Final Evaluation

Well. Where to start?

First, let me describe my first grocery shopping trip after the experiment was complete.

I felt lost. I felt like someone was taking my money. I didn't WANT to buy anything else except my usual four items of lettuce, milk, apples, and bananas!

I have proven to myself that I can pull many a meal out of a hat (aka as the pantry). I've gotten over my fear of defrosting the scary freezer offering and actually cooking them.

From what I've learned, I think that this is how I will approach things now:

• I WILL buy loss leaders.
• I will NOT buy too MUCH of the loss leaders. I have a price book and already know when something is a good deal. I do not, however, have to buy enough to feed the people in all 11 houses on my street. For a month.
• I will always shop in my pantry areas FIRST as I make my menu plans.
• I will not turn up my nose at the frozen items. They are my friends.
• I will make enough food during the week to provide two days of leftovers on the weekend.
• I will never by tomato puree again.
• Fresh vegetables are nice, but they can sometimes hide in the frig and die. I always feel bad when that happens. So, I will buy fresh veggies sparingly and stock up on frozen when on sale.
• I will make more homemade pasta.
• I will separate bacon into packages of six slices each and freeze them. If I fry a whole pound of bacon, I will taste half of the pound before it gets to the breakfast table.
• I will experiment with doubling the GOOD recipes and freezing them in meal-sized portions.

That is all. Unless I think of something else.

Grocery Day

Today was Errand Day. I must say that it has been SO nice not spending an hour (and large amounts of money) in the grocery store on my "day out." In fact, it was approximately 15 minutes. The total bill came to $14.22. That was for the food items. I also bought dishwasher detergent. THAT WAS IT!

The rest of Errand Day was spent as follows:

Drop unused clothing at drop box
Make deposit at bank.
Mail a package at the post office (It was over 13 ounces so I had to go in. I hate that.)
Stop by favorite children's consignment shop.
See NEW women's clothing consignment shop and stop in.
Spent one hour there and found GREAT deals!
Son was so patient and obedient during that stop I rewarded him with a trip to the library.
Spent half an hour at the library.
Ran into grocery store for 15 minutes.
Came home to do homeschooling.
Cooked the Cabbage Skillet Dinner--that needs a new name. Anyone?
Eat dinner, child to bed, Hubby to meeting.
Read everyone's blogs, get materials ready for tomorrow's homeschooling, hang load of laundry on clothesline.
I'll get ready for bed soon.

BTW, a plan is forming in my mind that might make weekly heavy duty shopping a thing of the past. I'll fill you in on the final details when I have them all worked out.

Ahhhhhh--so restful!

Cha Ching!

I thought it was time for some analysis. (Not for me, silly--analyzing my costs!)

I started this experiment "officially" on December 22, but I actually began using out of my stock and counting my new grocery purchases the week before (Dec. 16). I call that my "Test Run" Week. That means I have been using FIVE weeks worth of food.

On the sidebar I am keeping a running total of the value of my stock used. As of this post it is $192.49. That works out to $38.50 per week.

I have spent a total of $94.68, which includes through the end of week four. That was for the items I declared would be my only purchases, holiday purchases that I HAD to make and a few items that were surprise buys (like the carrots I decided I had to have).

$94.68 divided by FIVE weeks means my actual OUTGO has been only $18.94 per week. Total "Grocery Bill" value of food used per week for five weeks is: $57.44.

I am amazed and thrilled. So is my wallet.

I am now content.

Week Four: Wednesday (Day 18)

The larder is getting less full (yay!). I still have a surplus of meat but the sides are starting to get sparse. I suppose that just means I'll have to be more creative.

Confession time: I asked my husband to bring home a bag of carrots tonight. My salads are starting to depress me. I wanted to ask for more things, but I stopped myself. I really want to stick to my guns and release the hiddent ability to MAKE DO.

My grocery bill came to $8.44. My "extra" buys (bag of carrots and a baguette for the split pea soup) came to $5.00. (It's all Hubby's fault. He asked me if there was anything I wanted him to bring home from the store.)

I actually DID have salad tonight--Taco Salad. It was pretty good! Due to my limitations it wasn't as good as it COULD have been, but it definitely was nice. Someone gave us a bag of tortilla chips that were leftover at a church function last week. They came into play in this recipe. (Hubby got into them before I was able to tell him they were for tonight's supper, so half of the jar of picante is gone. Pesky, hungry hubbies...)

The Recipe

Lettuce
Cheese, shredded
Onion, diced
1 pound ground beef, cooked
1/2 jar picante sauce (see above)
tortilla chips

Directions: Toss.

I'm all "tucker tired" (as my son used to say) after making that meal.

The Verdict

Me: Not bad. Not bad at all. Who knew that taco salad is sort of a throw together sort of thing?

Hubby:

Week Three: Friday (Day 13)

Well, I'm coming to the end of three weeks (four if you count the test week). In that time, only 13 days have I been officially using my stock to make menus. There's still PLENTY left LOL!

There are three things that would have helped to balance out my stores: tomato products, pasta and bags of non-shredded vegetables.

I must admit it has been LIBERATING not having to do more than 10 minutes of shopping each week. In fact, I've been able to ask my husband to pick up the items for me on several ocassions. This has freed me up in a couple of ways. I've stayed home more (amazing how much more work you can get done we're you're actually HOME) and that translates into using less gas. More savings!

Today I will be using the leftover BBQ Chicken that I had frozen at some point in the recent past. It was a crockpot recipe. Essentially throw in the chicken, pour in some BBQ sauce and other happy things like mustard and seasonings and cook on low for a few hours.

The potato recipe, however, is from a website called The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Boy howdy, she sure CAN cook! Her recipes are full of flavor--and she doesn't bother herself with low-fat items in any way. She has pictures, too! For the original recipe, click HERE. I will be following it exactly, so you might as well go there and see the step-by-step visual aids.

The Menu

Crockpot BBQ Chicken
Crash Hot Potatoes
Salad

The Verdict

Me AND Hubby: We've had all of these things before, which is why we're having them again. DELICIOUS!

I WANT PIZZA!

We had leftovers for lunch. We're eating them again for supper and I DON'T WANT THEM!

What to do?

I cooked some of the burritos we had in the freezer. I served the ubiquitous salad. That's what I did.

("I still want pizza," says a quiet voice.)

I can do this. I can step away from a cheesy-topped crust and eat refried beans. And salad. I didn't say I'd be happy about it, though.

All I can say is I'd better have better leftovers NEXT Saturday. Oh, wait. I AM the one who decides that! Hmmm... I'd better think through this carefully.

The problem is that I eat like a typical American guy. I like meat and potatoes. I like fried. I like vegetables to show up only on rare occasions. Hubby? He loves all things gourmet-ish. He loves seafood and detests fried. He likes bitter things. Goat cheese makes him smile. The more vegetables, the better.

He's also in shape. I. Am. Not.

I wonder if there's a connection? Nah...it's just genes. Right?

OK--rant is over. I went grocery shopping tonight and bought bananas, and milk. Total grocery bill came to $6.24.

I did not buy pizza.

We've had a few deaths

Guess what? If you leave things in the frig for several weeks, there's a good chance they'll go bad. No, I don't mean they'll run amuck--just quietly die and begin to decompose.

I've already lost:

• A 6 ounce block of Swiss cheese (I was sad about that one.)
• Most of the pathetic carrots (Which I should have expected since they started out pathetic.)
• The hamburger buns (see below).

Those hamburger buns. I have grave reservations about those. They've been in there for OVER a month and yet there is nary a speck of anything resembling deterioration. Why not? I'm sort of afraid to eat them now. They're still in the frig, but I may just toss them on principle.

The moral of the story?

Use things from your REFRIGERATOR early on! I got so thrilled about using up my freezer stock that I forgot to put a priority on the frig items.

ANOTHER NOTE: On Sunday, after puttin' a hurtin' on the leftovers all weekend, either freeze the remainders or put them in a soup where they belong. Don't let them linger in the frig an die a sad, sad death.

What about those Gift Cards?

There is one advantage to starting this project at Christmastime--we got gift cards to two restaurants!

I decided that we should see how far we could stretch those, as well. One gift card was for $100. The other was for $20.

My Plan:

My son is 6yo. I have no problem bringing his lunch to a restaurant. I've been doing it since he first began solids LOL! I have a little cooler and I pack milk, leftovers or sandwich items for him. He also shares from both of our plates. I don't think he'll starve. I just let the server know we have his food already.

I have no problem with this for two reasons: 1) We always tip generously, so the server isn't out a tip on the little kiddie meal we didn't order, and 2) Have you seen what the put on the kids menu? Approximately ZERO nutrition!

I digress.

We were able to get TWO meals out of the $20 gift card. Yes, we were! We drank water and I ordered soup both times because that's what I always order at that restaurant. They also serve free tortilla chips and salsa, so that helps to fill one's tummy.

We have already gotten ONE meal out of the $100 card. We have approximately $70 left. At that restaurant they serve free bread (again, filling), we get water, and we're perusing the menu to see how much food we can get for the smallest amount.

I like a challenge!

So, that explains my "Gift Card (free)" each Sunday. I'll have to see what to do after the gift cards are gone...

Frozen leftovers

Sometimes there's too much of a recipe to happily eat. The Chicken Baja Soup, for example. It was very good the first three times we had it. We've now come to an impasse. We don't want to eat any more, but there's a good 4-5 cups left.

Into the freezer it goes!

I've scooped it into a ziploc and it's presently freezing flat. I will indicate its presence in the Inventory by listing it in purple.

Two other items have been frozen for another day:

1) About 3/4 of the Brown Bread and
2) 1/2 C of the Maple-Mustard Pork medallions.

Now I have to figure out how to incorporate them when we've gotten over having just had them!

The aftermath

Well, Christmas is over for another year. My sister and I agreed to double recipes as much as we could so as to have plenty of leftovers for the next day. Those leftovers along with the lasagna I made Wednesday night (did I mention it was REALLY good?) will take us through today AND tomorrow. Cool!

If things keep going like this, the food that I currently have stored will last us 60 instead of just 30 days!

I also really need to go on a diet. Does that mean the food will last us 90 days?