30 Days of Nothing: day 29
The month of September is almost gone. I spent $180 on Friday, divided rather evenly between Costco, WalMart, HEB (the other grocery store here in San Antonio) and the produce terminal. That sounds like a lot, but our pantry is just as full as it was a week into this experiment so I think I’m still buying and keeping more than I really need to. This brings our total for the month - including TP, pet food, diapers, children’s ibuprofen, etc. - to
drumroll…
are you ready?
11 people, 2 dogs, 1 cat, 2 rabbits, 1 tarantula, 1 snake, 3 praying mantids…
OK, the tarantula, snake and mantids eat free, but anyway, The Total:
$563. I feel good about this number. I could have kept it lower by skimping on Friday’s shopping, but I wanted to keep it real by shopping for the full week. This doesn’t take into account our savings by not spending at gas stations, coffee shops and fast-food restaurants. We don’t do those things often, but even the occasional small splurge can really add up over the course of a month! It also doesn’t take into account that we are eating an enormous amount of fresh fruits and vegetables, a far healthier diet than we have ever had before.
Aside from produce (which will probably run out by next Friday) we have nearly enough food and non-food consumables to take us through 2 weeks, well into October. Maybe I can talk hubby into 60 Days of Nothing…
God blessed my weekly trip downtown with some extra goodies from the produce terminal: tons of peaches (~25#) and oranges (40#), 16# of beautiful tomatoes, plus strawberries and asparagus - not to mention the standard plums (20#) and bananas (15#). We have broccoli, carrots and orange bell peppers left from last week. Good stuff, all of it!
We have cheese and 2 varieties of sausage plus pepperoni to make pizza for the next two Fridays; and enough meat to eat it every other day for nearly two weeks.
Speaking of pizza, Friday Night Pizza is back! They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and since I have put off ordering the lower element for our oven we’ve invented a new way to cook our crusts. I have to say we’re quite taken with the results.
mmmm…Pizza
We make our dough the same way, but then we roll pieces into personal size crusts and cook them on the griddle, flipping to brown on both sides. We did it once on a dry griddle and once with it greased. I hate to admit it, but they tasted better cooked on a greased griddle.
Then we top them with spaghetti sauce, sausage, pepperoni and cheese, and slide the under the broiler to heat the toppings and melt the cheese. I like slices of fresh tomatoes on mine. :) Kaitlyn emphatically does not.
This is a bit labor-intensive, but many hands make light labor and we can turn out plenty of pizza in less time than it used to take us to bake 5 big ones. We think the results are much tastier - more like the kind you buy at a pizzeria.
Incidentally, I think the meat and cheese go further on individual pizzas. Shhh! Don’t tell.
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ok I think we have been talked into doint the 30 days of nothing. How did you make your “rules” of what you were aloud to buy? The Lord has been really putting on to my heart that we have been spending too much. Friday was the killer with having to buy two pairs of glasses for two people!!
I am curious what do you eat on the every other day of no meat? I know I said this before but it would never work for us my hubby needs his meat and potatoes. He is PA dutch afterall. I really think the produce market saved you here too bad we don’t all have one
B,
We simply talked it over and set our goals. Different families take the experiment to different levels, so talk to your husband and find out how far he’s willing to go.
maryjo,
We love Mexican food, so we often eat bean & cheese burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas or nachos. We also eat broccoli/cheese casserole (I posted the recipe recently) or a hearty salad with boiled eggs, cheese, and pasta. Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup also go over well.
The kids love spaghetti, with or without meat and hubby doesn’t mind too much either.
He used to insist on meat at every meal too, but once he allowed occasional exceptions it seems that his desire for meat has fallen. He still enjoys it and craves it when we don’t eat it for a couple of days, but I think the need for daily meat was just a habit, and when he became willing to break it then it was no longer an issue.
One thing that hasn’t changed (and seems to affect his craving for meat) is his need for protein. We are eating far more eggs, cheese and beans now, and that seems to keep all of us more satisfied without a lot of meat.
I am very impressed. Great job!
We stayed with some folks in Oregon rececently and they had pizzas for dinner. They cooked them on the barbecue!!! They tasted amazing. That is one thing I would have never thought of.
Just another idea!
Ok, that’s it…..we are doing this! We are a family of 7 total and we spend what you spend and MORE in a month. Time to get real. I too wish I had your produce terminal but there are plenty of farmers markets here, so I should do well too.
Thanks for inspiring us Kim!
God Bless,
Michele
Kim,
I am wondering if you would continue this would you be able to stick to what your spending or would you run out of basics?
And if you do run out of the basics (shampoo, laundry soap, baking essentials, etc) will that run the bill back up?
I did not start this
BUT I want to try it and stick to it. I think it is great that you can feed/care for your family on that amount.
Also with your children do you limit what they eat to only scheduled meals and snacks or is it a free for all. When we get our fruit and veggies it goes so fast and I think sometimes I should limit consumption.
I’d appreciate your advice…THANKS!
(The comment by “Keilah” above was actually from me.)
Michele,
Over the past month, we have bought all of the basics since I don’t keep more than a month’s worth on hand. In fact, that was a big part of my last trip to WalMart, so we won’ t have to buy most of those for another 3-4 weeks.
I could have kept it cheaper by letting everything run out, but I really do think that the figure we ended with represents a real, sustainable level for our groceries/personal hygiene/pet expenses.
We don’t generally schedule our snacks, and normally I do have to ration the fruit carefully, but our wholesale purchases have changed that entirely. Now I’m always telling them, “Eat a peach! Eat a plum! Have both!”
Hi Kim,
I read your blog all the time but don’t always comment. I gave you an award because I have really enjoyed this site. Stop by to receive your award.
one more question do you buy store brand and generic products?
I’m just curious- what is a produce terminal?
thanks!
maryjo,
I do buy a lot of store brands, though not exclusively. There are some items where I feel the store brand is not satisfactory and I am willing to pay extra for better quality.
Rebecca,
It’s a wholesale produce warehouse downtown. They sell mostly to hotels, restaurants, schools and small grocery stores, but are open to the public as well. They only sell case quantities (usually 25-50#), but that can work well for very large families. I split most of what I buy with a friend or two.
I’ve written about the produce terminal in the past - if you’ll use the search box in my sidebar I think you’ll find several helpful posts.
Have you tried pizza on the grill? In my opinion, it’s the best way to cook pizza - we just started doing it this summer, and it makes the crust de-licious. I had heard about this, but doubted it would work. But it really does. Here my post about it:
http://jandatell.blogspot.com/2008/06/pizza-on-grill-works-for-me.html
congrats on such a savings-filled month!