Home Liz's Blog Frugal Friday Frugal Friday - A Challenge

Frugal Friday - A Challenge

Friday, 18 January 2008 21:01

Well, there have been some less than ideal circumstances that have happened of late. Something unexpected which means that I need to cut expenses. Over the next seven grocery shops, I need to cut $350 off the budget. So I basically need to save $50 a week for the next seven weeks. These days we budget $170 a week for two adults, two hungry children and a newborn. OK, so the newborn doesn't require anything in the way of groceries, except that a breastfeeding mother is usually a hungry mother. $120 a week is do-able. It will be difficult as we like to eat a lot of fresh produce and don't really have the means to grow our own (we have a tiny bit growing on the balcony), however there are others who do it on less... I have just done my weekly grocery shop (before all this happened) so my cupboards are pretty full. I have the week's menu planned, but I think I will be "saving" some of those meals for another week and stretching the ones that are already there. I had planned to take a meal around to a friend who has been in hospital and another to a mum who is about to have a baby, but I have most of that prepared already in the freezer (well I have the adults' dinners but not the kids' dinners). Potential "Blackspots": We have guests coming this week, a few lunches out with friends where we'll need to bring something, etc. We also have my birthday in that time (but we'll most likely eat dinner at my mum's that night and it's not a "significant" birthday either). I think the biggest hurdle is going to be backtracking in the quality and variety of foods we eat. Contingency Plan: At least one vegetarian main meal during the week each week. Using carbs and cheap veggies to fill out a meal. Buying cheaper produce - we do usually buy seasonal produce but some is cheaper per serve than others. Making better use of leftovers. Making sure we use all the fresh produce before it goes off. Replacing expensive ingredients that we don't have (salt flakes as an example of an ingredient I bought today) with a cheaper alternative (plain old table salt or even the normal sea salt we already have in this case). There will also be a bit of using up what we already have in the pantry. So, journey with me for the next seven weeks as I document the challenge!