DAY 7: LAST DAY!

Day 7-With it being the last day I went all out for a breakfast/lunch combo.  Since it’s the weekend I slept in a bit and when it’s 11:00 a-m you can combine the two meals and just eat more right? 
I had bought pancake mix at the store on the first day.  Peggy had told me breakfast for lunch or dinner is a good way to stretch a buck!  I had a waffle maker so I just added an egg to the mix and some milk and make waffles.

My husband scrambled up some eggs with some salt and pepper, while I made waffles.  I also had some extra strawberries left from the week so I cut those up and added them to the top of the waffles.  It was so good to combine the tart taste of strawberries with the syrup!  Plus, what a meal, we were both stuffed!

 

For dinner, I had a mix-matched items.  I am at work, so staying busy has helped and I’m not all that hungry.  I settled for my last yogurt, a

n apple and a cookie a co-worker made-Thanks Alisa!

Although, this isn’t the most ideal meal, it does the job!

As I come to the end of this “challenge” I’ve learned a ton!  I have always thought of myself as a thrifty person.  My friends have joked I’m pretty cheap, so when I decided to take on eating on $4 a day, I didn’t think it would be all to hard.

I also thought I knew all the “money-saving tricks” in the book, boy was I wrong.  Thanks to Peggy, I learned a bunch of new tips that I will take with me from now on.

The biggest step I took this week was the CHICKEN! I was so scared to take that on, and my husband loved it so much, it will be on my monthly grocery list from now on.  For $3 I got 5 meals!  That is crazy!  We have chicken at least twice a week as it is, and to know I can tackle a full chicken and still make great meals is a good accomplishment!

Other tips learned, if it says 3 for $1.00 you don’t have to buy all 3 to get the discounted rate! 

Other tips on shopping smart can be found at www.extension.iastate.edu/foodsavings

In all, this was a great experience that gave me a greater appreciation for what I do have.  Eating on $4 a day is not easy and for those that have to make it work, I commend you!  While stretching $28 over 21 meals can be done, it’s not something I would want to do every week!  I learned that planning is key, and stretching your meals into multiple options can make a big difference!

A big thank-you to Peggy from IA State for helping me jump-start this challenge in the right direction and lead me on the path to “smart shopping” from now on!

 

 

 

DAY 6: Weekends Are Tough!

Day 6-It’s the weekend, which is a time when my husband and I usually eat out.  I’m not for eating out a ton in a week, but on weekends I don’t mind not having to cook.  So while my husband went to b-bops (which I LOVE) I settled for some toast and some hard-boiled eggs!  It wasn’t the best meal I’ve ever had but it was good protein. 

When I got to work I was a little hungry so I filled up my water bottle and had my last apple.  I’ve found that water does leave me full if I have enough of it, and since I haven’t been drinking soda during this challenge, water has been a good substitute.  I also had some ice tea in my fridge that has helped me not buy a soda in the vending machines.

Dinner on day 6 wasn’t budgeted into my plan, but I still think it works!  My parents invited Ryan and I over for dinner, now since I didn’t pay for anything I ate over there I still think this works with the challenge.  In order to complete this, I’ve had to lean on my support system a bunch! My husband and family have helped keep me focused and keep going, when it was getting tough! 

My dad who is an excellent cook, made homemade pizza.  It was pretty amazing, and on top of great food it was nice to catch up with family. 

The hardest part of this challenge has been not going out to eat, like I said weekends are a time I LOVE to go to my favorite sandwich shop or out to a nice dinner with my husband.  However, this has also made me appreciate that I’m able to go out to eat if and when I want to which I am grateful for.

Excited for tomorrow, last day of the challenge!

DAY 5: Running Out Of Ideas!

Day 5, where do I begin.  I made a point to get up early enough to make breakfast.  I’ve found, and blogged about before, that oatmeal really is the breakfast of champions!  I feel great after eating it, it leaves me full and not feeling hungry for HOURS!

Again, I had a super busy day at work.  I ate nothing for lunch, but would have had enough tuna for one last sandwich!  I was able to grab an apple I had on reserves on my desk and that worked.

For dinner, I used the rest of the chicken from day 1 and heated it up with some rice.

Wasn’t the best meal I’ve had but it worked!  If I’ve learned one thing on this challenge it’s been, you’ve got to be creative or you’ll get bored with the same old stuff.  Like I said I don’t have a problem eating the same items more than once but since I love to eat, I also love to try new ideas and combinations.  I will have to get better at that, if I’m going to make it through this week!

DAY 4: This Is Getting Tough!

As I began day 4, I wasn’t running out of food, but I was “getting tired” of eating the same old stuff.  I would show you another picture of my breakfast, OATMEAL, but it was the same.  This time I did change it up, I added milk instead of water and a spoonful of brown sugar!  IT WAS AMAZING.  I’m all for adding fresh fruit to your oatmeal in the morning but who doesn’t like a little sugar huh?

For lunch that was easy, I was super busy at work I didn’t even have time to eat.  I did however budget for lunch today, which would have been you guessed it TUNA!

For dinner, it was back to the drawing board to decide what I hadn’t cooked up yet.  I know using your leftovers is important so I still had half a green pepper left and some onions so I took some left over pork I had from last night’s dinner and threw it all in the skillet with the veggies.

Although I didn’t buy tortillas I had some leftover from when I went shopping.  Another tip I learned it never let anything go to waste!  So I added my pork and veggies into a tortilla wrapped it up with some salsa and had a great and filling dinner!

 

DAY 3: Working Makes Snacking Go Away!

Day 3, again I’m not really missing anything but since I’m back to work I don’t have as much time to think about it.

Breakfast Day 3-I started my day with a banana, it’s not oatmeal but it did the job.

Lunch Day 3-I was so busy at work today, I didn’t have time to snap a photo of my lunch but you guessed it TUNA!  I ate the rest of my tuna salad and some yogurt.

I have an apple sitting on my desk, in case I get the need to snack, but I think I’ll leave it there until I get desperate and want to hit the vending machine!

For dinner not sure what will be on the menu, I’m hoping to use the ground turkey meat I bought this week for some kind of pasta dish, but we’ll see what I come up with.

Dinner Day 3- I decided to use the pork chop I bought and used the George Foreman and grilled it up with some spices I already had.  As a side dish I added the rice I had and it came together as a pretty good dinner.  My husband also had some since we had a an extra pork chop in our freezer.

This was a super easy meal to throw together as well.  We both tired from working out and long days at work and we had this entire meal put together in 20 minutes.  I usually use pork for fajitas and other dishes but I forget how good it tastes all by itself.

As day three comes to an end, I’d say this challenge can still work.  I’m not missing anything and am getting excited to challenge myself to come up with 4 more days of meals!

I’m excited to see what I come up with for tomorrow!

DAY 2: Not Eating When You’re Bored Is Tough!

Breakfast Day 2-

After sleeping in (it was my day off) and I wasn’t hungry but with no immediate plans I needed to do, I figured breakfast was a good choice.  I went back to my oatmeal that was so tasty yesterday and made another bowl.  I know some people including my husband can’t eat the same thing every day but if I liked it the first time I can eat the same thing multiple days in a row!  So I made myself a bowl of oatmeal and instead of strawberries like yesterday I added a banana ($0.81).  It was just as tasty and if we’re sticking to a budget bananas are a more affordable option and they seem to go bad so fast, so I figured we needed to use them up!

I’ve also found that oatmeal is a great way to start the morning.  With the entire container of oatmeal

only costing $2.49, I think I’ll be sticking with this economical meal way past my 7 day challenge.

Lunch Day 2- I stayed with what worked, TUNA!  Like I have said before I enjoy eating tuna, and yesterday I made a delicious tuna salad from the economy sized tuna ($1.99) I have a bunch left, so I changed it up by toasting my bread and added some tuna salad. I know this isn’t a tuna melt, but at least with warm bread it worked haha.

I added a yogurt ($0.25) and I was full.

Dinner Prep Day 2- I have a lot of left over chicken from cooking the entire bird last night, since I maybe cooked it too long, it fell off the bone and shredded into little pieces with no work by me.  I was first thinking chicken noodle soup, but who wants soup when its 70+ outside!  This is where I had to go back to my list of the groceries I had purchased and think of other options to make sure I don’t waste anything!  I had originally planned to make pork fajitas but I thought why not chicken fajitas?  I purchased green peppers which were on sale 3 for $1.00.  Again, this is where I learned a tip from thrifty Peggy!  If the ad or sign says 3 for $1.00 you DON’T have to buy 3!  I bought two and my total $0.67.  This is something grocery stores do so people add more to their cart.  Makes sense, if you’re in a hurry you’re going to throw three in your cart because that’s what the sign says!

Dinner Day 2-

So I mixed the green peppers ($0.67) and onions ($0.30) and I had half a left over red pepper so I threw that in there too, I mixed them all on the stove add my shredded chicken and some spices I already have.

Since I threw all the left over chicken into a container it also had some broth mixed in too, which made the dish taste amazing!

I also bought Minute Made Instant Brown Rice ($2.19), I was thinking I should buy the $1.00 rice that is in the package that you boil.  However, Peggy came to the rescue she told me the most affordable rice isn’t always the best option.  That rice can take up to 45 minutes to cook and is A LOT of work! She suggested getting the minute made rice, this takes minutes like the box says and although it’s a dollar plus more, it makes just as many servings.  If something is going to take 45 minutes to cook as a side dish you are not going to want to make it and it will just sit there and go to waste.  Minute rice is quick and easy, I also purchased the brown rice so it’s a more healthy option.

It was an easy meal and one that only took 20 minutes to make.  Plus, the best way to be economical is to make sure you don’t let anything go to waste.  I still have onions and green peppers left that I will use later this week and I have quite a bit of chicken left too for another dinner.

I also plan to eat tonight’s dinner leftovers for lunch later this week.  Being thrifty is fun, and I plan to keep this up!

The biggest struggle I faced today was not eating when I was bored, I know many people face this challenge but with it being my day off I was struggling.  I tried to keep myself busy since snacking wasn’t an option unless I wanted to stick to my list.  I didn’t account for any snacks since I had to stay around $4 a day.  Luckily, I got back to work tomorrow and I should be plenty busy to fly past any urge to snack!

DAY 1: Going Back To The Basics

Breakfast Day 1-Oatmeal and strawberries with a glass of milk!  It was delicious!

I went with a huge container of instant oatmeal that will make 30 servings for only $2.49, I added strawberries that were listed at $2.50 but since I price matched from a competitor’s ad I only paid $1.19 for a pound of strawberries.  Add a glass of milk (half-gallon $1.34) and it was a great start to this challenge.

Of course all of these items will last me for more than just 1 mean but I was trying to be thrifty while thinking of healthy and good breakfast options.

Lunch Day 1-This was an easy option.  As someone who already eats tuna and knows it’s a cheap lunch, this was easy for me to pick as one of my meals

I bought the economy size (store-brand) can of tuna that has 5 servings ($1.99)  I added some chopped onions and mayo and had myself some tuna salad for several lunches this week.

I added of course two pieces of toast (loaf of bread $1.89)

And some yogurt (I bought with a tip from Peggy) This 4-pack of yogurt had come out of the cardboard packaging so the store had to wrap it up, but doing so dropped  the price to just $1.00 from $2.50.  HUGE difference for the same yogurt, don’t we all rip the cardboard off anyway.

All and all this was a good lunch, my husband stopped by for lunch and was eating some chips, which was hard for me not to take part, but if I want to really give this a try I feel I should try to stick to the list!

After lunch, I started to prep for dinner, something I was not looking forward to.  I learned of course it’s more affordable to buy a full chicken ($3.14) then chicken breasts.  Again, Peggy spotted a deal and we price matched the chicken for 69 cents a pound with a competitors ad saving a couple bucks!

Of course when you buy the full bird, this also means MORE WORK!

If you’ve never tackled a full chicken, you might be with me, it’s a little intimidating! But after reading a few online tutorials on the best way to cook the bird I decided a crock pot would be best.

My good old Dad told me to remove the “bag of innards”  from inside the bird, however after checking several times, I didn’t find it, I guess sometimes when you buy a full chicken this is already removed for you, which was not a problem with me, I was just going to toss these anyway.

So the online tutorial I read was simple, wash the bird, throw it into a crock pot, add your favorite seasoning (I added salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika) put the crock pot on low and leave it alone for 7 hours.  I’m off today, but this would be a great easy dinner for when you have to be at work all day.  Also, being off has been a plus, because my apartment smells AMAZING!

As for a side dish, I bought some red potatoes ($0.63) and just sliced them up thin added some olive oil and Italian spices threw them in the oven for 25 minutes and I had a perfect affordable side-dish.

Dinner Day 1:

After baking my bird for 7+ hours I was hesitant on how to cut the meat into meal sized portions.  I called my Dad again, and he said just take two forks pick it up and put in on a cutting board. Easier said than done!  My attempt to pick up the chicken ended up with it breaking into a ton of pieces, literally falling off the bone.  I suppose this is a good thing, but it made it tricky to pick out the bones and parts of the chicken I didn’t think we could eat. Luckily, I had a TON of chicken from this easy to cook meal.  My husband took part in helping me with my challenge for dinner at least and enjoyed some chicken and potatoes with me.

I will have to say after experiencing cooking a whole chicken from start to finish I can see the benefits and cost savings for doing so.  My husband Ryan said the meat looked more like chicken we would use in a stew or chicken noodle soup since it was broken up into such small pieces but it still did the job.  If you’re on a budget of any kind a full chicken in the way to go, it cost me $3.00 and will last for at least 3 meals.  Tomorrow I might try to tackle homemade chicken noodle soup, I did buy some noodles.

So as day one comes to a close, I didn’t find it at all challenging to stick to my meal plans.  I was full after every meal.  I also pushed myself out of my comfort zone with the whole chicken task, I’m looking forward to what’s to come for Day 2 tomorrow!

SHOPPING: Hitting the Grocery Store

When I decided to take on the task of eating on $4 a day for a week, I knew I would need some help.  I turned to Iowa State and a great lady named Peggy Martin. She kicked my butt into high gear and made the impossible POSSIBLE!

I learned the first step to sticking to a budget when going to the grocery store is PLANNING!  Peggy and I went through the ads of every grocery store in the Des Moines area, this is important because some stores will match competitors prices and then you can use other stores ads to really get the best price! I also learned picking the grocery store is important too.  Peggy just blogged about this but  a consumer report showed in our area, Fareway was the store for us, it was close, had the most competitive prices and they would honor competitors special prices.

So after about an hour of planning out our grocery list and what meals I would make for a week, we headed to the store to try to achieve 21 meals for $28 bucks.

Some tips I picked up at the store were if you need to buy chicken don’t go with the chicken breasts.  Although, it is the least amount of work, I bought a whole chicken for $3.14!  That will help me make three meals during this week.  Another tip was for my pork fajita meal I bought pork chop with the bone in.  This again is more work, but if you’re cutting the pork into strips for pork fajita anyway why not save the money.

Other tips, store brands are usually just as good as name brands and so much more affordable.  For example, I got stewed canned tomatoes for a meal I’m making, the Fareway brand was .79 cents and the name brand $1.89 if I can remember correctly.  That is crazy, how can the difference be over a dollar for canned tomatoes.

I also was skeptical I would be able to eat balanced compete meals, but that goes back to planning.

When it came to the BIG check-out Peggy was confident we would make our mark, I had some items at the front of the cart that were items I could remove should I need too.  I ended up taking off one onion and a bag of shredded cheese (which I will miss a lot) the grand total….$28.28.  AWWWWW….over by 28 cents, you got to be joking!  I was going to take off 1 red potato but I felt that was more work, and is 28 cents that bad.  I still see this as an accomplishment.

Tomorrow is day 1 of eating on only what I purchase.

Shopping Day!

After reading an article that my co-worker showed me, http://unitedwayofeastcentraliowa.org/what-its-like-to-eat-with-4-00-a-day/ I decided to take on the challenge for a special story here at Channel 13.  I couldn’t believe that the average Iowan only gets $4 a day for food, and after doing some research I found a lot of people say it’s possible.  My concerns going into this “challenge” will be if I am able to eat three balanced meals a day for $4 bucks! 

Although, $4 a day is an average, according to the Iowa Department of Human Services, the MOST a single individual can receive on Food Assistance if they make little to no income is $200 a week.  That only averages a little over $6.50 a day.  I figured I’d take the average of about $4 and take on the challenge.  Today, I’m meeting with a professor from Iowa State University who has some tips and will head to the grocery store with me.

I’ll be blogging every day and sharing what I make and how much I spend!  Wish me luck!