I made a decision to budget, clean out my cabinets, and monitor my eating better. And it all started because I got a credit card statement in the mail (yikes) and then noticed my cupboard was overflowing with food I keep buying, but don’t eat. (Closet Rice-A-Roni hoarder, here.)
Turns out if the Zombie Apocalypse happens, I’ve got enough food to ratio for months. And it’s not just beans and cans of tomatoes, I can make homemade soups, lasagna, burritos, cakes, pies, and even chili. Seriously, there’s enough to go around. Cereal for days, too.
So I decided I would not allow myself to purchase any food for at least a week. No new purchases. The only things I could have would have to already be in my freezer, fridge, or cupboard. Let me tell you, for the first five days, it wasn’t hard at all. Even by day seven, I still had a well-rounded meal: frozen fish, peas, and couscous. Really. So I kept going, to the point where all I really have left is a few boxes of rice, oatmeal, baking supplies, butter, frozen peas, frozen spinach, and all the fixings to make veggie lasagna. Actually, that’s not too bad.
But I was craving food. Fresh veggies and fruit to be exact. And I was stuck. Do I cave and spend money, swipe the credit card again? OR do I wait it out another few days. Then I noticed the quarters in my car door… and I had an idea. If I could get in and out of the supermarket with only the change I had at my fingertips, I could do it. I counted: $1.87.
In I went for an orange and bananas. Two bananas, check. One orange, check. Oh wait, I miss having green peppers and they’re on sale. In went one to the basket.. then an onion… and then a kiwi. Whoops.
I checked out, and totaled $3.54. Quite over my budget, but since the self-checkout wasn’t taking my coins anyway, I took out two dollar bills and said what the heck. To be fair, that’s over a week and a half with only spending $3.54 on food, which I have to say I’m proud of myself.
And it also makes me wonder how many people spend money on food, only to throw it out when it goes bad, when all they had to do was dig into their dry goods for week. I can’t be the only one.
1 Comment
Loved the article….only wished more people would realize how much food is wasted and they don’t need to purchase. Just because they have coupons and get it free doesn’t mean you needed to buy 20….ohhhhhhhh, I’ve done that but I have also made some changes for 2014.