Last week I came down with "Walking Pneumonia" this is not uncommon. It takes nothing for an asthmatic to acquire a good old case of WP. Hanging out in a smoky bar with your friends is the perfect way to catch a case. It's been coming on for weeks and in my usual fashion I ignored it hoping it would go away. So last Wed. I broke down and called the Doc. Today is day five on meds and I have to say I don't feel great, my fear is that I need steroids and I detest taking those. No one who eats and exercises like me should struggle with their health or their weight, yet I struggle with both.
Enough whining......so how have I fared with the Cooking Project. Pretty good.
We had enough food to make it through the week except for two small trips. Our total for food groceries is $260 for two weeks groceries, and eating out $89. That is $349.We have eaten out a few times due to some traveling and planned dates with the kids. I plan on three dates with my kids this week and this will cost me another $60 to $75. We may need a little Milk, if I am correct our expenses for food will be around $430 for one pay period (15 days.) To keep our expenses down we have cut out "All meat' at home. I am making bread, scratch breakfast, we are eating less exotic foods and more veggies, beans and rice. We have eaten out three times: Once Blake and I $20 with tip, Will and I plus brought home three kids meals $39.00 (our date) and then we had to get some dinner last night in Little Rock $21 for four kids. This is $89 for 11 meals or an average of $8 per person, Ouch. That is $6 more for a meal out than at home on our regular months!!!!!
If all this math is confusing and it still sounds like a lot of money you should realize that we have four kids ages 12,12, 13, 15. The USDA says the food stamp allowance for our family would be $1089 a month. The AR allotment is less only $700 a month, but I know no one who could survive on that with four kids. Several families I know on Food Stamps are always out of money by week three.
My goal is to eventually cut our spending down to $395. every fifteen days, or $1. per meal per person. Even if we eat out the money will still have to be made up for in other areas. Still got some work to do.
Over the next three days I will make bread, pizza dough, yogurt, oatmeal cookies, granola, broccoli and cheese quiche and soup, Italian tomato sauce, pizza sauce,veggie chili and some stoup (a soup made from leftovers.)
My biggest obstacle: Children, three of them do not want to eat anything that does not contain yeast or cheese and I can only be so creative. So they will either succumb or go somewhat hungry.
To sum it up: If I can keep this up we will save around $300.00 a month below the USDA Thrifty plan, if I can do even better and hit my goal we will save up to $500 a month on food!!!!
If you are interested in how I am doing this and want recipes look at previous post.
Courtney
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