We are halfway done with our February Food Challenge. Unfortunately, we are 2/3 of the way through our budget. So, clearly, we are having to get a little crafty with our meals and make our food stretch a little further than we're used to. I'm proud of us, though. Making a goal and sticking to it makes me feel good. And honestly, the food hasn't been SO bad.
We've had tilapia. This is something I will obviously continue buying, mostly because we seem to eat it once a week and it's one of two fishes I even like, halibut being the other. I wish I could enjoy more seafood. I want to like it. Really, I do. But every bite I've ever had is like the ocean puked in my mouth. I hate fishy fish.
We've had grilled cheese. OK, not so healthy, but meh. We had all the stuff to make it, so I did. And we survived.
We're had chili cheese fries. Well, I had chili, Jon had fries, and we both had cheese. I think chili deserves it's own dedicated food group, personally.
We've had pesto chicken. I love home made pesto, but I had packet thingies that needed to be used up, so I rubbed it all over big bird and plopped it in the oven. DELISH.
We've had pizza bread. I had hot dog buns and pizza sauce that needed to be used up, so I got creative. It was actually really good. A little carb/starch heavy than what I generally prefer, but in a pinch... sure!
We're had cauliflower pizza. To make my [expensive] cheese last longer I ran it through a food processor with a bunch of spinach. Sure it made it bright green, but it was so yummy.
We've had fruit smoothies.
We've ha Mac & Cheese.
We've had rice-a-roni.
We snack on popcorn.
I think we've one pretty good. I mean, we're not eating the most healthy stuff in the world right now, but we're not wasting nearly the amount of food we once did. Plus, this is all a step towards a healthier lifestyle for us. Once all this junk foo is out of the house, not eating it is as simple as not buying it. We will have to get even more creative the next two weeks of this challenge. With a measly $30 left in the budget, and $7.10 of that already "spoken for" in milk... I see a lot of rice and soy sauce in our future.
In having this strict budget for the month, we've learned what foods we can an can not do without.
We absolutely can not compromise:
We've had tilapia. This is something I will obviously continue buying, mostly because we seem to eat it once a week and it's one of two fishes I even like, halibut being the other. I wish I could enjoy more seafood. I want to like it. Really, I do. But every bite I've ever had is like the ocean puked in my mouth. I hate fishy fish.
We've had grilled cheese. OK, not so healthy, but meh. We had all the stuff to make it, so I did. And we survived.
We're had chili cheese fries. Well, I had chili, Jon had fries, and we both had cheese. I think chili deserves it's own dedicated food group, personally.
We've had pesto chicken. I love home made pesto, but I had packet thingies that needed to be used up, so I rubbed it all over big bird and plopped it in the oven. DELISH.
We've had pizza bread. I had hot dog buns and pizza sauce that needed to be used up, so I got creative. It was actually really good. A little carb/starch heavy than what I generally prefer, but in a pinch... sure!
We're had cauliflower pizza. To make my [expensive] cheese last longer I ran it through a food processor with a bunch of spinach. Sure it made it bright green, but it was so yummy.
We've had fruit smoothies.
We've ha Mac & Cheese.
We've had rice-a-roni.
We snack on popcorn.
I think we've one pretty good. I mean, we're not eating the most healthy stuff in the world right now, but we're not wasting nearly the amount of food we once did. Plus, this is all a step towards a healthier lifestyle for us. Once all this junk foo is out of the house, not eating it is as simple as not buying it. We will have to get even more creative the next two weeks of this challenge. With a measly $30 left in the budget, and $7.10 of that already "spoken for" in milk... I see a lot of rice and soy sauce in our future.
In having this strict budget for the month, we've learned what foods we can an can not do without.
We absolutely can not compromise:
- Raw Milk. Pastureized, factory farmed dairy is some seriously scary stuff. I shutter to think of eating/ drinking it. Sure, it's $7.10 a gallon, and we plow through a gallon in about a week... we can't compromise this staple in our house for anything. Not even an insane grocery challenge.
- Eggs. I eat eggs all the time. Daily, even. Yolks are incredibly nutritious and if I'm feeling a little "off" one day, my go-to picker upper is two egg yolks over easy and half a glass of milk.
- Frozen Fruit. Smoothies satisfy my sweet tooth, and are just plain delicious. Especially with it being winter, we haven't had fresh fruit in the fridge as much as I'd like, so this is a nice compromise.
- Tilapia. This is such a safe meal for me. I have digestive responses to stress, and ten to feel very sick when I'm overly stressed... an let's be real here. I have 20 puppies in my house. I'm ALWAYS stressed. It is for sure a staple meal in our house. I' love to fin a source of fresh wild caught tilapia and move away from factor farmed fish like we've done with chicken and beef... but for now, Kirkland will do.
- Pasture-Raised, Organic Grass-Fed Beef. After tasting what beef is supposed to taste like, we could never ever go back to the ground yuck you see for $1/lb at the grocery store.
- Pasture-raised, Organic chicken. Same as with beef, no matter how tight our budget is we just can't buy the cheap stuff and we can't skip chicken altogether. Yummy yum yum.
These are staples at our house now.
We can do without: fast food, bread, and going out to eat.
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