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How low can you go?

Budgetwise...not caloriewise as i need to eat roughly 2,000 calories per day with my current activities.  I still want to keep things reasonably healthy and somewhat interesting.

I can easily see the following menu ideas:

• Steel cut oatmeal for breakfast with frozen berries and a banana, Figure about $4 for the week.
• Black beans and rice, if you make your own it should be about $3 for a week's worth, make it $6 and splurge for some cheese and salsa.
• Tuna salad sandwiches...seems a bit expensive by comparison.  $3 for the loaf of bread, another $10 for the tuna and another few dollars for pickles and celery to put in.
• Pasta with frozen veggies...another $10
• Oops, I almost forgot about eggs...and they're good in stirfries with leftover rice too...add $2

I'd challenge you to a budget-off, however I am pretty sure food is more expensive here in general so I'd lose for sure....but I am going to do it next week too, and challenge myself!

-Only veggies and fruits on sale, or maybe go to the asian grocer where there is less selection but they are cheap. Or go to the good asian grocer when in Van and carry some stuff back with me.

-Besides dried beans, also dried chick peas and lentils to make soups, and maybe a stewing chicken if they are a good price

-Canned tomatoes from the case lot sale at Save On, also good in soups and beans n rice

-Peanut butter....I don't like it for sandwiches but I do like it on toast, which reminds me...

-Make homemade bread, experiment with pita bread since that's my fave and it's expensive

Does shopping from my freezer count? ;)

Only if you count the price that you've paid. 

You're on!  We should compare actual costs as we do it...plus definitely count any eating out!  We can adjust prices for actual products, plus you get fresh blackberries *so jealous*.

Hey laides...Sherylyn just shared the idea behind this "challenge" with me and I want to join, if you don't mind. I just did some grocery shopping and still have my receipt, so I should be able to figure out the math for each meal.

I have some questions -

1) when is the official start date and how long will it last?

2) are we competing for a full day budget or per meal? if per meal, just the 3 main meals or snacks too?

3) are we going to base the budget on just ourselves or for the household?

4) how should we count things like baked goods...breads, muffins, etc. that use things like oil and spices that we've had for far to long to calculate?

...I really hope I didn't make this a lot more difficult that it should be. I am a very friendly competitor so I just want to make sure I'm doing it right. :)

I'm looking forward to this.

How about Monday through the following Sunday?  Let's try a week at first.  I'm basing it on a 2,000 calorie diet, but we'll do a cost/calorie ratio to make it fair for those who have different ranges which should also make an accurate comparison for those with families too.  I'm thinking for the whole week, but you can certainly break it down into individual meals and days.  I'm including all calories from that scoop of peanut butter to the milk in my coffee.

I'll start a new thread in Game and Challenges for it on Monday.

If you paid for the food, no matter how long ago, it counts towards the cost.  So for instance I have steel cut oats that I plan to use, I'll use the price I can find for the can at my local store since I no longer remember what I paid and divide it by the servings to come up with a price per serving.

I am not counting spices and oils that are already sitting in my cupboard unless I use a significant amount.  If I log it for calories then I'm counting it for costs.  If you get something like a dozen eggs or a loaf of bread free (Ralph's coupons) it counts as free although it would be interesting to see what it would costs without freebies too.

I like this. I think the cost/calorie ratio will be the best way to calculate it. That way we are only calculating for ourselves and not the whole household (I'm sure it varies between us all). I also like that you said if you count it in calories, you count it in price. That's good because trying to caculate how much a tablespoon of cinnamon from a bulk container bought 6 months ago would cost...torture!

When you post the link on Monday in the other thread, will you post the thread here as well? Thanks!

Yep, I think I have to lock this thread and then start the Games and Challenges one, but I'll cross post both links.

Cool! I think I will design a spreadsheet to keep track of things. It will be really challenging for me to do it all week as I will be in Van for some of those days, I'll have to work it out somehow....I am way too excited about this lol

Well, if we like it I rather imagine that it will continue. 

I've been sitting here trying to figure out the best way to keep track of everything and also decided an Excel sheet is probably best. Plus, I think I am going to write the price of each item on the container. That way I don' have to keep up with tons of receipts.

My boyfriend is going to come home and see $3.49 on the milk and think I've gone crazy. :)

Challenge thread

http://caloriecount.about.com/low-ft149801