budget – Page 2 – NourishingWhole

January Whole30: Week One-Grocery Shopping

I was planning on going grocery shopping Friday morning, but we had done a really good job cleaning out the fridge before we left for vacation. Now that we are home, we need something more than carrots… I want to share my experience, feeding a family of 3, while also doing Whole30 on a budget. Our total food budget for the month is about $450.

Today, I went grocery shopping with the goal of spending less than $100. Here is what I got:

Frozen Mango, Frozen Broccoli Spears, Frozen Asparagus, Ground Turkey (4 pounds), Pork Tenderloin (4 pounds), Ground Beef (93/7, 2.5 pounds), Canned Chicken, Tomato Sauce, Plugra Butter (for ghee), Raisins, Zucchini, Red potatoes (5 pound bag), Carrots (2 pound bag), English Cucumbers, Oranges, Raw Cashews (1 pound), Lettuce (red and green leaf), Parsnips, Cilantro, Kale, Spinach, Garlic, Sweet Potatoes, Lime, Grapes, Mandarins, Guacamole, Eggs (Medium, 5 dozen)

For a grand total of $117.29

Now, there was a few things I didn’t get (bacon), and a couple of things that I could have not gotten, like guacamole and mandarin oranges. I did purchase everything at Winco, and nothing was specifically purchased as organic.

We are excited to start on Friday, well at least me. Mr. Wonderful, is convinced he is going to starve.

3-Month Food Storage

One thing that Mormon’s are known for is how they hoard food. I have been working on a little, yet huge project as part of an assignment for school. (Did I forget to tell you about how I went back to school, I will have to tell you all about the later.) For my project I am working on setting up a 3-month food supply of food my family will actually eat. 3-month food supply of food that fits our budget. 3-month food supply that fits our dietary needs.

For my family, I need our food storage to be gluten-free, mostly dairy-free (we can eat a bit of dairy but too much causes issues), and bean-free, no legumes here. One exception is that I can handle fermented yeast bread. So we will have some wheat flour in our storage for that. I will have to tell you more about fermented bread and how it is “gluten-free”.

With the help of Preparedldsfamily.blogspot.com, I was able to create a list of food items for us. Here is a link to PLDS Family’s plethora of knowledge. Seriously, there is no way I could even touch on all the information that site contains.

As a family of 3, having a 3 month supply hasn’t ever been this thing that I have felt I needed to get done ASAP. I also, would not consider myself a “Prepper” by any means. We have 72-hour kits, ready to go, will BASIC BASIC supplies. Ideally, I would like have a lot more for them, but funds are tight and so is space.

Monday, I was driving to do our Monday stuff, and I got to catch The Diane Rehm Show, one of my favorite shows on NPR. The part of the show that I caught was the interview with Ted Koppel. He recently wrote the book, Lights out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared Surviving The Aftermath. This interview really hit home the importance of getting our 3-month supply and getting it fast.

This is the part that really got me:

KOPPEL: …the government doesn’t have enough food to supply tens of millions of people for a period of a month or two.Even if they were to invest, let’s say, $100 billion in buying freeze-dried foods, which keeps for 25 to 30 years, it would take years before that much food could be grown, harvested, processed and accumulated. We need to start beginning. We need to start doing something. We need to talk to people about what would happen if one region of the country were blacked out and how we would accommodate those people if they needed to move to another region of the country.
REHM: What…
KOPPEL: Without plans we can’t do it.
REHM: What about investing greater resources into our own cybersecurity?
KOPPEL: I think those of us — I’m not sure that we can individually protect ourselves in the context of cybersecurity. Can we protect ourselves in terms of having adequate food and water available? Look, I’m aware of the fact there are millions of people in this country who can’t put food on the table every day. But those of us who can afford to have a supply, if we did and if we began rotating that supply — so it’s not a question of sitting on a three-months supply and never using it, rotating, eating it, consuming it and then replacing it, then at least if the government steps up to help those who can’t afford it, it would be a lot easier and there would be fewer people to take care of.

(continue to read or listen the interview here) I know it isn’t a shock the the government won’t be able to support us. But, having 3-month supply isn’t just for me and my family, it is for all of those around me.

One of my goals for my 3-month food supply, is to create rotating food storage, and a one that is affordable. Our goals is to create a weekly shopping list keeping the items to under $15 a week.

It is taking a lot of work, and it is frustrating. There are things that we go through SUPER fast, and things that take a while. So finding the balance of when to buy something so that we always have it, has be hard and I think I have finally done it. PHEW!

We are lucky that in the place we are staying, has this really nice setup in the basement perfect for storing 75 pounds x 3 people…

January Whole30

In early December after I noticed I was not following rules for my gut issues. I thought, I just need to do another round or 8 of Whole30. Then Mr. Z got this crazy rash all down his back side. After a visit to the doctor, she said it was eczema more than likely caused by an allergy, and sent him off to see an allergist. So I thought, I am going to put ALL 3 of us on Whole30 for the month of January and then I will be doing it mostly indefinitely.

But we are on a strict budget, and with our impending move, money is tight. So I plan to share with you all my crazy budget saving and Whole30 tips. My first is one straight from Whole30.com.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A PERFECT WHOLE30.

Yup, perfection is not the goal.

All the rules are available for free off the website, here is a direct link to the PDF downloads. They are very simple and basic. To me there are only two that require any hard effort are the No sugar, added sugar, and sugar alternatives, and second the no carrageenan, MSG, and sulfites rules.

The reason these two rules are so difficult is that they require you to be educated on all the different derivatives companies use for those forbidden additives. So for me and my Whole30, I use the common additive cheat sheat. If it not listed specifically on the list, I just say no, cause looking it up, is just another thing to add to my giant to do list. But I have two foods that I have bent my rule for.

Kirkland Low Sodium Bacon from Costco, comes in a 4 pack for like 12 bucks, cheapest Whole30 “approved” bacon.

Ingredients: Pork cured with water, salt, sodium phosphate, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrate.

Both sodium phosphate and erythorbate are not listed on the cheat sheet. So I looked them up, sodium phosphate is a salt, used to control the pH of food. I can let that one slide. Especially as, bacon is not something we will eat daily on Whole30, let alone anytime of the year. The other, sodium erythorbate, is a type of vitamin C. And that is approved. So for me, this is an affordable bacon choice. Bacon is expensive, and is something we do not use regularly. It is a splurge type food for us.

Califia Farms Unsweetened Almond Milk, about $4.50

Ingredients: Almond milk (Water, Almonds). Contains Less Than 2% Of The Following: Vitamin/ Mineral Blend (Calcium Carbonate, Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Vitamin D2, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B2, Zinc), Sunflower Lecithin, Sea Salt, Potassium Citrate, Natural Flavors, Locust Bean Gum, Gellan Gum.

They just recently changed their recipe and no longer have carrageenan in the ingredients!!! The only ingredient that isn’t on the list is Potassium Citrate, which is another form of citric acid, and approved additive. While I normally make my own almond milk, sometimes I forget to soak the nuts and ugg! While this is expensive for milk, half a gallon for almost $5, sometimes it is worth it for the convenience of having milk without making it.

Another thing people get hung the rules versus recommendations.

This is straight off the Whole30 website:

The following are not official rules of the Whole30 program. If you snack, buy non-organic eggs, or eat six servings of fruit in a day, that has no bearing on whether you are still staying true to the Whole30. We make these recommendations because we believe they will maximize your results with the program. These practices are the most likely to lead to health and body composition changes, an improved relationship with food, and overall awesomeness.

In summary, you are free to eat seven meals a day of Rx Bars and sugar-free bacon with a side of non-organic blueberry/strawberry/banana smoothie and you’d still be doing the Whole30 with 100% compliance. However, we would not recommend this.

Rules are rules, and recommendations are well just that. For us, mornings are usually a mad dash, because someone has learned to turn off the alarm clock… So having a hard boiled egg or two and a green smoothie, is usually our breakfast. Whole30 approved, but not recommended. But it works for us, and that is what I feel is more in line with Whole30.

A perfect Whole30 is impossible. And everyone’s Whole30 looks different. Remember that. I will talk later about how different Whole30 is going to look for the 3 of us. I know that was more than just one tip, but I think you’ll for give me.

Budget Whole30 Woes

If you have read the Whole30.com article on budgeting a Whole30, you might of thought, “oh that was so not helpful!” I personally felt like it was another regurgitation of what almost every budget friendly grocery shopping article has said. EVER.

Then a few days ago I saw on Instagram that they were going to do a whole month of Whole30 budget tips and highlighted someone. I looked at them and some of their “small town” budget tips and I just had to scream, “TRADER JOE’S IS NOT SMALL TOWN!!”

Seriously!

Alright, all you health food people!

I live in a small town and the closes Trader Joe’s is over an hour away! Here are my grocery shopping options:

Walmart (BOO!)
Safeway
Dissmores (IGA, a local chain that is crazy expensive)

Now we do have a couple of specialty shops, a Asian market and a Middle Eastern market.

But I don’t actually grocery shop in my town, I drive 15 minutes to the next town over and shop at Winco (low prices!! Better than Walmart, see) and at the local health food store for random things Winco doesn’t carry. I am lucky to have a health food store that close to me.

So how does a person actually do Whole30 on a strict budget.

I meal plan, everything. Snacks, lunch, breakfast, everything.
We eat a lot of chicken, because it is cheap.
I don’t buy grass-fed, I get 93/7 normal ground beef at Winco.
We eat a lot of potatoes, carrots, and frozen green beans.
I make a lot from scratch, like almond milk.
I save reusable bits for broth or for adding to other dishes.

Follow along as I share, real life tips for doing Whole30 with a very limited budget.

Budget: Price Comparing

Have you ever gone price shopping? I hadn’t until today.

On Friday, Mr. Wonderful got paid (wahoo!) and our fridge was E.M.P.T.Y. I had to go to Wal-Mart for something specific. (Digression: I really hate shopping at Wal-Mart. But I live in a fairly rural community and sometimes without ordering online, my only choice is to shop at Wal-Mart. I try to not support this chain, and try very hard to shop elsewhere.) I figured, since I was at this one store, I would do some basic grocery shopping, so I wouldn’t have to take Mr. Z in and out of the car more than was needed.

I went to get just a few basics, and thought I had done a decent job on cost. After Mr. Wonderful got home, I told him that I did some grocery shopping at Wal-Mart. He looked at me, and shocked says, “What! We can’t be that poor. Please tell me Winco is cheaper?”

Well, I didn’t know. So today, while I was in the next town, and since I needed to pick up some more groceries, thought, why not see where was really the cheapest place to shop.

Grocery Item	Wal-Mart	Winco
Lunch Meat	(Great Value 9oz) $2.98 ($0.3/oz)	(Foster Farms 8oz) $1.98 ($0.24/oz)–taxed +0.12
Aidell’s Apple Chicken Sausages	$5.44	$4.98–taxed +0.30
Bars original hot dogs	$0.98	$0.98–taxed +0.06
Chicken Tenders	(Foster Farms) $5.52/# ($0.35/oz)	(Just Bare) $5.38/14oz (0.38/oz)–taxed +0.32
Ground Beef 93/7	SALE $4.78/#	$4.98/#–taxed +0.30/#
#5 Red Potatoes	$2.47	$1.98
Spinach	$2.88 (16oz) (0.18/oz)	$1.98 (10oz) (0.198/oz)
Green Leaf Lettuce	$1.88	$1.78
Bananas	$0.52/#	$0.48/#
Green Grapes	$1.48/#	$1.38/#
Carrots 2# bag	$1.32	$0.98
Hot dog buns	(Great Value) $1.28	(Winco) $0.98–taxed +0.06
Sub-Total (assuming 1# of /# items)	$31.53	$27.29
Tax (Only applicable to Winco)	—	$1.70
Total	$31.53	$28.99
Difference		$2.54 less

Is it worth it for me to go to the next town over to grocery shop to save about 2 and a half dollars?

That’s a personal question. I know people who, would tell you that gas alone makes it not worth it. But for me, who would like to not shop at Wal-Mart, and because I already go to the next town for other things, it is practical for me to shop and save that $2.54.

*Idaho Food Tax* I live in Washington state, there is no tax on food (junk food and soda is, I think). The next town is in Idaho, where they have a 6% tax on food, which does not apply to produce (banana, carrots, oranges, raw vegetables, frozen vegetables are taxed.) This is something that I have always wondered if it made a difference in our budget. If you are an Idaho resident, there is a grocery tax credit. For more information on Idaho’s grocery credit look HERE.

Budgeting, 3 months later.

Well, it has been 3 months since we decided we really need to start budgeting, and really controlling our money. 3 months of budget meetings, saving receipts, checking the bank statements and writing down everything.

In the last 3 months we have learned:
-we really have no money
-food is ridiculously expensive
-medical expenses kill your savings
-we are poor
-having “fun” money, will save your sanity
-budgeting to splurge, makes the splurge more fun
-living at the poverty line is no fun

Budgeting is really hard. Especially when, you take your paycheck and put it to every bill and then there isn’t even enough for groceries.

Our end of the month budget meeting for October and the beginning of November, really had us questioning, is this working? November is month 4 we should be seeing improvements, or at least that’s what all the gurus say. This month we had to dip into the student loans we took out in August. The loans we were really hoping we wouldn’t touch and could say we don’t want more. The loans that we had to use to buy groceries this week.

This has got us thinking, what else can we do to cut expenses? Go down to one phone? Have me go and get a night shift job? Should we apply for some government assistance? What can we sell?

This Sunday was our Church’s Fast Sunday. We decided to fast together as a couple about what to do.

This is what we know we need to do:

Get our savings back up as fast as possible to at least $1500.
Payoff and close that last credit card.

We could just completely drain our savings and pay of the credit card. Be done and able to stop having one more payment due off of our first paycheck every month.

But what if anything happens? What if we have a major car repair? What if someone has to go to the hospital? What if?

Praying for an extra $500 to just appear, is impractical.

Does budgeting get easier with more money?

Day Two: Whole30 and Staying in Budget

I am trying to decide if I want to post daily like last time. Anyway, I wanted to post about how it is going so far, you know cause day two is so hard.

I haven’t officially said to Mr. Wonderful, “hey, I decided to do another round of Whole30.” Mainly, because he would just say either, “not again” or “stay within the budget”. But I am not keeping it a secret, I mean, my notes and cookbooks are left out in open, so I am sure he knows.

Also, I wasn’t planning on grocery shopping today, but since I started Whole30 a week early I kind of needed to. So I made a grocery list, I double checked what we had and what we needed. I checked our grocery budget. $68 until next payday, in two weeks…

So Mr. Wonderful and I sat down and chatted about robbing Peter the pay Paul, or how we can “roll with the punches”. We moved some money out of restaurants, especially since, Whole30 means little to no eating out.

I went grocery shopping, hoping to spend less than $50. I spent $62.15. There were a couple of things I did not get, mainly because Winco doesn’t carry it and I had already over spent on my goal. I did purchase more meat than we would be eating this week, so that will help next week.

I am mad or disappointed I over spent, nah.

Food Log:

Breakfast: I planned a fun big breakfast, but I was the only one up, so just eggs, cucumbers and an orange.

Lunch: Leftovers! I do have in my plan to have a salad for lunch, but honestly, leftovers will probably be more appealing.

Dinner: This was really easy, and it sounds a lot fancier than the prep makes it, balsamic glazed chicken and roasted potatoes, I added a medium salad with paleo ranch, cucumbers, carrots and olives.

Snack: I was still hungry after dinner so Mr. Z and I shared some grapes and toasted Almonds.

Whole30 Round Two

I know, I said I more than likely wasn’t going to do another. But I have been trying to follow the Low-FODMAP rules, and I have found that I have been eating cookies all day, just because they were Low-FODMAP, and I am lazy.

Despite how much I hated the rules of Whole30, I actually stuck to it. So, I figured since eating cookies all day, is opposite of what I want, I thought Whole30 would be a good thing to do again.

But, I am going to not be crazy strict. That’s not a true Whole30 then. Yup, you are right. But I am not going to buy Fish Sauce on Amazon, just because I can’t find a compliant fish sauce in the area. I am not drinking fish sauce for the sugar, (who drinks it anyway!) and I guess in reality, I could just leave it out. But whatever. And buying an expensive dijon mustard just because it doesn’t have white wine it in. I already don’t consume alcohol, so then again, how much then would be in the ¼ tsp, I used to make some “compliant” mayo…

I need to keep this Whole30 in our budget. So, that means, I won’t be buying any crazy new different brand, just because it is “compliant” instead of the store brand that has sugar/wine/one non compliant ingredient. I am going to go with the 80/20 rule this round. Well, more like the 99/1 rule, I am going to limit my use of non-compliant ingredients to one.

For example, I decided to start today, instead of next week, so I didn’t everything I needed. Like, a lemon, I do have bottled lemon juice. But bottle lemon juice has a forbidden ingredient of a SULFITE. I said, “screw it”, and made my mayo, with it anyway. So now my homemade mayo isn’t Whole30 compliant, but that was the only thing that wasn’t in my lunch. Same with dinner, dinner called for fish sauce, which has sugar.

This is my personal, realistic, staying within my budget Whole30. It would be torn apart on the forum. So what, I don’t care, I am going to follow the rules as best I can, without going crazy about every single minuscule detail.

Yesterday, I started planning out 30 dinners for Whole30, thinking I would start in October, then I thought, nah, let’s just start next week. Spend the week getting ready. Then this morning I thought, why not just start today. Plus that way, I will be done in time for my Mother-in-Law’s birthday! (Wacky Cake! Yummy!)

Today, I spent some time making a spreadsheet of meals to keep me on track. It isn’t finished, but go ahead and check it out. Also, made a shopping list for this week, and will go shopping tomorrow. (Oh! and I figured out how to edit pictures on my phone, and how to take fairly decent ones too! Hopefully, WordPress uploads them right.)

Like last round I will post meals, it was fun. And it helps keep me honest.

Breakfast:
1 whole egg and 1 egg white (leftover from making mayo), scrambled with some garlic infused olive oil and sauteed green peppers, cucumbers, bacon, and a banana.

Lunch:
Tuna fish mixed with homemade mayo, cucumbers, black grapes.

Dinner:
Slow cooker Thai Beef Stew with mashed potatoes.

Budget: Software

Our first month of budgeting is done, and man it was bad.

Overbudget

In one word… yup, we had already spent our entire budgeted total and have gone over by the middle of the month.

We took this month as more of a how much do we really spend, so that we can figure this budgeting thing out. Check out this post about what we, or at least I learned while budgeting in August.

It was very eye opening.

We started the month using Everydollar. About halfway through we do not like the EveryDollar budgeting tool from Dave Ramsey. Our income is so inconsistent, and we feel like he teaches more towards a salary based income.

So we went looking, and tried a couple different budgeting tools out there and we have come to love the newest version of YNAB. Now, we have used YNAB before, the original version, what an upgrade!

First off it is so much more visually appealing, and it also, isn’t an excel file, it is its own freaking program now.

I really like the statistical reports you can print from YNAB. They have a bunch of free webinars about their software. I have only taken one so far and you can also sign up for their emails and they send out a bunch of short email lessons.

Their philosophy in very much in line with Dave’s, but we feel like it is a little more reasonable and forgiving. Like their overall goal is to get you out the the paycheck to paycheck cycle. Which is where we are. We know we need to get out of debt, but when you aren’t sure if you can have enough for groceries and rent, you have a bigger problem.

Check them out. I will say this, you have to buy YNAB to use the budget past the 32 day free trail (If someone knows why 32 days, let me know!) It is $60. One time though! and you have software rights for life! Dave’s software, you can get it linked to your bank for $99 a year…

And YNAB is not linked to your bank, which for those of us worried about the internet stealing your life, this is nice.

Budget: August, a Review

Well, August has come to a close, we stuck to budgeting.

We did not stick to our agreed upon budget.

Life happens, and I was shocked when come the middle of the month, and our budget was no longer fitting.

Dave Ramsey’s budget tools were not working for us and so we switched to YNAB, click here for a short review of why we like YNAB better.

I wanted to give a summary of what we learned in our first month of budgeting.

Gazelle Intensity is not for us.
1. while we REALLY want to get out of debt, we are not ready to give up the few extras we have.
Saying “NO!” is really really really hard.
1. Saying it to your two year old at the grocery store, “No, I am sorry you can’t have crackers, we can’t afford them this week.” Made me want to cry, and I felt like the meanest mother in the ENTIRE world.
Pray before a Budget Meeting
1. Dave closes his radio show saying something like, “You can’t reach financial peace without walking daily with the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.”
2. Praying together, just made our budget meeting go smoothly, we will be doing this always before our bi-weekly budget meeting.
Have a budget meeting at every pack check
1. We started just me figuring it out and Mr. Wonderful looking it over and approving it. It worked, but having a meeting, where WE BOTH sat down to hash out what went where made it easier to say NO!, later.
2. Mr. Wonderful gets paid every other week, so we hold bi-week sit down budget meetings. Any other income, if under $1,000 we just have a quick verbal confirmation on where it goes.
Share!
1. I want to tell everyone, we are being weird and trying this budgeting thing. Hey, this crazy thing is happening while we do it, I like my husband more!
Increase Intimacy
1. And no I am not talking sex
2. I am talking about mental intimacy.
  1. I am an analytical thinker and so is Mr. Wonderful, so talking numbers and trying to find extra money has brought us closer. I like it.
Make Mistakes and have fun.
1. We did not give each other any spending money in August, MISTAKE. It just made it miserable. This month we have decided fun money needs to be included.

After this first month, and looking at where all the money went we have decided some budget line items that need to be tightened. Number one on our list to get reduced is how much we spend on food.

We spent almost $600 just on food. Not just groceries. On groceries we spent over $400, on eating out including dates we spent over $150. This does not need to be this outrageous. Our goal for September spent half of this!

It wont be easy, and telling Mr. Z that our grocery shopping lunch dates of Mac ‘N Cheese from the co-op deli are over is going to result in some serious tears. Hopefully, he will understand.