week 1

For the month of March, O. and I are going to try to live on $20 worth of food each per week. This idea was inspired by a session that I attended at the Growing Local conference. David Northcott, executive coordinator of Winnipeg Harvest, put out this challenge to the audience, because $20 a week is all the average person on welfare has to spend on food. Their actual allotment is more like $50, but food costs are one of the few that aren't fixed, so people are forced to dip into their food money for other things.

We are cheating a smidge. We are still going to buy local cheese and eggs, which would totally blow this budget, but we will limit it to one block of cheese per week, and one carton of eggs per two weeks. One other thing, we will be eating out of our cupboard and freezer. Not starting from scratch on this, which would obviously be much harder.

Obviously, there will be NO eating out, no payday lattes, no junk food.... will probably be good for our arteries as well as our pocket books.

Week 1, Day 1: Made a menu for the week then hit the grocery store with our list.

1 can diced tomato $1.49
5lb bag of carrots $3.48
1 bunch celery $1.98
1 bag frozen peas $2.68
1 bag frozen corn $2.68
3 tomatoes $.91
small bunch broccoli $.72
small bunch cauliflower $.70
1 bunch spinach $1.48
1 bag organic apples $3.99
5lb bag navel oranges $3.98
2 cans frozen orange juice $1.19 each
1 block firm tofu $1.97
multigrain bread $4.99 (a total rip as we could have bought local organic for less, but we read the sign wrong. dang!)
10 lb bag russet potatoes $2.98
3 lb bag onions $1.69
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TOTAL $38.10 (woohoo!)