The $27USD Grocery Challenge is in full swing now. The food was purchased yesterday and will be consumed Sunday - Saturday, July 6-12. There were a few things I had said would be a part of this challenge and I want to provide an update on how I've done so far:
- Can't spend over $27USD on food - Spent $26.68 (So far, so good...have to check back on this as we go to make sure I don't spend anything else to eat!)
- I must have enough food for 21 meals and 7 snacks including beverages - I think I have it, plus some! (I'll outline what is leftover at the end and what was able to become part of a pantry.)
- Must be healthy food - Bought lots of fruit and vegetables, eggs, milk, beans and rice; all healthy stuff!
- Must contain at least one pantry staple - actually there are several that end up being pantry staples, which I'll explain as we go along, but flour is the designated item.
- Must contain at least one thing that can be called "a treat" - Organic Thompson Raisins is my treat item.
I made half of my gallon of milk into yogurt last night (it turned out great, by the way) but I didn't end up prepping the lunches. I am doing so this morning. I have my beans cooking and will sauté vegetables and make rice as soon as they are done. Each lunch will have:
- 1/2 cup of Black Beans
- 1 cup of Rice
- 1 cup sautéed vegetables (mixed vegetables, broccoli, peppers and onions)
- 1/2 cup yogurt (homemade!)
I used one of my onions and a bell pepper, a full bag of frozen mixed vegetables and 1/4 of the big bag of frozen broccoli for the sautéed vegetables. I'll post some photos at the end of the blog of the meals.
Breakfast will be some form of oatmeal each day. Today, it was Overnight Oatmeal. I've seen blog postings elsewhere on the web made in jars. I don't have a bunch of jars around (the one's I had I used for my yogurt). So I used a plastic (I know, I know, plastic's bad...yeah, yeah, whatever) container. This is delicious! It's my first time trying this and it's a fantastic way to eat Oatmeal in the summer! My recipe...
- 1/2 cup Old Fashioned Oatmeal (no quick cooking one's here, please!)
- 1/2 cup yogurt (I like greek or strained here)
- 1/2 cup milk (I use whole milk because that is what I like)
- 1 T Raisins (put more if your budget allows!)
- 1 pinch cinnamon
- Stir it up and put it into the refrigerator and go to bed.
- Next morning, grab, stir and eat!
You can put anything you like into this. Your imagination can go WILD here. Just keep the oats, yogurt and milk all to one part measures. Honey would be good in this, but alas, my budget this week didn't support honey.
Supper will be an Omelet, Frittata or Strata with spinach, peppers, onions and cheese. I will make some extra rice to add to the mix when it is Strata time, but otherwise it's an omelet here.
I had thought I'd use some of the flour to make muffins, but I don't have 'sugar' and don't want to use my limited supply of sweetener I bought for my tea, in muffins. However, I am going to take 2 of my eggs and use them to make pancakes. I'll make the batter with flour, milk, egg yolks and tablespoon of oil (I made a trade with my neighbor and gave them some of my homemade yogurt for some oil) and whip the egg whites to stiff peaks to incorporate into the batter to provide 'lift'! I'll make as many 'cakes' as I can and divide these between my suppers. They should freeze nicely, so I'll make them up today! They won't be 'sweet' but they should be a nice bread to go along with my omelet each night.
My snack each day is a banana. If they start to get old looking, they will go into the freezer and become a smoothy with some yogurt and milk.
Breakfast
 |
| Overnight Oatmeal - May not look like much, but really was delicious! |
Lunch
 |
| Lunch Meal Prep - Lunch for the rest of the week! |
 |
| Lunch plated for today -- It was good and satisfying! |
Supper
 |
| Spinach, Onion and Cheese Omelet -- a 1 egg wonder! |
For a snack late in the afternoon, I had a banana and some of my homemade yogurt. It was really good! I haven't gotten around to making the pancakes yet, but I'll do that this evening. So, that was the first food day of the series of 7 total. My neighbor asked me what I was planning to do after this week. My response? I don't know. All I know is I'm having fun figuring out how to live on very little. Why? Because I can!!
That's it for today. Be sure to stop by tomorrow when the blog posting will undoubtedly be shorter and I'll talk more about my wacky ideas. Until then, Godspeed, Voyagers!!
No comments:
Post a Comment