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“The mint makes it first, it is up to you to make it last.” Evan Esar (American Humorist, 1899-1995)
Week 2 of the ‘accounting’ report for the money part of the current installment of the series Someone Else’s Shoes (boy, that is a mouthful). This part is a little bit different than usual since the shoes are really my own. For the money part of the experience I’m sharing our actual food budget and the way we really shop. Be sure to check out the week 1 report for a detailed overview of how we ‘shop’.
Keep in mind, that we strive to follow a real/whole/traditional foods diet and the Dietary Guidelines put out by the Weston A. Price Foundation we are not all the way there. Currently we about 85% of our foods fit these guidelines. Last year at this time our goal was 80%. Next year it may or may not be 90%. Having a goal like this helps me immensely. Something like this may or may not work for you depending on your personality. I like it because I tend to have a slightly addictive personality and be an ‘all or nothing’ kind of girl. By putting a number in play it alleviates alot of stress for me and the need to ‘try to be perfect’. Because, you know, perfection isn’t actually something that would be attainable…
I also think it is extremely important to note that we do not have any allergies or medical issues that we are trying to heal. While we do have some minor issues that have been greatly improved on a real food diet that is not why we started on real food. For us changing our diet to enjoy foods closer to the way God made them was our only intention. Everything else has been a bonus.
This experience lasts from April 23 to May 22 (to correspond with how our actual budget works). The experience is Money v. Time. This is the money part. I’m sharing our actual food budget during this time and how we actually shop. Each week the time part is also shared. This part shows the details and what goes on in my kitchen. This part is different than how we usually do things. Making a meal plan is usually something that happens each week for for these 4 weeks and 1 day the meal plan has been tossed out the window. Be sure to read the kick off post on the details of this and check back each Wednesday to see the Time part.
This Week’s Spending
This month’s food budget is $575. Last week we spent $116.20 which gives us a new balance of $458.80
The ‘big purchase’ this week was my cow share. While not actually a purchase it is something that come out of our food budget. We contribute to room and board for a cow and in exchange get 3 1/2 gallons of milk each week. So we actually have 3 1/2 shares (1 share equals 1 gallon). This is $98 each month. This month I also picked up a jar of ghee which is $10 for a total of $108 to my farmer (no receipt).
We got our beef CSA this week. We get 10 pounds of grass-fed beef each month. While 10 pounds isn’t alot it works out nicely for us with our wild game. $55 for beef.
Another purchase this week was when Joe stopped on the way home and picked up a loaf of bakery bread and ice cream for Friday nights dinner. While the bulk of the bread we eat is homemade sourdough we on occasion have homemade yeast bread or yeast bread from the grocery store bakery. My girls really like yeast bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. This tends to be a treat here. As is the ice cream. 🙂 This was $9.36 (receipt misplaced). Joe didn’t have the envelope that we keep our grocery money in so he used his debit card. Since we still need to stay on our budget, I’ll take the $9.36 out of the envelope. It will go into an envelope that I keep ‘just in case’ of this happening and then next time I’m at the bank I just put the cash back in the account. I don’t recommend this when using the envelope system but it is what we do when Joe makes an unplanned grocery stop.
This Week’s Total: $172.36
New Total: $288.56
Remaining out of $575 budget: $286.44
I could have/should have picked up produce this week. We do have beets, carrots, spinach and apples left so should be okay until I go to town on Thursday. Other than that we really didn’t have a need for shopping this week. That is one advantage to keeping a well stocked pantry, shopping less often.
Be sure to check back on Wednesday for the Time portion of Money v. Time
