Thoughts on the $30/week challenge

Over the course of this past week, I have attempted to eat groceries by the federal guidelines.
Adding up the cost of my meals over the last week, I find that I spent $14.96 for myself.  I am well under what the government says I should be spending for the week.

BUT, I have a few thoughts about eating on this plan:

1) FRESH PRODUCE-
I had the luxury of being able to go out not once, but twice to stock up on produce.  We had the cash on hand midway through the challenge to go out and purchase onions, carrots, and celery.  While not hugely expensive, I did spend close to $20 in that particular trip.

And that was just veggies.  Fruit is even more expensive.  I am fortunate in that I live on a large plot of land, and we are able to grow many of our fruits.  Strawberries in the spring.  (Yes, I still need to move the darn strawberry patch.) Blueberries and Raspberries through the summer.  (Need to cut those branches back.)  And apples in the fall.  The cost per pound for fruits can be prohibitive.

Fortunately, we live in farm country.  I live close to several farmers that sell produce at an extremely reasonable price, so I can what I don't grow.  A bushel of peaches for $15?  Standard cost for me.  Unheard of in the city.  Farmer's markets are a great way to help get fresh fruit, and many farmers now accept food stamps at these markets.  The biggest challenge for many living on a tight budget would be finding and getting to farmer's markets.

2) TIME
In order to keep the cost of my groceries and overall food expenses down to a minimum, this requires that I cook all of my food from scratch.  Easy to do if you don't work outside of the home.  I work part-time, and as long as I think ahead for dinner, I can have what I need either cooked ahead, prepared ahead, or in a crock pot the next morning before I leave.  I honestly believe this is more of a challenge for those who work full time.  If you have several hours on a weekend afternoon, it is possible to prep more items in advance.  If you cook double batches of something on a weekend, eat one and freeze the other, then you would have a dinner for another night on hand.  This requires freezer space, and the time to put into meal prep on a weekend.

3) VARIETY
I found myself rotating around the same meals over and over again, especially for breakfast.  I've never been much of a breakfast eater.  But eggs and oatmeal get a little bit old after a while.  I also found myself continuously short on my fruit and veggie intake.  Especially fruit.  Adding fresh fruit in is expensive.  Oranges right now are running $1 each here.  Canned mandarin oranges are running 33 cents a can.  While a fresh orange would be healthier for me, it would considerably raise my cost per day.  The canned mandarin oranges contain some of the benefits of an orange, but they are preserved in a sugar syrup.  I feel that the health benefits of the mandarin oranges are mitigated by the sugared syrup.  This would be a difficult choice for a family living on a very limited income.

4) VEGETARIANS
I believe that vegetarians would be able to keep well under the federal price points.  However, they would need to prepare their meals from scratch.  Many of our meals are vegetarian.  Meat is expensive, and the ability to prepare meals without meat considerably lowers the overall price point of any meal.

5) INITIAL CASH OUTLAY
This is the biggest challenge.  You must have the cash in order to purchase in bulk in the first place.  50 pounds of potatoes cost us $20.  For a $30/week budget, that is most of your budget.  However, those 50 pounds of potatoes will feed us very, very well for two months at a ridiculously low cost.

Take a look at the chicken I purchased.  It was an initial cash outlay of $15.69.  That is over half of the $30/week.  When you look at the number of servings that I am getting out of this chicken, the cost per serving is manageable.  However, if you only have $30 for a week of groceries, this would be a difficult choice to make.

Other Thoughts:
I typically use coupons when I shop.  I shop the sales, and I purchase items when they are on sale, and I buy them with a coupon if I can.   Since I work part time, I have the time to do this.  When I find myself in the middle of a long term sub job, I don't have the time to put into coupon clipping and sale shopping.  Therefore, my bottom line for groceries increases.  I also hit up the farmer's markets on Saturday mornings, as well as the big produce stand.  The owner of the big produce stand owns a farm that grows fruits and veggies for the commercial market.  He sells seconds to the general public.  I can buy a bag of veggies for 50 cents.  They make excellent soup veggies for the stock pot, or an excellent stir fry.  I don't always hit pay dirt when I check out his seconds, but it is always worth the stop. 

I will continue to keep my costs as low as I can with my groceries, and I will continue to blog about my grocery savings on occasion.  I'm still working on getting as many servings as I can out of the chicken. (Are you sick of the chicken yet?)  I think I've got 2, maybe 3 more meals before I boil the carcass down for stock.