March 23-29th...$10.56 spent

Sunday groceries: Blueberries 2/$3, dried black beans $1.50, Split peas $1, lentils $1.15, pasta 3 boxes at $.79 each, whole wheat tortillas $1.79

Sunday dinner: black beans, brown rice, leftover salad on whole wheat tortillas and Mexican coke.  

Thursday's lunch: brown rice, black beans and frozen mixed veggies

Thursday's dinner: potato, pasta salad with ranch and frozen veggies

March 16- 22: $11.73 Spent

If I go over my $45 food budget for the month, I'm blaming it on the raisins I bought to make Irish Soda Bread.  It was a hectic week with 12 hour days and receptions at work, I ate well this week thanks to all the food at work.

My Sunday grocery shopping looked like this: I bought a gallon of milk ($3.39-CVS Buck = $2.39 or $.15 a cup), Goldfish crackers (on sale for $.99), Grapes ($1.86), Strawberries ($2.50), Raisins ($3.99)

Sunday:
Breakfast: oatmeal

Lunch: spinach and strawberries
Dinner: homemeade sourdough bread (I also tried some of my Irish soda bread I made that night)














Monday:
Breakfast: bran flakes w/ milk and soda bread
Lunch:  chips and sandwich (free from work)
Dinner: hummus and pita, smoked Gouda cheese, wine (all free from work event) and ramen noodles and slice of sourdough bread

Tuesday:
Breakfast: bran flakes w/ milk and soda bread
Lunch: TJ tamales (frozen in my work freezer- they were gross!) and grapes
Dinner: artichoke and sunchoke salad, butter poached lobster w/ veggies, flourless chocolate cake, wine and coffee (free from work event)

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Bran flakes w/ milk and soda bread
Lunch: french onion soup (frozen from my freezer)
Dinner: grapes, sourdough bread, strawberries, popcorn

Thursday:
Breakfast: Bran flakes w/ milk
Lunch: pizza, eggplant baked ziti, salad and carrot cake (free from work)
Dinner: sourdough bread toasted w/ PB

Friday: 
Breakfast: Bran flakes w/ milk
Lunch: leftover eggplant baked ziti, cookie and bag of chips (all from work)
Dinner: salad (leftover from work lunch) w/ Morning Star Buffalo Chicken nuggets (from freezer) and ranch dressing, whole wheat spaghetti w/ sauce and frozen vegetables and a glass of wine

Saturday:
Breakfast: french toast made with milk, egg, vanilla extract and my homemade sourdough bread w/ coffee and milk and strawberries

Lunch: whole wheat spaghetti with sauce and frozen vegetables, serving of grapes
Dinner: salad and Morning Star Buffalo Chicken nuggets w/ ranch and a glass of wine









If I go over my $45 food budget for the month, I'm blaming it on the raisins I bought to make Irish Soda Bread.  It was a hectic week with 12 hour days and receptions at work, I ate well this week thanks to all the food at work.

March 10-14...$2.62 spent, $2.95 consumed

No photos this week, but I did spend $2.62 on tea when I went out with a friend for a break at work.  So far, to date, I've spent $13.99 this month and we're about halfway though the month. 

March 10:  $0 spent, $.62 consumed

Breakfast: oatmeal w/ blueberries ($.13)

Lunch: TJs Organic plain yogurt w/ strawberries ($.20) and chili w/ mandarin orange and apple  

            ($.29)

Dinner: leftover spaghetti with sauce and veggies ($0)

                  

March 11:  $0 spent, $.13 consumed

Breakfast: quinoa w/ cinnamon and sugar and blueberries ($.13)

Lunch and Dinner: leftover pizza from work($0)

March 12:   $2.62 spent, $1.12 consumed

Breakfast $0- milk w/ Bran Flakes

Tea Break- $2.62 at a tea shop

Lunch: $0- leftover from catered lunch meeting

Dinner: $0- yogurt w/ blueberries ($.13), spinach ($.66) w/ 5 Strawberries ($.20), potato ($.13) with butter

March 13: $0 spent, $.29 consumed

Breakfast $0- milk w/ Bran Flakes

Lunch: leftover chili, mandarin orange, apple ($.29)

Dinner: toast w/ butter ($0) and french onion soup from freezer ($0)

Snack- popcorn and chocolates

March 14:  $0 spent, $.79 consumed

Breakfast: $0- milk w/ Bran Flakes

Lunch: meal paid for by work

Dinner: spinach ($.66) with mandarin orange ($0) and blueberries ($.13)

March 9...$1.99 Spent, $1.74 consumed

So, even after canceling the paper for a few weeks, I am totally going through shopping withdrawals.  I looked at the ads online and it is killing me that I cannot buy anything.  There are some St. Patty's day items and crafty things I want to buy and some seeds for my garden.  I have to return some yarn that I didn't use for a project I just finished so since that was money already spent, I might be able to purchase some items next weekend with the store credit and maybe, just maybe, that fix will be just enough to hold me over until April.  Also, hitting up Trader Joe's (TJs) for spinach for tonight's dinner took some restraint, I so wanted to buy some Shamrocks and chocolates!! 

Breakfast ($.59):  hash browns made with 2 potatoes ($.26), homemade Old Fashion Quaker oats w/ blueberries ($.13), coffee and milk ($0), strawberries (.$20) in leftover coconut milk.

Lunch ($.29): was more like a snack since I had breakfast around noon.  PB ($0), celery ($0), apples ($.29)

Dinner ($.86):  after working out at the gym, stopped by my local TJs for some spinach, totally forgetting that Sunday's are the worst days to shop at TJs b/c it is packed.  I felt silly standing in the long ass line for just one bag of spinach ($1.99), and normally I would walk in, see the crowd and walk right out saying forget it, but I needed spinach for dinner. Spinach ($.66) w/ strawberries ($.20), mandarin orange and honey goat cheese ($0).  Brown bread toasted w/ a pickle and a microwave and toasted frozen TJs veggie burger- my least favorite kind b/c it doesn't cook well and is super high in fat, but I had it in the freezer so I cooked it ($0).

March 8...$5 Spent...$.96 consumed

$5 worth of produce

So, I had depleted my fruit stash (with the exception of a couple mandarins and oranges still in the fridge), so I decided to hit up Haymarket for my weekly produce.  For those not in Boston, Haymarket is like a farmers market, except it's like about-to-spoil or spoiling produce that can't be sold in the supermarkets.  So it is super cheap compared to the items sold in grocery stores, but you have to be careful what you pick or are given because some items are bad.  This is what $5 bought me.

$1- 2lbs of strawberries  (This would cost be $5 or $4 on a good sales week for the same amount, HOWEVER, I ended up tossing about 1 container worth of Strawberries when I got home b/c they were too ripe or bad to consume).  Cost per strawberry = $.04

$1- 1 pint of blueberries, totally good all the way through and will last me probably a little over a week.  Again, this would cost close to $4 in the grocery store.  I usually eat about 25 blueberries as a serving, so I'm going to guesstimate the cost of the servings as roughly $.13 a serving.

$2- 7 apples, I would pay more than double the price if I bought them at the store.  These are all bruise-free and I got to select them myself.  Cost per apple $.29

$1 for the garlic as I was completely out and it's cheaper than the grocery store.  Do I use all that garlic, yes, I'm pretty good at adding pressed garlic to dishes. Cost per head $.20

I had a late breakfast of oatmeal and coffee before heading out to Haymarket.  I then had a late lunch of leftover spaghetti with veggies and sauce, brown bread and the rest of the spinach and arugula mix ($.63) w/ honey goat cheese and strawberries ($.20) and blueberries ($.13) I just bought.  I then made popcorn from kernels I had for an evening snack since I didn't have dinner due to the late lunch.

Lunch

March 6 & 7... $0 Spent, $.63 Consumed

March 6th: Breakfast [not shown] was left over coffee cake and coffee.  Only the spinach & arugula mix was consumed that came from items purchased this month, everything else was leftover or stuff I had on hand prior to March 1st.

Lunch [above] was leftover brown rice, steamed frozen broccoli and tofu with a mandarin orange and lemon lime seltzer from work. ($0- all leftover items I had on hand before March 1st)

Dinner [above] was leftover veggie, lentil, barley soup ($0), spinach and arugula salad ($.63) w/ dried Craisins, mandarin orange and honey goat cheese ($0).

Friday, March 7th: Breakfast [not shown] was Grape Nuts cereal with milk thawed from freezer, last of my coffee cake and coffee ($0).  Lunch [not shown] was leftover homemade chili, Trader Joe's Greek Nonfat Plain Yogurt w/ fresh fruit from work, a mandarin orange and countless items sitting out from meeting breakfasts ($0). Nothing consumed came from items purchased this month.

Dinner: [below] pasta with frozen vegetables and sauce, brown bread with butter and leftover glass of wine from Sunday. ($0)

March 5th...$0 spent, $.75 consumed

Back to work today.  Of the money spent yesterday at the grocery store, I consumed about $.75 worth of food bought, everything else was leftover or food I had on hand.

Breakfast: leftover coffee cake, scone at work and tea [no photo]

Lunch: leftover homemade veggie, lentil, barely soup with a mandarin orange and a lemon lime can of seltzer. [looked very similar to yesterday's lunch]

Chocolate was consumed this afternoon- I can't wait for all the chocolate to be gone from the office!

Dinner: spinach and arugula ($.627)  w/ honey goat cheese (given to me by a friend who doesn't like it), Craisins, small red beans (from dried bag I cooked over the weekend) and a microwaved potato ($.125) and a leftover homemade honey cornbread muffin.

Dessert: I opened a box/bag of mint Oreos that have been sitting on my bar for a few weeks now.

March 4th: $4.38 Spent

I stayed home today with a chest cold but did go to the store b/c I was craving potatoes.  I bought:

• 1 5lb bag of russet potatoes for $2.50.  With 20 potatoes in the bag, each potato costs $.125
• 1 6oz bag of baby spinach and arugula for $1.88.  The bag says 2 servings, but I turn that into 3 servings so about $.63 a serving.

Total dollars spent: $4.38
Cost of purchased food that was consumed: just under $.13


Breakfast: tea and oatmeal made with old fashion oats and Craisins [no photo]

Lunch: leftover homemade vegetable, barley, lentil soup; microwaved potato ($.125) and a mandarin orange with tea.

Dinner: I had some homemade popcorn and two slices of homemade sourdough bread thawed from the freezer. [no picture]

March 2nd and 3rd.... $0 spent

Sundays are my "shopping" days.  I get my delivered Sunday paper, I sit with my cup of coffee and breakfast and sort the paper making sure I look at the ads first.  Then I plot what I want to buy from Target, Michaels, AC Moore and others.  Not being able to spend money on items at these stores took away some enjoyment from my Sunday morning ritual and I was forced to actually read the contents of the paper and drool over the items I want (don't need) from the ads. I decided to put a hold on my paper until March 30th so I don't run into the weekly temptations to spend money.

I stayed in on day 2, so no money spent.  Breakfast (or rather brunch since I didn't eat until noon) was homemade coffee cake w/ coffee and a mimosa using week old champagne and OJ.

Dinner: brown rice, corn (from the freezer) and I found a box of the veggie buffalo chicken nuggets buried in the freezer that I cooked. 

Not pictured were items consumed during the Oscars: homemade popped corn, melted chocolate and strawberries (friend brought those over) and wine.

~~~

Monday- First day of the month at work and I usually bring my lunch, so nothing was different.

Breakfast: leftover coffee cake, tea & scone from work [no picture]

Lunch: leftover Thai coconut noodles w/ tofu and broccoli, mandarin orange, Greek yogurt and frozen mixed berries both items I had on hand. [no picture- looked much like Saturday's lunch]

(Chocolates sitting around the office were consumed in the afternoon along with a never ending cup of tea thanks to a sore throat)

Dinner: after coming home feeling crappy with a sore throat, dinner was ramen noodles and some homemade sourdough bread (from the freezer and toasted) with butter and more tea.

March 1, 2014 - $0 spent

First day of the month and I spent $0.

Breakfast: Old Fashioned Quaker Oats w/ Craisins, latte, mandarin orange

Lunch: leftover coconut Thai noodles w/ tofu and broccoli

Dinner: homemade lentil, barley, mixed vegetable soup and homemade honey corn muffins

March 2014 Resolution- No spending except $45 for food.

I’ve debated about my March resolution for about two weeks.  I wanted to do something challenging, but still something I could succeed in keeping.   I knew I wanted to give up spending money, but with exceptions.  First, my monthly bills (rent, utilities, auto payments for cellphone, insurance, etc.) would not count.  Second, medical co-pays for office visits or medication would also be excluded.  At first I thought I would not spend money on anything other than food and beverages.  Then, the more I thought about it, the more I thought it would be an interesting month if I could limit the amount of money I could spend on food and beverages.  I was thinking about spending no more than $40 in cash or credit on food and beverages for the entire month.  Then I researched the poverty line and saw it was $1.50 a day and decided to increase my allowance a bit.  So, for the month of March, I will not spend cash or use my credit card on anything but $45 worth of food and beverages.  Yes, that is $45 for the entire month, not week.  (And for those wondering, it's not unusual for me to spend $20 a week on groceries.)

No, I did not hit up Costco or do a huge grocery run on February 28^th (or the last week of February for that matter). In fact, here is what my cupboards and fridge look like:

 

No, I will not count the food that currently resides in my cabinets, fridge, freezer, bar or counter top- these items I have already paid for and really don’t want to try calculating how much they cost to factor into the $45

What about St. Patty’s day?  I have some Guinness in my fridge and I have a reception that evening, so I’ll be eating and drinking well on someone else’s dime.

What about my Starbucks habit?  Since I pay with my Starbucks gift cards (which were given to me as gifts), I’m allowing myself to exclude what I spend using gift cards (of any kind) from the $45 as it is not cash, nor credit.  Look at it as my government assistance for the month.

What do I hope to gain from this experience?  A credit card bill that is significantly smaller (hopefully well below my monthly 4 digit average). AND a cleaner cabinet, fridge & freezer (look at it as a spring cleaning of sorts). 

What about my health?  Yes, I'm a vegetarian so I already have a limited diet.  I don't go to fast food joints (partially bc I can only eat their fries and also my town doesn't have a McDonald's or Burger King).  I hope to do this the healthy way and show that it is possible (maybe cheaper??)  to live off nutritious "healthy" items rather than the processed stuff.  While I know Ramen will be a dish I eat a couple times over the 30 days, it won't be a staple.  In the end I do hope that I lose some weight too.

How will I do it?

I plan to spend most of my money on fruits and veggies which will take some planning especially since here in Boston apples go for $1.99  a pound ($1.49 when on sale!) or about $.69 each at Trader Joe's.  (Yes, something I still cringe at after growing up on SoCal where the produce was WAY cheaper.)  If you do the math, I wouldn't be able to afford much after buying an apple for the day at those prices.  I'll use coupons whenever possible (which is a habit I've had for years now) and take advantage of the weekend produce market downtown where they sell spoiling or soon to spoil produce taken off grocery shelves to you at a fraction of the cost.  AND, best of all, I'll blog with photos and calculate the costs of my meals made with any of the items purchased with that $45 so you all can see what I am eating.

So here it goes my friends... 30 days +  $45 = March Resolution.

#52 & 53

Church Window and Mint M&M Cookies

Well, not having a home allowed me to bake some different holiday cookies this year with a friend instead of baking my usual family tradition Christmas cookies.

Church Window Cookies

I can't remember the last time I had one of these, probably when I was a kid.  I've never made them before, but it was pretty easy and they were so tasty.

1/2 c. butter melted with 16oz of chocolate chips until smooth and creamy.  Add a tsp of vanilla if you like, stir.  Let cool.  Once cool enough, stir in 16oz of multicolored mini marshmallows.  On wax paper, sprinkle a cup or so of flaked coconut and add half the mixture.  Using the paper, mold to create a log and wrap the log up and stick in the refrigerator to harden.    Repeat with the last half.  Once set, cut into slices and enjoy.

Mint M&Ms Chocolate Chips

 

This recipe is much like a recipe for chocolate chips only you use mint M&Ms. 

#51

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Having a cup of canned pumpkin left after making my pumpkin pancakes, I decided to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for the first time.  I used the same recipe a colleague used and these turn out like cake-ies instead of cookies.

You can find the recipe here, but I also added ginger, nutmeg, all spice and ground cloves (which the recipe did not call for).  I never measure those, I just add a shake or two to the dry mix.

#49 & 50

Pumpkin Pancakes and Pumpkin Latte

Craving pancakes, I decided to make pumpkin pancakes.  From another post, you'll know that I don't have eggs on hand so I found another vegan pancake recipe.  These were really easy to make and made my kitchen smell like Thanksgiving.  

 

1 1/2 c. flour

3 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp nutmeg & cloves

dash of allspice

in another bowl I mixed:

1 1/4 c. soymilk

a little more than 1/3 c. of canned pumpkin

1 tbsp oil

I poured the wet mixture into the dry mixture and boom! Pumpkin pancakes.  They are tasty and dense, I wish I had whipped cream to top them with, but were perfectly fine with just margarine.  This recipe came from food.com

The pumpkin latte was made with Starbucks Christmas espresso beans, soymilk with 2 tbsp of pumpkin mixed in and steamed and topped with some nutmeg and cloves.  It was okay, when I got to the end of my cup the pumpkin kind of settled.  I'll stick to making eggnog lattes from now on, I'm not big pumpkin latte fan.

#48

With the weather getting colder and me craving protein, I decided to try a new chili recipe.  In the past I made my mom's chili: black beans, kidney beans and stewed tomatoes.  What I made tonight had: 5 different canned beans (kidney, black, pinto, small red beans and cannellini), stewed tomatoes, vegetable broth, lentils and spices (chili, cumin, onion and garlic powder and cayenne).  Just as tasty as mom's, but more flavorful with the variety of beans and I did like what the lentils and spices added to a rather plain dish.  In fact, next time I'll make sure to add more spices and lentils.   

#47

Butternut Squash and Apple Casserole

Okay, is it b/c it's in a casserole dish that makes this a "casserole"? This dish is basically butternut squash and apple crisp, except the brown sugar crumb topping melted into syrup, perhaps next time I use oats and make it a true crisp.


I peeled, seeded and sliced butternut squash and apples.  Made a brown sugar crumb topping and sprinkled on the squash/apple mix in a sprayed casserole dish.  Baked at 350°, covered, for about an hour.

Too bad I didn't have ice cream to put on top when I served it.  It is tasty, the butternut squash does cut the sweetness by adding it's nuttiness to the dish.  This is one of those dishes where you say "hey, it's healthy, it has squash and apples in it" but that's just to make us feel better when the dish is loaded with sugar.  :)

#46

 Sour Apple Cotton Candy Martini

Watching TV in the wee hours on a weekend, I stumbled across some basic cable channel talk show where they were making martini's using cotton candy.  Having received some sour apple cotton candy at work, I decided to create my own cotton candy cocktail.

I rimmed my martini glass with the sour apple sugar before stuffing my glass with a lump of cotton candy.  I then made my appletini cocktail and poured it over the cotton candy.

The cotton candy melted almost instantly and was left with a tasty apple martini.  The best part was when I got to the bottom where all the cotton candy sugar settled. 

#45

Homemade Popcorn!

I have to thank Will for this one.  I had assumed one needed a home popcorn maker to make popcorn at home (like the one my mom has that we probably haven't used since we were kids), but nope.  Apparently, all one needs is oil, popcorn kernels and a pot.

2 tbps of canola oil + 1/4 c. popcorn kernels.  The video will show you have I made it, but I poured the oil in first and let it warm up before adding the kernels.  It took me less than 5 minutes from start to finish (with me eating it).  I added some salt to the pot at the end (once I turned off the heat) and poured 2 melted tbsp of margarine before putting the lid back on a giving it a shake.  Then I poured it in my container a scarfed this deliciousness down!

#44

Butternut Squash Soup

I used this recipe from the Foodnetwork website as a guide for the soup.  I skipped the whole olive oil and shallots, and stuck the cut and seeded butternut squash with olive oil rubbed on it in the oven at 350° for about 50 minutes, cut side down.  Once that was done, I used a quart of organic low-sodium vegetable broth and heated that with the cooled butternut squash.  I didn't have curry powder so I mixed up my own: ground cumin, red chili powder, nutmeg and cardamom powder.  I added the spices to the pot and simmer for 10 minutes or so.  Since I started this late, I poured the soup into containers and stuck them in the fridge until I was able to blend the soup (as the butternut squash was still somewhat chunky). 

I had the soup for dinner tonight and it's not that filling; I think I need to make some grilled cheese to fill myself up. 

#43

Pumpkin Muffins

What does a vegetarian who can't eat eggs unless its in baked goods do, when her "best buy" date on her eggs reads May 2012 and they fail the sink test?  Look up how to substitute eggs in baked goods.  Tonight's recipe called for one egg, so I used 2 tablespoons of avocado in place of the egg after reading about different substitutes vegan's use.  I think this might be the first vegan dish I've ever made.  Hey, at least I can't get sick from eating the batter :)

Ingredients in this recipe: flour, sugars, salt, spices, oil, vanilla extract, baking powder, soy milk, pumpkin and avocado.

I'm not really sure about these.  I may have undercooked them, it's really hard to tell...they aren't gooey in the center, so maybe they're just really moist from the avocado fat and the canola oil.  I used paper cupcake cups instead of greasing the cupcake tin, and the muffins really stuck to the paper and are pretty heavy.   They don''t taste all that pumpkin-y and would probably taste really good with apple butter...hmm, perhaps the next recipe will be apple butter.