5.02.2012

thank you colonel pickering!

We did it! We did it! We said that we would do it,
And indeed we did. Some thought that we would rue it;
Some doubted we'd do it. But now you must admit it
That succeed we did. 



yes, now it is may 2nd, and we went the entire month of april with spending only $97.69 in groceries!  yeah!  


i learned a bit more about cooking and spent a lot of time doing it, but it was fun--since i've never had the time or energy to do it before.  i love that the kids were on board and were helpful tasters and critics.  


one day, seth came up to me and said: "mom, i don't really want to tell you this..."
"what, seth?"
"well, your smoothie kinda looks like vomit."
"well, did it taste good?"
"yeah."
"then it doesn't matter what it looks like."
"okay, but it still looks pretty gross."
hehe


things i learned:


1) i need a larger supply of honey in our food storage.
2) i can make some mean granola bars.
3) although i loath waking up early, it was kinda nice to help 
      feed the kids breakfast in the morning.
4) i love homemade pretzels:
5) the Church is true
6) homemade refried beans are better than canned
7) you really can make almost everything from scratch!
8) with a 3-month supply, our diet didn't really change--we just ate a lot less processed food (a good thing)!
9) i still need to work on my bread and yogurt-making skills
and finally....
10) it was SO NICE not having to go to the grocery store for a ton of food!!!!


near the end of the month, i admit to thinking ambitiously and suggested we just go into the next month without eating any processed food--but i think i want a little break from all the cooking!  we are going to decrease our normal grocery budget though and still try to eat less processed food--i'm thinking $400 is a good number.  we'll see how it goes.  i'm hoping that it's really going to incorporate some lifestyle changes in our family and that we'll all be eating a little healthier from now on.

5 comments:

Myra said...

I want to know how you incorporated fresh produce? That is over half of our food budget, and as we try and eat healthy and cut out processed foods, it's hard to cut our food budget as well.

You are an inspiration and I agree with #5...makes this all possible.

Holly said...

Love Seth's comment. Sometimes it is hard to get past the appearance. What a good lesson for me!

Jamie said...

You're my hero! That is so awesome. I will need to know your secrets.

Alisa said...

Good for you guys! How inspiring! We did that challenge once, but it was only for one with and with no grocery trips. It was a good experience. A whole month though, with a family your size! Wow! You're awesome!

Alisa said...

only for one WEEK (not WITH) :)