stayhomemom77
Dieting my way to Disney!!
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2009
I am issuing a challenge!! Do you want to play along??
First, a little backstory...
I've been tracking my grocery expenses for over a year and in the middle of August, I scanned back through that information because I wanted to see when the turkeys went on sale last fall. I wanted to stock up with a bunch this year (one of the cheapest meats available when you hit the after Thanksgiving sales) but I couldn't remember exactly when I stocked up last time.
As I was going through my excel spreadsheet, I was shocked to discover exactly how much of our grocery budget was going towards junk food. Chips, novelty ice cream, chocolate, pretzels, soda, pastries etc, etc, etc. One week, we spent 1/3 of our weekly budget on this sort of cr@p. And generally speaking, we were spending at least $10 a week on treats. Now, this is ON TOP OF an other area in the budget that includes these kinds of things. I was completely mortified! What kind of example was I setting for my kids? No wonder I can't seem to lose weight!
And then I thought...what kind of food storage would I have if I had dedicated that $10 every week to filling my shelves with healthy, wholesome items? What exactly would TEN BUCKS A WEEK look like?
So I decided to find out! Each Friday when I went shopping, my challenge was to set aside $10 for long term food storage out of my regular grocery budget. Because I was just starting to build it up, my goal was not to touch the stuff...to leave it to grow for three months, and then begin to rotate those items into our meal planning. At that point, I'd be growing AND replacing my food storage.
We had been doing a pantry challenge for most of the summer in anticipation of a three week vacation, so when we got back on September 4th and I went for my groceries, I had my plan in place and some very empty shelves. My chest freezer was completely empty, the fridge had only a few condiments and the pantry was pretty close to bare. So, I went to work to fill them!
I took pictures of my haul every week and posted them on facebook to motivate myself and keep me accountable. I even had some friends join in the challenge. Then I mentioned it here on the Budget Board and a fellow DISer suggested starting a thread about it.
So here it is...and anyone who wants to join in is heartily welcome. No real rules except that it's TEN BUCKS A WEEK set aside from the regular grocery budget for stockpiling groceries.
Is anyone out there up to the challenge??
**Full disclosure...I live in Canada so prices are likely higher than what is generally experienced in the U.S. and I am a horrible photographer. Plus, I don't know how to make the photos smaller and I don't plan on finding out. But if you can deal with that...we are going to have a lot of fun!
First, a little backstory...
I've been tracking my grocery expenses for over a year and in the middle of August, I scanned back through that information because I wanted to see when the turkeys went on sale last fall. I wanted to stock up with a bunch this year (one of the cheapest meats available when you hit the after Thanksgiving sales) but I couldn't remember exactly when I stocked up last time.
As I was going through my excel spreadsheet, I was shocked to discover exactly how much of our grocery budget was going towards junk food. Chips, novelty ice cream, chocolate, pretzels, soda, pastries etc, etc, etc. One week, we spent 1/3 of our weekly budget on this sort of cr@p. And generally speaking, we were spending at least $10 a week on treats. Now, this is ON TOP OF an other area in the budget that includes these kinds of things. I was completely mortified! What kind of example was I setting for my kids? No wonder I can't seem to lose weight!
And then I thought...what kind of food storage would I have if I had dedicated that $10 every week to filling my shelves with healthy, wholesome items? What exactly would TEN BUCKS A WEEK look like?
So I decided to find out! Each Friday when I went shopping, my challenge was to set aside $10 for long term food storage out of my regular grocery budget. Because I was just starting to build it up, my goal was not to touch the stuff...to leave it to grow for three months, and then begin to rotate those items into our meal planning. At that point, I'd be growing AND replacing my food storage.
We had been doing a pantry challenge for most of the summer in anticipation of a three week vacation, so when we got back on September 4th and I went for my groceries, I had my plan in place and some very empty shelves. My chest freezer was completely empty, the fridge had only a few condiments and the pantry was pretty close to bare. So, I went to work to fill them!
I took pictures of my haul every week and posted them on facebook to motivate myself and keep me accountable. I even had some friends join in the challenge. Then I mentioned it here on the Budget Board and a fellow DISer suggested starting a thread about it.
So here it is...and anyone who wants to join in is heartily welcome. No real rules except that it's TEN BUCKS A WEEK set aside from the regular grocery budget for stockpiling groceries.
Is anyone out there up to the challenge??
**Full disclosure...I live in Canada so prices are likely higher than what is generally experienced in the U.S. and I am a horrible photographer. Plus, I don't know how to make the photos smaller and I don't plan on finding out. But if you can deal with that...we are going to have a lot of fun!
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