Hunger Action Month

Saturday, September 27, 2008

From "Start" to "Almost Done"

Last Sunday I took my $25 and found the store that I knew would give me the most for my money...Aldi's.

I have a family of four and thought I would make sure that $25 of food would do for the entire family of four for the week. I planned it out so that it COULD work, if we were extremely disciplined.

I bought a whole chicken, a loaf of bread, a bag of salad, a box of rice, a bag of egg noodles, a gallon of milk, a box of grapes, a 24-pack of bottled water, a box of deli turkey for sandwiches, a bag of cheese and a 30-count package of eggs...all for $24.88.

The chicken would be baked and portions would be used one day in homemade chicken noodle soup and one day in fajitas.

My husband and I rarely eat breakfast and sometimes if we don't get a chance to eat lunch, because we are so busy in the field, we will just eat dinner.

Yeah, no breakfast and sporadic lunches...

Considering all of that, I said that although it's supposed to be $25 per person, my family of four could do it with just $25.

Boy, I am starving and my husband said to count him out after day one. And, my hungry-jack girls (ages 9 and 5) began to wonder why they were getting less snacks between meals than before.

I didn't have the heart to tell them that I included them in mommy's food challenge. So, I let them off the hook about four days into the challenge.

So now it's just me...and...I'm glad the end is very near.

It has saved me about $30 this week from eating lunch , but I need to get on a scale to see if the little weight I have is diminishing.

Until tomorrow...the last day of the challenge.

2 comments:

Deb Schiff said...

One of the things I've done to cut down on expenses is to join our local food co-op. They offer fee waivers for those who cannot afford them, and they accept food stamps. There you can buy healthy food in bulk at a discount. And, if you're like me and have the time, when you put in some hours working at the co-op, you can earn up to 25% off all your purchases. I can't tell you how great of a difference in our bottom line that makes. It IS possible to have a healthy diet on little cash.

Nicole said...

If you are trying to survive on $25 dollars a week you could certainly cut out the bottled water. Is that really necessary. Even if water in Chicago is bad (which i know it isnt) you can buy a tap water filter for fairly cheap. And bottled water is a huge drain on the environment. Kudos for comiting and completing the challenge but there are day to day activities like using a water bottle that would save $ and our environment