Shelf Cooking FAILURE.
Shelf Cooking ...
Week 1. Smooth. Went great. Complete Success.
Week 2. I went shopping. Spent $120 at Aldi. Followed by $56 at Wal-Mart.
Slightly over the $30 mark.
Technically, if I can get the $120 worth of groceries to work for the next 4 weeks I will be on track. But I know that I will go to get produce between now and 4 weeks.
So, FAIL.
So - what did I learn?
I learned that a $20-30 week of groceries is very achievable for me one week out of the month [ I prefer to show once a week, so the break down works for me ].
I learned that it was very wise of me to budget for more than $30 per week for this month. Maybe that's why I didn't stick to it, because I knew I had a back-up.
I learned that my family and I do NOT do well without meat on our plates. We definitely feel deprived eating meat-less meals. We typically do so once a week with a Soup & Sand-which night; but multiple meals like this in one week was not so great. You've got to be willing to change that up a bit to make this work.
Could we do it if we HAD to - sure.
I learned that I felt a little anxious when groceries seemed low at home. I am not sure why. It made me feel really uneasy. I do not like feeling unprepared and having a low supply made me feel totally unprepared; even with a meal plan.
I learned that you can control your food budget more than any other item in your home budget. Groceries are easy to manipulate. Same with eating out - you can plan well or avoid it all together and save. This was a great way for me to see where I can cut back.
I learned I need a lot more recipes, a lot more planning and I much better attitude. I was so motivated at first and then fell into the whole "well, that's not really what I want for dinner" or my "I hate leftovers" mood - because I really do.
BUT! Even though I failed, I did have one successful week, which is more than I have ever done before. I wanted to properly follow through and document the reality of my fail and use it to reflect when I try this again - because I definitely will!
Getting SUPER creative, I will be able to complete this challenge one month. Next time, I plan to look at it with a more motivation than before. I might be more successful if I only give myself $120 for the entire month in my budget instead of giving myself more.
Any one else still following Jordan Page at FunCheaporFree.com?
She is sticking with it - even while her whole family went camping!
I find her very inspiring and love all of her helpful tips!
Good luck to those following through for the whole month of September!!!