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December $25 Per Week Grocery Challenge

10K views 81 replies 36 participants last post by  tripleb 
#1 ·
Let's get this thread going for December, shall we?

It was such a hit last month that it would be great to post one for the last month of the year. It'll give people who were successful a chance to continue the trend. It'll also give people who wanted to start, but didn't or were really late in doing so, the chance to join the fun!

Let's all remember that this is a challenge to feed every member of your family $25 worth of food for the week. If it's healthy, that's fantastic! If it's something to fill your belly, then that's even better than not eating anything at all. The effort to stick to the $25 or as close to it is the most important part. :)

I'll start because I am definitely in this week! I'll try to post daily menus of what we ate and how much we spend on those items. :D
 
#2 ·
so, It is $25 per person per week right? So, for my fam of 4 I get $100 a week. Does that include all paper products or just edible goods?

I am in, I just want to make sure I know the ground rules. :)
 
#3 ·
It's basically $25 per person, per week. It works like food stamps and there are some exceptions. I'd check out the November thread too.

Our family of four would be $100 per week, for a total of $400 for the month.
 
#6 ·
I'm in for another month.
 
#8 · (Edited)
I would think your garden wouldn't count towards the $25 since you already spent that money...

I am already in the December Grocery Challenge for $300 (which is the same as $25/pp for me) so I will do it here too... double accountability! :lol:

For anyone who is uncertain of the 'food stamp guidelines', this was taken from my states page...


What can I buy with food stamp benefits?
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="282" width="470"><tbody><tr><td height="351" width="1">
</td> <td height="351" valign="top" width="515"> You can buy any food except alcohol, pet food, or heated foods. You can also buy seeds and plants to grow food, as long as you are buying them from a store that accepts food stamps (like a grocery store).
You cannot use your EBT card to buy soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, tobacco, or anything else that is not food.
</td></tr></tbody></table>
 
#12 ·
I'm in too. I blew it for November, but it helped me to learn where my weak areas are & to become more inventive in the kitchen. I have also developed a much greater appreciation for having 3 meals a day.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Well with the currency exchange differences, I'm definitely doing this in Canadian dollars. So $25/wk x 2 people = $50US = $62cdn...

Okay...I went a bit over already. We were paid yesterday and I did some shopping right away...to the tune of $64cdn. But I have food for the week. I was going to go to the Farmer's Market this morning. But why tempt myself? We don't need anything from there.

DH and I looked at the price of whole wheat pasta and decided to crack out the pasta machine. $3 for 400 g of pasta. They've got to be kidding! We didn't buy any. We also decided to buy regular flour instead of organic, which has gone up $1 in price. A 5 lb. bag of organic now costs the same as a 10 lb. bag of regular.

Jean
 
#14 · (Edited)
Posting menus and grocery list (anything not on it is from stockpile). Plus some stocking up of baking items on here. You'll recognize them!

Store #1 (to satisfy DH's sweet tooth...)
1.95 1 lb. strawberries (50% off clearance table)
3.99 angel food cake
3.98 1 gall. vanilla ice-cream
$9.91

Store #2
3.78 frozen beans (1 kg)
2.47 frozen corn(1 kg)
4.48 frozen peas (2 kg)
2.18 perogies
5.98 haddock fillets
3.48 carrots (5 lbs.)
1.68 celery (bunch)
.68 parsley
.49 lemon
2.39 milk (2 litre 2%)
1.79 buttermilk (1 litre)
1.16 mushrooms (4.37/kg.)
5.03 dried cranberries ($14.80/kg)
1.78 No Name cornstarch
2.78 brown sugar (1 kg)
2.29 shortening (1 lb)
2.18 No Name baking powder
4.48 Fleishcmann's traditional yeast
1.49 no salt tomato sauce
6.78 No Name unbleached flour (10 lb.)
$57.37

Store #3
.86 one (!!) tomato
2.99 Irish Creme (DH wanted it and I was weak. I usually allow a treat every now and then. This is it for the pay period.)
$2.05 table creame (DH wanted stuff to put in his hot chocolate)
$5.90

I am paying the price for having a DH cycle to and from work every day. You should see this guy's caloric intake!

Store #4
1.99 low salt tomato soup

Total? = 1.99 + 5.90 + 57.37 + 9.91 = $75.17
BUT: this is for nine days of food. This is also a lot of junk food in one run. Plus this is replenishing my baking supplies for sourdough baking.

Menus:

Saturday: Chicken Thighs and Garlic and Lime, brussel sprouts, brown rice
Sunday: Rice Salad with fruit and nuts, ceasar salad
Monday: Mexican skillet dinner, leftover salad
Tuesday: Curried Pumpkin Soup, coleslaw
Wednesday: Tuna Casserole
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: Lentil Chili, brown rice
Saturday: Chicken Noodle Soup, biscuits
Sunday: Baked Halibut (will be haddock because I can't find halibut locally), vegetables, brown rice

Jean
 
#16 ·
I'm in. We DO get Food Stamps and will get $320 on Dec 12th. I am in for the $300. I might use the other $20 for stockpile.

There's 3 of us.
 
#17 · (Edited)
I'm going to try this. We just found out that dh will be laid of Dec.23. Ugggg.

I think I can do it. I've been stockpiling a little bit so now I need to get creative and stretch it a little bit farther.

I'm not sure how to count my garden loot because I feel it's money I don't have to spend now.
 
#19 ·
Okay, I went to the new No Frills that opened yesterday and spent $80 - mostly produce and toilet paper. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to include the tp, since it doesn't qualify. I'll leave it in for now, unless I need a little wiggle room later. I will have five weeks on this so I might need it.

Haven't worked out the menu yet. When I got back from the grocery store everyone was already full of snacks, so there was no supper last night. My husband is not going to be home for dinner until Wed, so probably light and simple with just the fussy kids and me.
 
#20 ·
I will be doing the $25 a week challenge. I may try to keep everyone up to date on menues and what comes out of stockpile.
 
#24 ·
Well it's not even the first day of December and I have a monkey wrench thrown into things. I forgot DD#2 is arriving home mid-month...meaning we'll have a third person to buy for. And that also means we'll be having her boyfriend on occasion...make it 3 1/2 people...and then DD#1 phoned about Christmas baking, which I was going to conveniently forget this year. She's agreed to pay for most of the ingredients though. So this shouldn't be too bad...still...my grocery budget just went up...to $340cdn...

Jean
 
#25 ·
I went shopping yesterday, as opposed to today because we had some stuff going on around town. I spent $208 for two weeks and that's with the inlaws coming in the 11th to the 13th.

Menu for the next two weeks:

Meatloaf sandwiches, mashed potatoes with gravy, carrots and deviled eggs
Baked Cheeseburgers, fresh fries and leftover deviled eggs
Spaghetti and caesar salad
Honey Mustard pork chops, mashed potatoes and carrots
Chicken burgers and fries
Hamburger helper, carrots and salad
Hot dogs, macaroni and cheese and pickles
Crockpot beef stroganoff with egg noodles and corn

It's 8 meals per week because some days may not result in leftovers. The first day of my December challenge is Nov 29th because of grocery shopping. We also ate out both yesterday for lunch ($26) and today for lunch.

Nov 29th:

Breakfast - cereal
Lunch - Wendy's
Dinner - Spaghetti and caesar salad

Nov 30th:
Breakfast - cereal
Lunch - A&W for the kids, Manchu Wok for DH and I
Dinner - Meatloaf sandwiches, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes and carrots

Btw, remember that this is food to feed you. What someone else thinks of your menu shouldn't be considered because you're still putting food into your stomachs! Tailor the menu to what you like to eat, not what someone else thinks you should eat. As long as you get most of your daily menu, it doesn't matter what form it comes in. :D
 
#26 ·
~I'm following a 'formula' for menu planning this month.
Mondays: White meat meal
Tuesdays:Soup
Wednesdays: Dark meat meal
Thursdays: Meatless
Fridays: Pizza night
Saturday: New and rarely made recipes
Sunday:Cooks day off

For breakfast this month:
Cold or hot cereal
Applesauce pancakes,hm
quick breads,hm
toast
english muffins,hm
muffins,hm
wheat waffles,hm
eggs
yogurt,hm
grits and gravy

For lunch this month:
pbj
tuna in pitas
leftovers(especially soup)
hot dogs
bagel and cream cheese
fried egg sandwiches
pasta primavera
deli ham sandwiches
pirogies



Drinks this month:
Iced green tea
hot tea and coffee
juice(varies)
coke
milk

Snacks this month:
popcorn
yogurt
fruit
pretzels
breakfast items
cookies
other baked goods
raw veggies
crackers

Dinners this week:
1. Roast turkey($14.17), gravy, homemade stuffing(saved heels of bread in the freezer,celery $1 pack,onions $1 for 3lbs), beets(canned .25)
2.Minestrone soup(home canned tomato juice, bag fz veggies $1, leftover onion and celery, pasta $1 lb, kidney beans can .33), Italian bread(2 loaves hm $1), butter .25)
3.Crock Pot Roast Beef($8.94), Baked potatoes($2 for 6lbs) and sweet potatoes($3 for 3 lbs), butter(.50)
4.Macaroni(leftover) and cheese(hm cheese sauce with 1/4 lb,.75 cheddar cheese, milk .40, flour .10), broccoli(1/2 lb .50)
5.Salad(bag mix 1.40), Pizza(dough .70, cheese $2, sauce .25, sausage .60)
6.Turkey Panini Sandwiches(leftover turkey and Italian bread), sweet potato fries(leftover sw.pot., oil 2.50)

I'm claiming the whole price of certain items like meats, produce and baked goods so that I can just list something as leftover and not worry so much how much everything is per serving. It makes more sense to me. It's just too time consuming to figure out price per serving for everything I make. I've averaged $219 every month in 2008 for food for us so you can be sure that no matter what I list it will fall under the $25 per person per week rules. I'm just listing prices I paid and meals I'm making to help me and maybe help someone else. And it's kinda fun!
 
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