21-Dollars-A-Week-Challenge: Are We Surviving?

As you may remember from Sunday's Blog Post (or not, I don't expect people to remember everything I post, seriously!) I am taking part in fellow vegan blogger "Vegan Hope"'s 21-Dollars-A-Week Vegan Blogger Challenge.

Since I didn't post a full menu on Sunday, and because I'd shopped but not actually 'started' the week, I thought I'd check back here, mid-week, to let you know how it's going.

First of all, as I mentioned on Sunday, living on 21-dollars-per-person-a-week is already slightly more than my actual 'real-life' budget allows. So as expected, this week is going about the same as any other week. I got home early, so I have the batter made for tonight's zucchini-garbanzo fritters, and the peach cobbler in the oven. I even made a vegan-cashew ranch for dipping (made from garden dill, and a few leftovers from last week which I realize skews the total weekly numbers a bit).

The only thing we've changed about the menu so far is that we opted for Biscuits and Gravy yesterday instead of Thursday. That's pretty typical, my "menu" is just a guideline for HOW to use the food we have on hand, not specifically "when".

Here's the plan for Saturday, which, when added to the previous list I made on Sunday, completes the week.

SATURDAY:
Breakfast:
Carrot-Potato Latkes (Nava Atlas's recipe with shredded carrot/potato/onion - I use cornmeal instead of matzoh meal),
applesauce, fresh blackberries!
Lunch:
Peanut-butter and Jam* sandwiches, leftover cashew ranch dip with zucchini sticks and cherry tomatoes
Supper:
Curried lentils (lentils, curry powder, ginger, onions, garlic, salt), rice, homemade roti (Indian bread) and spicy (Indian spices/curry) tomato-zucchini-and-carrots.

*jam = from the dollar store = 1.00

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I haven't added it up exactly, but I'm pretty confident we came in well under 21-Dollars-Per-Person, because I still have a few dollars in my pocket.

(Another budget-helper. Take your grocery money out, in CASH at the first of the week. That is all you have to spend. Cash only. It works wonders!)

I've appreciated all the great comments and questions this subject has generated. Feel free to add or ask anything else!!

A couple things:

1.) Yes, as many have commented, my prices may be really low, but I don't think this is because I live in a "cheaper" part of the country, we're actually rated as "upper-middle" according to the Census, cost-of-living-wise and however they measure that thing
But keep in mind WHERE I shop. I bought all of the week's produce at the Asian and Latino markets at substantial savings, and was able to pick out exactly the amount I needed, nothing was pre-packaged or wrapped in per-selected bundles. I bought tiny portions of spices from the bulk aisle at Winco, some of them only pennies per tablespoon.

2.) Yes, my kids do snack some... We don't buy any "snack" foods but there is almost always bread, hummus, PB, Jam, carrots and apples. Also, there are usually leftovers, this week I've had leftover hummus, veggies, tortillas and refried beans. Not a LOT of any of those items, but a snack is just that, a snack. I'm not a fan anyway. I haven't yet found any compelling, truly scientific evidence that convinces me we need to snack all day anyway. Maybe after school, but that's usually it.

3.) Beverages. Water! We don't drink soymilk or other plant milk as a beverage, or any type of juice. Both of these items are expensive and just don't fit into the budget. And juice isn't necessary for anyone anyway! We don't do a lot of "smoothie" type drinks unless I have a lot of odds and ends to use up. When my children were toddlers we did more high-protein drinks and smoothies so I could pack in the nutrients. I DO have iced herb tea in the fridge almost all the time and when we want something other than water it fills the craving.

4.) Nutrition. Are my kids getting adequate nutrition? Yes. Even though my current budget can't be modified at the moment, I won't sacrifice my children's health. If I needed to change something - vegan or not, I would do it, their nutrition and health come first.
We do take B12 and D suppliments, just because I want to be extra careful. When my kids were toddlers we did do a lot more smoothies and even eggs once in a while (because I still think free-range chickens are the best pest controllers a garden can have, but this isn't the forum for that whole "egg" discussion, please). There are certainly plenty of vegan options for raising healthy toddlers if you don't have chickens laying eggs on your front steps.

Nowdays my kids are older, they eat more variety and are getting more than adequate nutrition with the meals we have. I realize we scrape the bare minimum number of fruit-and-vegetable servings some days, I wish I could afford to add more to our meals but overall, it seems to even out. Their health history, weight, blood tests and yearly physicals indicate they're healthier than the "typical" teen out there for sure. Every few weeks, just to be sure, I track their meals (using teenage-female statistics) on nutritiondata.com or similar sites just because I'm a paranoid Mom that way.

5.) Time. I work, two jobs during the school-year. My kids are in school and work as well. We have as busy a life as the next person. All told, most meals don't take more than 1/2 hour to put on the table. Lunch usually significantly less, and it's packed the night before during the school-year. If you can't give your family an hour to an hour-and-a-half every day towards their health and nutrition, you probably need to re-evaluate something in your schedule. Sorry, not trying to be harsh, just my 2 cents. I make copious use of time-saving utensils: the crock-pot, time-bake on the oven, timed rice-cooker, pressure-cooker and meals in the freezer. (And microwave, if that's your thing, I don't use it) And I try to sit down at the table most evenings for supper. Yes, even with teenagers.

6.) Cooking ahead. I don't do a lot of meals-made-ahead but I DO spend a lot of time in the summer, as I said before, preserving for winter. Making use of EVERY bit of produce I can get my hands on, from my garden, my friends extras, my Mom's over-abundant corn patch, etc. I'll use ANYTHING! I make tomato sauces, salsa, apple sauce, apple butter, jams, frozen beans, greens, squash and cooked, mashed pumpkin. I also make seitan (vegetarian wheat-gluten-meat-type product) in BIG batches and different products (sausages, cutlets, crumbles) and freeze for future use. Again, very cheap to make your own... I have a huge freezer and a pantry full of canning jars I got off Craig's-List and they've paid for themselves many, many times over.

21 Dollar-A-Week Challenge

This week my post (or posts if I have time) are inspired by the "21 Dollar A Week Challenge" going on over at Vegan Hope's blog.

This Blogger's challenge is for fellow vegan Bloggers to: "For one week agree to live on a $21.00 food budget (per person in your household). This is a "food stamp budget" or the weekly grocery allowance for a person living in poverty."

Well, with four people in my household, and a significantly lower income than would be ideal, my food budget is only about 70$ a week, (sometimes much less) - already less than The Challenge's suggested amount (21$ X 4 = 84$).
I do continually have people asking me "How do you do it?" so I thought, in keeping with this challenge, (though maybe not following all their "rules" exactly) I'd post some dollar amounts for my week's cooking:

First of all though, let me explain a few things about my food budget; I have developed a few survival tricks that make my budget stretch even farther than you might think - I realize I'm blessed to live close enough to a major metropolitan area where I can shop ethnic markets and warehouses of super-bargains, PLUS I have a spot to garden, good soil that needs little care, a freezer and large pantry, and an abandoned orchard of wormy apples down the street. There are many summer nights I stay up all night processing fruits and veggies for the pantry or freezer, but the savings are SO very worth it when winter hits:

1. I set aside 12$ from my food budget each week (48$ a month) towards large, (and VERY inexpensive-pr-lb) bulk purchases from Andy's Market, Azure Standard and Bob's Red Mill. I DO realize buying in bulk isn't possible or practical for some people, but look into it, it's the only way I keep a wide variety of interesting food on the table.

2. When I have enough saved to place a bulk order, (usually every other month) I shop the above sites (and sometimes others) for the best price on what I use, as their prices may vary from month to month. Most 25# bags are 12 - 20 dollars, last our family up to a nine months, maybe more = pennies per meal.
Often I have friends who will be passing Bob's Redmill in Portland or Andy's in Eastern Washington, so I save on shipping too (or they sometimes have free shipping specials!)

3. Currently I purchase (on a rotating basis):

• rice
• garbanzos
• lentils
• pinto beans
• black beans
• wheat flour
• cornmeal
• oatmeal
• gluten flour
• olive oil
• sugar (10 lb)
  

in 25# bags, (oil in 2 gallon jugs) which saves me HUGE in the long run. I must spend LESS than the 12$ I set aside because I always have plenty of bulk/dry left when I send in my next order.
I have a freezer and cool pantry to store these items in safely. I guess I should try and break down the per-serving price as close as I can (but I'm also miserable with math and that sounds like way too much work).

4. I also grow my own herbs, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, greens and beans and freeze a great deal for winter. The seed prices I also subtract from my food budget in the spring. (Sorry, my math skills aren't good enough to figure out how much water I use over the growing season and break down that cost per serving...). I also pick wild blackberries and apples (abandoned orchard) in the fall. I make many quarts of applesauce for free - and salsa and tomato sauce for virtually pennies.

5. I shop at alternatives to the standard supermarket and I realize not everyone has these available, or the luxury of a freezer to store extras - International markets, Dollar stores, Day-old-bread outlets, scratch-and-dent canned foods warehouse, Grocery Outlet, Bulk Barn, Asian and Latino markets and farmers markets. So when I list coconut milk at 49 cents a can, or tofu for 89 cents a carton, that's an accurate price - on sale, at the Vietnamese market down the street.

OK, so all that said - here are items I purchased this week (I rounded up sometimes because I canNOT do math, seriously!)
KEEP IN MIND I have two ravenous teenagers and a ten-year-old, these amounts (and meals) will obviously be more than you typically serve just for one person:

• bulk container fresh-ground peanut butter (less than a cup) = 1.80
• several ounces bulk spices, just a tiny bit of each (curry, taco spice, pepper, cayenne, cinnamon) = 1.60
• 2 blocks tofu @79. each = 1.60
• 1 bunch asparagus = 1.80 (yes, a splurge)
• 5# bag potatoes = 1.00
• 1 can coconut milk = .89
• bag carrots from Farmer's Market = 2.00
• 2# fresh peaches = 1.80
• bunch small red onions from Farmer's Market = 1.50
• 1 bottle soy sauce = 1.70
• 4 packs Ramen noodles = .50 (yes, so nutritious!! Don't judge. They ARE actually vegan)
• bulk ww pasta = .99
• fresh ginger = .69
• 1 carton soy milk (Asian market) = 1.20
• bulk nutritional yeast = .89
• bulk vegan chicken broth powder = 1.29
• 3 loaves bread at the bread-outlet = 1.00
• 2 bananas = .69
• 2 cans corn = .50
• cantaloupe = 2.00
• cashews (bulk, just a handful) = 1.20
• sunflower seeds(bulk) = .80
• 4 (very small) lemons) = 1.00
• vinegar = 2.29
• 2 heads garlic = .50
• salt = 1.00

TOTAL 32.23 Aprox. (and some of these items I'll have partially left over for next week)

THAT DONE, let's move on to the meals for the next few days - I've tried to break down costs for items I didn't purchase this week (marked with an *).
If an item isn't listed in the cost breakdown, it came out of the week's groceries (^^above) or it's come out of the "bulk items" stash (which I've already paid for so with my 12$ set-aside so don't see the sense in listing again.) This website, The Hillbilly Housewife (though NOT vegan, has been a life-saver in the past when my budget's been even tighter, outlining exactly what to buy and how to make it work - easy to veganize too!!)
My other estimates I got from Home Economics websites and the County Extension Worksheets that list how much your garden produce "costs". I sometimes estimate slightly lower as I don't use fertilizers, weed killers and insecticides like they use in their estimates:

SUNDAY
Breakfast:
Oatmeal Waffles with Applesauce (using approximately this recipe, without their fruit topping or vanilla)
Lunch:
Pasta with tomato sauce*, greens, apricots
Supper:
Roasted potatoes, with herbs*, onions, garbanzos and carrots (pictured above). Salad from garden lettuce with lemon-olive-oil dressing.

• 3/4 jar homemade tomato sauce = .60 (the extension office estimates homemade tomatoes cost about .20 a cup)
• applesauce - free!
  
• greens from the garden (a few cents? They keep growing and growing from a 1.00 pack of seeds, so I have no idea? I'm going to wildly estimate .75?)

MONDAY
Breakfast:
Toast, peanut-butter and applesauce (try this, it's so good to cut your peanutbutter toast in strips and dunk in the applesauce, my kids' FAVE!)
Lunch:
Ramen Noodle soup with fresh ginger, greens* and carrots shredded in; melon, cherry tomatoes and lettuce from the garden
Supper:
Tofu Breaded* "Fish sticks" and oven fried potato wedges, garlic roasted asparagus

• chard and lettuce from the garden = .75
  
• breading for "fish-sticks" = flour, cracker-crumbs*, nutritional yeast, spices, pinch of nori* seaweed, salt and pepper, plus soymilk and vinegar for dipping before breading. Ingredients from my cupboard that I didn't purchase this week equal at the most = 1.00

TUESDAY
Breakfast:
Oatmeal with brown sugar* and peanut butter (yes, I know :P... this is my kids' choice)
Lunch:
Homemade crackers (this recipe) made with flour, oil, nutritional yeast, and sunflower seeds*.
Hummus (made with home-cooked garbanzos, olive oil, lemon, garlic and peanut-butter instead of tahini), carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes
Supper:
Cornbread (with a can of corn, cornmeal, flour, baking powder*, soymilk, vinegar, sugar) Black-Bean soup (beans, tomato sauce from Sunday, broth, onions, garlic, herbs), oven-roasted green beans

• Aprox. 2 Tbsp. brown sugar = .30
• baking powder = .40
• green beans from garden = .80 (@.20 per person according to Extension Office garden estimates)
  

WEDNESDAY:
Breakfast:
Cornmeal waffles (using extra batter from cornbread yesterday)
Salsa-scrambled tofu (tofu, nutritional yeast, homemade salsa*, onions, a few leftover black beans, tomatoes* and herbs* from garden)
Lunch:
Refried beans (homecooked) and homemade tortillas (flour, water, oil) with chopped tomatoes, lettuce and little bit of onion (and leftover tofu, if there is any).
Supper:
Zucchini-garbanzo fritters (veganize this recipe using leftover mashed garbanzos for egg and adding carrots).
Kale* and shredded carrot salad.
Peach cobbler (this recipe using peaches instead of berries and flour instead of cornstarch if I don't have it).

• jar homemade salsa = 1.00
• 1 cup garden tomatoes = .20
• baking soda/powder = .45
• kale = .50
  

THURSDAY
Breakfast:
Pancakes from this recipe with applesauce to top (unless there are ripe blackberries)
Lunch:
Creamy potato soup (potatoes, onions, broth, cashews, onions, herbs*) and toast
Supper:
Curry gravy (carrots, fresh ginger, garbanzos, onions, green beans*, curry powder, coconut milk, just a small handful of each stretches a LONG ways with the curry sauce) over rice

• handful chopped herbs = .50
• garden green beans = .80
  

FRIDAY
Breakfast:
Biscuits and a cheaper, stripped down version of Punk Rock Chickpea gravy (from the fabulous Isa and her Vegan With A Vengeance, though this particular recipe is all over the Internets too).
Lunch:
LEFTOVERS! (This is a Friday lunch tradition around our house during the summer because it seems to be the one meal no one's ever home for. So I don't bother to plan - everyone packs leftovers for their work/school lunches anyway!!)
Supper:
Cashew-Cream Garlic Alfredo (pasta, cashews, garlic, soymilk, lemon juice, herbs) green salad-tomato-carrot thingy from garden (in the winter I have lots of coleslaw instead - cabbage is super-cheap!) and garlic-pesto toast with basil, nutritional yeast and garlic.

• baking soda/powder = .45
• garden herbs = .50
• garden tomatoes = .20
  
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Are you bored yet? So far, less than 10$ on weekly incidentals not part of my bulk or grocery purchases.

That's as far as I'm going with menus until later in the week. I usually have to change things up if we eat more or less than planned.
All the above, while quite disjointed and full of numbers and rambling from my head along with too many details is the start of my 21 Dollar-A-Week (per person) Challenge. Hopefully it makes a LITTLE sense, or helps give you some ideas?