Whew… Its been a good month. A cold and long month, but a good one. This month I committed to baking all my own breads from scratch and buying nothing for my pantry or freezer, only fresh produce and limited dairy products. I succeeded!
First, let me recap the last 10 days. I dropped the ball a bit, and went out to eat 4 times (2 lunches and 2 dinner). Sometimes when you are out shopping and having a good time, you are too tired to cook. Maybe I’m making excuses 😀 I know its not healthy, but its so convenient!
This week I bought:
- Yogurt, plain
- Baby Greens (salad mix)
As I had said originally, my goal is not to spend as little as possible. 90% of what I buy is organic, and it does cost a little more. Unfortunately, there are no coupons for fresh produce and I am very choosy about the milk and eggs that I buy (from local farms). I DO look out for sales though, even on fruits and vegetables, and love going to farmer markets. So, here are my total spent each week rounded to the nearest $.50:
Week 1 ~ $41.50 **
Week 2 ~ $21.50
Week 3 ~ $36.00
Week 4 ~ $ 6.00
Total Spent = $ 105.00 for 3 people
**(this was before I decided to do the challenge, so there were 6 things bought that did not fit my rules)
My Goals for the rest of the year:
- Seek out coupons for branded organic products (I do this some, but I could do more… by visiting websites of brands you like and websites such as mambosprouts you can find coupons on healthy foods!)
- Create a Price Book- a pocket sized notebook in which I write the things I buy frequently, and the price of them at various stores I shop at. Then I have a quick reference of which store has the best prices for each item, and how good of a deal Im getting. I used to store all this info in my brain, but ohh… how age affects the memory and I’m only in my 30’s! Sad!
- Continue to try to use more variety of whole grains such as quinoa, kasha, amaranth, millet and barley.
Thanks to all who followed my progress, cheered me on, and those who I joined along with at frugal follies!
The Bee and the Fruit in the Kitchen 
Comments on: "Final 10 days of the COTC Challenge and the Results Are In!" (1)
I haven’t been in the blogging world very much lately because I’ve recently moved house and am remodeling the one we’re eventually moving into, leaving me horrendously busy.
I wish I could have followed this challenge–it sounds extremely interesting! The steps you describe for your goals for this year are exactly what I’ve been wanting to do. I’ll have to wait until we move into our new home, though. At that point, life will be more “normal.”
Even though I haven’t been here much lately, I really do enjoy this blog. Thank you!