning and put together a few potential shopping lists. As it turned out, those plans got scrapped come shopping day because: 1. our budget was over once we actually started pricing things and 2. we found some great deals on local, seasonal produce. As we mentioned in our intro post (which you can read HERE), not only are we dining on $56/week, we’ve decided that half that budget needs to be on locally grown or produced goods.
Here is what we bought for week 1:
10lb potatoes – Withrow’s (local): $4.50
4 bell peppers – Withrow’s (local): $3.50
3 Cucumbers – Withrow’s (local): $1.00
5lb apples – Withrow’s (local): $4.00
15 eggs – Withrow’s (local): $4.00
1 squash – Withrow’s (local):$3.15
1.5lbs onions – Withrow’s (local): $1.75
1 jalapeno – Withrow’s: $0.70
1 zucchini – Withrow’s (local):$0.78
2 corn cobs – Withrow’s (local): $0.70
oatmeal – No Frills: $2.27
gluten-free bread (Udi’s) – Sobey’s: $3.00
olive oil – Costco (though we found similar prices @ Sobeys): $6.00
chickpeas – Bulkbarn: $1.50
polenta – Sobey’s: $4.59
frozen corn – Sobey’s: $2.29
1 garlic – Sobey’s: $0.40
2 canned chopped tomatoes – Sobey’s: $2.98
cheddar cheese – Sobey’s (on sale!): $4.99
sour cream – No Frills: $2.77
100g salt – Bulk Barn: $0.22
100g cinnamon – Bulk Barn: $0.72
We actually failed (by $5) to keep half local in our week one shopping. We are one week ahead of these posts, so I can let you know that we met it in week two and actually made up the difference from week one as well.
Having now come to the end of that week, I can’t think of anything we could have changed to make our first week work and keep half local (in part because some of our basic staples could not be sourced local and in part because the local alternative did not fit our budget).
Today’s question: what’s your weekly food budget? What do you think you’d really need for a budget to adequately feed your household? Share your answers (and any other thoughts in the comments below, or tweet to us at @GillianWesleyNS and @DrewMooreNS with the hashtag #NSfoodsecurity.
Read the next post in this series – Week one meals and recipes.
Post 2: Preparing to eat on $4/day (and our week 1 shopping list)
Post 3: Week 1 meals and recipes and how it went
Post 4: Week 2 Shopping List and Prep
Post 5: The Nacho Debacle and Meals for Week Two
Post 6: How Week 2 on a $4/Day Budget Went, & Week 3 Shopping List
Post 7: Week Three Recipes and Cooking Disasters
Post 8: $4/Day Food Budget Shopping List (Week 4)
Post 9: $4/Day Food Menu – Week Four
Post 10: $4/Day Shopping List and Meals (Week 5)
Post 11: 10 Lessons Learned Eating on $4/Day
