Food Budget....THE END!!!

We arrived home from our trip with nothing in our fridge. I had done such a good job with food for the previous few days that we used just about everything up so there was no waste. What little produce I had, I gave to a friend since it would be past its prime when we returned. Breakfast was a rough one. No milk, bread or eggs in the fridge. Shianne found some french toast that I had frozen and made that for both Nora Beth and herself.

While on the trip we still stayed conscious of the food budget. Normally, Lamar would load up at the convenience store just before we left with soda, candy and chips. I packed a cooler for us with water, apples, jerky, nuts and crackers. The girls were content with these snacks and we did not buy the crap.

I made it to the grocery store in the afternoon and got the much needed basics. I kept to my list of essentials and did not allow myself any extras. This would be my last trip to the store under this budget.

So, for our final meal I made Indian Butter Chicken, coconut rice and steamed vegetables with my favorite popping seeds on them. The popping seeds come from a local woman who makes up her own curry blend. Our whole family loves her blends.
Now that we have come to the end - how did we do? I am happy to report that we were right on budget. This would be difficult to stick to on a regular basis, but it would be possible. I just really like to use some "exotic" foods for some of my specialties. Lamar and I talked about this and we are still going to keep a close eye on what we are spending on food, but allow for a little larger budget.

While in Costco yesterday I noticed that many of my regular items have gone up in price, some by as much as $2 per item. I am really seeing the stores bump up prices to accommodate for the increase in gas prices. This increase can really affect the budget. What are the holidays going to look like this year? I recently created a list of 200 basic grocery items and did a comparison between 4 local grocery stores on each item. I will have to adjust this list to show the price increase. Costco may no longer give me the best price on many of our staples.

So what is my next challenge, you ask? In October, I am joining some friends for the Locavore Challenge. I will post more details as we get closer, but the premise of being a Locavore is to eat only foods that originate in your local area. I just finished reading the book Plenty just in time for this challenge. This one should be interesting.