D-Day Nears...

So tonight and tomorrow are my last free days before the eat cheap challenge begins Monday. I've got just about all the food for the week - scored a canister of oatmeal for $1, although I reserve the right not to eat it, as I really don't like it. But it's filling and I'm sure people who don't have $ to spend on food eat a lot of things they'd rather not.

Should have bought the four chicken quarters for $2.66 when I saw them at Schnuck's earlier this week - but didn't. And I bought an onion since my brother balked at my creative idea to barter manual labor for groceries. (Hater.)

Had a last supper of sorts at Picadilly's - bill was over $10. Now, I'm the girl who can go to Indian Palace and drop $30 and not blink, but this experiment has already made me realize how wasteful I am. So even though I was full, I ate just about all of what I ordered at Picadilly's - and wondered how much the people who served me have to spend on food. Assauged my guilt with a nice tip for the waitress, but I still feel the unfairness of it all. 

I can see now, it's not the physical part that's hard, it's the psychological pondering of social inequities that's going to be a b-tch this week. 

Like Cabbage?

On Friday, my search for cheap food continued.

Easy Way, I'd been told, has a cheap table. Got two potatoes there. Also got this:

which will be at least two servings, steamed, or sauteed with an onion I got from Moms, in exchange for vacuuming two rooms.

I'm pleasantly surprised by how many fruits and veggies I've been able to snag - eating fresh food will be a snap - it's the meat I can't afford. Or milk. Or Cream of Wheat. Or wheat bread. 

I went to four stores today - a luxury that people who are really trying to stretch a $20 bill don't have. Maybe they don't have the transportation, or can't afford the gas - so don't get it twisted, I still realize that for me, this is still just a game, a challenge, something that can end soon. 

I have to say, I was stunned by the suggestions offered by a nice lady I met at Easy Way. She broke down how to know if you're getting a good deal on potatoes so it will forever remain broke. She advised me that you can't take the plastic wrap off the stuff on the cheap table to see if it's spoiled on the other side. And she came back into the store - twice - to tell me about stuff at other stores, namely Aldi's, where I did get a few things.

Now if I can just find some really cheap chicken.... 

The Planning Phase

You may be older than me Wendi, but I'm bigger and stronger now. You can't beat me by tying me to a chair with your hair ribbons (this time).

I am also preparing for this contest this weekend - researching where I can get the most bang for my buck on food. Some research will be done on the spot this weekend when I hit the grocery store for the week's staples, but I'm pretty sure I'll be adhering to these basic principles.

1) Buy ingredients and make your own food instead of paying someone else to prepare the food (or paying for fancy packaging).
2) Buy in bulk instead of a la carte.
3) Pay attention to calories/nutrition provided per dollar.
4) Don't drink your money.

The first principle is where Wendi is going to have her most solid advantage. I won a potholder in an office contest last week, and when asked why I was giving it away, my response was "You don't need potholders for Taco Bell." Honestly, if I didn't use a French press to make my coffee in the morning (something I may have to forego for the upcoming week - see rule 4), I likely wouldn't even know if my stovetop was operational. Same goes for heating up leftover pizza and my oven. But I might have to break down and get my fingers greasy with a chicken or two next week. Restaurants and fast food joints will be, for the most part, off limits next week.

Rule 2 is something that is obvious to see while standing in the aisle of the grocery store - buying twice as much almost always saves 5-10% off the unit price.

Rule 3 is where I believe this contest will be won or lost. I'll be doing some serious comparison shopping to determine which meals are cost-effective and which will burn through some crucial coin without filling me up.

Rule 4 is decidedly advantage: Aaron. With the exception of coffee, I'm mostly a water drinker anyway. And I also know that Wendi has a weakness for the carbonation. Wendi: water as Slug: potato chip. (SAT advantage: Aaron - hey Wendi, you brought it up first!) Beer/wine also won't be a problem this week as I don't drink during February anyway (topic for a whole 'nother blog). Point is, drinks normally do little to fill you up. And nutrition-barren Cokes are a waste when you're trying to eat on a restricted budget. I'm saving my cash for food that sticks to the belly.

Of course, I have plenty other strategies, but I'll probably wait until Wendi has violated them to share...

In the store, it gets real

After a long day of work and an after-work event, I took myself to Schnuck's, a local grocery store chain, to do some looking. Not really shopping, just looking. Bought a few things, but I reserve the right not to use them next week.

In the refrigerator aisle, I ran into Mother Wit! For those who don't know, Mother Wit had folks howling with laughter as they drove to work in the mornings, as she was part of the Soul Classics 103.5 radio team (until they ditched local talent for syndicated crap).

 

Mother Wit had seen my column in The Commercial Appeal (you can read it here) and had suggestions for me - since her income has shrunk dramatically since she has been off the air and is supporting herself doing local comedy shows wherever will have her. 

She steered me to the frozen veggies section, where they have mixes you can put in a stew. Like tomatoes and okra. (BLECH!) and other veggies. I'm not sure I'm ready for that, but I did find a bag of rice for 79 cents. We used to eat rice for breakfast, so that may be what I do. And I can eat it for dinner - if I can find some cheap meat.

Mother Wit also suggested Sav-A-Lot - where the place doesn't always smell so fresh and you have to pay for your plastic bags. There's one near me, so I'll check that out. And I've got my eyes on some carrots at Aldi's. And I hear Easy Way has a discount table. 

Just going through the store with my notepad, writing down prices (which I'll compare to what I find at Aldi's and Easy Way and Cooper's and Kroger) was a sobering experience. I still have to eat between now and when the experiment starts on Monday, so I did pick up a few things, but spent just $10. I can't tell you when that's happened before, and I had three bags full of stuff. 

How To Beat Aaron, oh, and eat on the cheap too.

Since my baby brother is clearly still bitter from Monopoly losses circa like 1984, he is determined to beat me.

But I am determined to have a good showing. So.. ideas, tips, etc? 

 My mom is suggesting oatmeal for breakfast every morn - would that violate our rule, Aaron? I'm thinking not - as most people eat the same thing for breakfast most mornings anyway, so that would be staying true to the spirit and not just the letter of the law. (Like that verbage, you attorney?)

I've already got folks lined up for two of my three meals (bet you wished you lived at home now, bruh, because Moms is hooking me up!), just need one more dinner invitation.

... And more rules.

I like a lot of the rules you've proposed, Wendi:
- 3 meals/day - no use starving for a blog challenge.
- 2 fruits and/or veggies per day - again, no deprivation.
- variety required - keeping with reality is desirable.

I say we keep the rule on free meals as "up to 3." Part of eating cheap is taking advantage of times when there is free food around. And I think free food is available more often than one might guess, even if it's just samples at Whole Foods on Saturday (am I giving away too much?). Plus, another way of eating cheaper might be making enough food to feed a few other folks one night (that might otherwise spoil if you didn't share), and then reaping your culinary karma in return.

Let's also say that even if condiments don't count, we still have to post them, to cut down on the "mayonnaise sandwich" factor.

We should have to post our daily totals on both food eaten and money tallies at least once per day. Which probably also mirrors what folks with extremely limited food budgets do normally.

Oh, and uh... since this is a competition, and we're actually trying to see who can eat the cheapest... Don't be mad when you get smoked like a rack of ribs, Wendi.

The Rules...

For Feb. 2-8, the goal is to eat as cheaply as possible. But to keep my brother from finding Ramen noodles somewhere 5/$1, drinking only water and then declaring himself the winner, we need rules.

I propose:

- Three meals a day, at least. 

- You can't eat the same thing more than 3 nights during the 7-day challenge. I.E., no soup every night.

- Condiments you already have on hand don't count, including margarine, olive oil, mustard, ketchup, spices. I can't be expected to figure out how much a tablespoon of mustard from a jar I bought last year costs. I'm a writer.

- At least two servings of fruits/vegetables a day. Juice counts. 

Aaron, I know you've suggested we can get three free meals - i.e., meals someone else paid for - but if part of the spirit of the challenge is to live as those who really have to watch their $ live, how many financially challenged people get invited to places with posh buffets? (I'm thinking of somewhere I already have an invitation to next week). Maybe one free meal during the week? And it has to be a meal you eat in one sitting. No having a friend order you a large pizza that you nosh on for three nights. 

What other rules am I forgetting, baby bro? 

Why I Am Here.

I've been checking my mailbox daily, bailout check ain't come yet.

When the economy is as bad as it's been recently, it's hard not to pay closer attention to your finances, even if your paycheck hasn't actually been threatened (yet). It's as though we're tightening our collective belts as the reality of the recession sets in.

I've long kept pretty good track of what I spend, but I think it was more for bounced-check avoidance than for budgeting purposes. When rising gas prices more than doubled the amount I spent on fuel per month this past summer, I actually paused to compare my monthly totals of expenses. I was blown away to see how much I was spending on food each month. So ashamed, that I'm probably still 3 or 4 counseling sessions from exposing that figure on this blog.

I realized that if I just paid a bit more attention, I could easily cut my food bill in half. And once I had half my food bill in my hand, it'd be even easier to think of somewhere else I'd like to put that money. And then I thought - "I wonder how cheaply I could eat, anyway?"

So as I raided the family kitchen during Thanksgiving, bragging to my sister about how I was unlikely to spend a dime on food for a solid 10 meals into the future, Wendi's charming "anything you can do I can do better" bug revived itself from our adolescence... and here we are. And by the by Wendi, it's funny you should bring up my Rubik's cube hack as evidence of my propensity to pull a fast one, especially coming from the girl who used to give herself $460 change after buying Indiana Avenue for $140 with a $500 bill because "5 minus 1 is 4, Aaron!"

How Cheaply Could You Eat For One Whole Week?

My brother, Aaron, and I (Wendi) wondered this exact question - and since we are competitive overachievers, we decided to do a weeklong challenge to see how cheaply we could eat for an entire week.

We've picked Feb. 2-8 to do our challenge, and we'll both be posting here daily about our progress. We'll have rules, which we'll post soon, and pictures of what we can find cheap to eat. 

This isn't about a diet, or eating Ramen noodles all 21 meals (that's the kind of slick stuff my baby brother would come up with. I haven't forgotten how he "solved" the Rubick's cube simply by moving around all the colored stickers). 

It's an exercise in awareness - how much we spend on food, how much we waste, what choices we'd make  if we were like too many families in America - and could barely afford groceries.

My brother and I - as we speak and knock wood - are financially comfortable and don't have to think twice about what we spend on food. But for this coming week, we will.