I’ve been on an “Eating Poorganically” shopping frenzy lately. I’ve gotten a little confused with the weekly spending allotment and the budget because of starting EP in the middle of one of our summer months, when we had been eating normally.ย I should have waited to start EP with a new budget, but alas, I did not.
For those of you reading The Low Ryder who are just joining for Eating Poorganically, I’ll give you a little explanation. My husband is a teacher and is not paid in the summer, so once that end of summer payday rolls around, we are in the MONEY. Well, not exactly. But you get my drift.
Here are the fig-ahs. (That was a British accent. Could you tell?)
We finished the summer within our $500 a month consumables budget having spent $500.89 on our groceries and household items.ย We started Eating Poorganically in the middle of that month, so I am not totally sure what our food and non-food breakdowns were, but I am keeping track of that now.We also went on vacation that month during which we cooked out own meals, so I am pretty pleased with that number.
Anyway, Week 3 we spent $98.94 on poorganic food, which is somewhere in that above number.ย Here are some photos, but I don’t have everything because I am a slouch and sometimes the ProvidinaTOR gets irritated at me taking pictures of our food, which admittedly, is strange. (Not the food–the photographing it.)
Obviously, I don’t have pictures for everything that I bought Week 3, which included $16 worth of plants and seed that I purchased for our garden. There were a few other trips too.
Onto Weeks 4 and 5
Due to some payday confusion and some binge buying, I am putting these weeks together.ย Also they will be the beginning of the first OFFICIAL month of Eating Poorganically.ย If you recall, we are trying to eat for $85-$100 a week, or at the very worst, no more than $400 a month.
So far this month, we have spent $ 226.
I know (sheepishly).
It is hard doing this.ย Here’s a few more picturesย . . . after which I will offer up some pathetic excuses.
That’s all the pictures that I have, which isn’t all of the $226, but it gives you an idea of what my shopping trips have looked like! Here are a few observations . . .
a. We are eating well, but whether it is growth spurts or ease of digestion, my kids are CONSTANTLY eating.
b. I am shopping a lot. This is probably because we are eating so much produce that I keep running out to get more.
c. I am cooking more . . . bread, granola, scratch biscuits. I don’t mind it yet, but it might get old. What will we do then?
d. The kids are surprisingly un-phased by the lack of processed and convenience food. Even though we don’t really have crackers or granola bars anymore, they seem to be fine with cut up fruit and yogurt with honey. All of them are really starting to get into hummus, especially when I put black beans in it. (Recipe to follow in another post.)
As for the $226 we spent in two weeks, I know the weeks got kind of screwy somewhere, so I think I might just abandon the week notion and stick to a running tally of where we stand for the month. I hope that doesn’t mess you up too much. Also buying that beef really messed with the total.ย Since that meat will be for the whole month, I’m not focusing on the weekly problem.ย We still have $174 for the rest of our month, which is about three more weeks. Even though we haven’t come close to spending so little thus far, the shopapalooza means that we are pretty well stocked. I’m hoping that the $174 will be spent almost exclusively on produce and milk.ย We are planning to go apple picking this weekend, so all our meals might have apple in them for the rest of the month.
Any questions or things that you are specifically wondering about? What are your reactions so far? Should we keep it up? Is this worth it?
8 thoughts on “Shopalooza Eating Poorganic Weeks 3-5”
Hey…we might consider going in on a cow with you. We’ve talked about it. I think it’s cheaper than buying anything at the grocery store and from what a friend told us a few years ago, you can have them cut it however you want. I could be totally wrong as I have NO experience in this. Do you wash ALL your fruits and veges with vinegar water? 1/2 and 1/2 solution? Even strawberries and kiwi with a softer skin? I’ve heard strawberries, apples, and so many more that I love are the highest for pesticides. Anyhow…you’re inspiring. I feel worn out after reading your blog tonight though. ๐ That must have taken a lot of energy.
Please let us know the specific poundage of beef shown… thank you! ๐ I am looking forward to having a successful Farmer’s Market trip this Saturday with which to compare some of these items and experiences. Oh…. and you are awesome, sister!
Alas, it is only a little over 4 lbs of meat. 2 ground beef. 1 lb of non-baconish bacon. And a ribeye that is a little over 1 lb. The prices are MUCH better if you buy in bulk. The ground beef was 85% lean, but the farmer said, and I agree, that it seemed much leaner than what would be called 85% lean in the store.
I am loving these posts! You have to keep it up…because once we get over the pond and then over a few more countries… ha ha (did i get my geography right)? I am going to try to do the same. As best as I can. please keep it up!
love ya… miss you… erin
I can’t wait to hear about how your shopping and eating experience will compare over there. I will have several Eating Poorganic readers in Europe (England, France, and Germany) so I’ll be counting on you guys to keep up informed on how good or bad we have it here in America. ๐
Have you noticed a change in the behavior of your children since cutting out processed foods? I have recently noticed that so many of the processed snacks, foods, drinks, etc that I buy are PACKED with SUGAR! I am trying to buy lower-sugar items, but I wondered if I needed to forgo processed items all-together. Gavin is VERY energetic and hyper and I am wondering if the processed/sugary food would be playing a role in that. Any thoughts on that?
Well, you will get ALL kinds of opinions on whether or not sugar causes crazy behavior, so I won’t weigh in on that. Honestly, I wouldn’t say that I have particularly noticed a difference in craziness, necessarily, but I do know that reducing sweeteners and processed foods in general won’t hurt him for sure. I will say that it has not been as difficult as I thought to reduce our processed food intake, AND the kids are taking it much better than I thought they would. You could try doing the REAL or homemade idea that I’m doing, which means that he can have store bought items with five or less “okay” ingreds OR he can have whole foods. Try to make sure that one of the five ingreds isn’t HFCS or sugar, especially if it doesn’t say real cane sugar. I guess a lot of sugar in processed stuff is from “sugar beets” which are often genetically modified, which is supposedly bad. So instead of having “processed” crackers or chips from the store, they can have a banana or some popcorn or baby carrots or grape tomatoes, or cut up cheese, or yogurt (but not tube kind). Much to my surprise, all my kids are liking plain yogurt with just honey on it. I’m pretty liberal with the honey, but I figure it is a compromise.There are TONS of snack and food ideas on 100daysofrealfood.com. OOO, one bit of good news is that TRISCUITS are whole grain and are less then five ingreds with NO sugar. Bring ’em on!. ๐ Hey, try it and let me know what you think. I’d love to dial Dylan down a few degrees.
I’m pretty sure palm oil comes from a plant and is “semi-solid” at room temp. It’s used in food rather than hydrogenated oils. When so many people became concerned about trans fats from hydro. oils, palm oil production sky-rocketed. Unfortunately, meeting this demand has led to deforestation and loss of habitat for animals such as the orangutan ๐ (There is no easy answer, is there?)
Hey…we might consider going in on a cow with you. We’ve talked about it. I think it’s cheaper than buying anything at the grocery store and from what a friend told us a few years ago, you can have them cut it however you want. I could be totally wrong as I have NO experience in this. Do you wash ALL your fruits and veges with vinegar water? 1/2 and 1/2 solution? Even strawberries and kiwi with a softer skin? I’ve heard strawberries, apples, and so many more that I love are the highest for pesticides. Anyhow…you’re inspiring. I feel worn out after reading your blog tonight though. ๐ That must have taken a lot of energy.
Please let us know the specific poundage of beef shown… thank you! ๐ I am looking forward to having a successful Farmer’s Market trip this Saturday with which to compare some of these items and experiences. Oh…. and you are awesome, sister!
Alas, it is only a little over 4 lbs of meat. 2 ground beef. 1 lb of non-baconish bacon. And a ribeye that is a little over 1 lb. The prices are MUCH better if you buy in bulk. The ground beef was 85% lean, but the farmer said, and I agree, that it seemed much leaner than what would be called 85% lean in the store.
I am loving these posts! You have to keep it up…because once we get over the pond and then over a few more countries… ha ha (did i get my geography right)? I am going to try to do the same. As best as I can. please keep it up!
love ya… miss you…
erin
I can’t wait to hear about how your shopping and eating experience will compare over there. I will have several Eating Poorganic readers in Europe (England, France, and Germany) so I’ll be counting on you guys to keep up informed on how good or bad we have it here in America. ๐
Have you noticed a change in the behavior of your children since cutting out processed foods? I have recently noticed that so many of the processed snacks, foods, drinks, etc that I buy are PACKED with SUGAR! I am trying to buy lower-sugar items, but I wondered if I needed to forgo processed items all-together. Gavin is VERY energetic and hyper and I am wondering if the processed/sugary food would be playing a role in that. Any thoughts on that?
Well, you will get ALL kinds of opinions on whether or not sugar causes crazy behavior, so I won’t weigh in on that. Honestly, I wouldn’t say that I have particularly noticed a difference in craziness, necessarily, but I do know that reducing sweeteners and processed foods in general won’t hurt him for sure. I will say that it has not been as difficult as I thought to reduce our processed food intake, AND the kids are taking it much better than I thought they would. You could try doing the REAL or homemade idea that I’m doing, which means that he can have store bought items with five or less “okay” ingreds OR he can have whole foods. Try to make sure that one of the five ingreds isn’t HFCS or sugar, especially if it doesn’t say real cane sugar. I guess a lot of sugar in processed stuff is from “sugar beets” which are often genetically modified, which is supposedly bad. So instead of having “processed” crackers or chips from the store, they can have a banana or some popcorn or baby carrots or grape tomatoes, or cut up cheese, or yogurt (but not tube kind). Much to my surprise, all my kids are liking plain yogurt with just honey on it. I’m pretty liberal with the honey, but I figure it is a compromise.There are TONS of snack and food ideas on 100daysofrealfood.com. OOO, one bit of good news is that TRISCUITS are whole grain and are less then five ingreds with NO sugar. Bring ’em on!. ๐ Hey, try it and let me know what you think. I’d love to dial Dylan down a few degrees.
I’m pretty sure palm oil comes from a plant and is “semi-solid” at room temp. It’s used in food rather than hydrogenated oils. When so many people became concerned about trans fats from hydro. oils, palm oil production sky-rocketed. Unfortunately, meeting this demand has led to deforestation and loss of habitat for animals such as the orangutan ๐ (There is no easy answer, is there?)