Now that we've lived in Egypt where all the food we have eaten is super cheap, it's going to take some adjustment going back to the States. I would say in Provo we probably spent about $200 a month on food, but here it's been about $50. And considering our money will be tight when we return, I really want to try to cut out convenience foods, and get our food expenses even lower than before we left without sacrificing health. I also want to see just how cheaply we could live if we had to; I don't want to live like we plan to have actual salaries in the future, just in case we both want to be stay-at-home parents in the future (I'll blog about our new Zen ideals later). I have lofty plans to buy oats in bulk and make granola; make homemade yogurt in the crockpot; join Bountiful Baskets; cook with staples like lentils, dried beans, rice, and pasta; give up canned goods completely and stick with cheaper dried stuff; stick with homemade desserts from real ingredients (flour, butter, sugar type stuff); make homemade bread for sandwiches and to eat with meals. Since we've been here and convenience stuff is pricey or unavailable, I've realized just how much you can make at home for so much cheaper - salad dressing and maple syrup to name a few things.
On the other hand, Tim and I have both lost a considerable amount of weight here. The food just isn't as good to us so we eat less; plus most of what we consume (fresh vegetables and fruits, lentils, rice) are healthy but not high-calorie, and with me breastfeeding and Tim just being Tim our bodies are slowly wasting away. It's not so much of a big deal for me (I feel great at this weight, it's less than I was when I graduated high school) but Tim is getting scarily thin. He acknowledges that he also isn't working out nearly as much as usual, which makes him lose weight. So, even though I could eat the above mentioned food all the livelong day and feel great and healthy, I feel like Tim will need to eat differently in order to get his weight up, especially since he will probably start running seriously again. So, I imagine we will need to be spending a lot on high-calorie, high-fat foods like cheese and nut butters in order for him to get enough calories and fat. And maybe he'll throw in some Ramen for good measure (that is Tim's weight-gaining regime usually... a thing of Ramen between meals... I'm not sure how I feel about Amir growing up thinking Ramen is an OK snack...)
I've been making much more of our food from scratch-pasta, tortillas, etc. and I LOVE it. However, it hasn't made much of a dent in our grocery spending. I need to be more vigilant.
ReplyDeleteBountiful baskets is awesome. I should really get back to doing that. The problem is that pick up is at 7:30 on Saturday morning and I just have a heck of a time getting myself up to go get it!
And that crockpot yogurt was really good. It makes a TON though and I felt bad about the waste when we couldn't polish it all off in 10 days.
Saving money is quickly becoming one of my favorite hobbies. Unfortunately, I'm so freaking picky that it's hard for me to make my food habits cheaper--if I liked things like lentils I would probably be able to save more. Right now we do about $250 a month on food, I would love to get down to $200!
ReplyDeleteAnd man...I would kill to weigh as much as I did in high school.
I really love to make stuff at home from a few staples. There is something just so satisfying about it. I think its knowing that we can eat well with what we have. I love the idea of making your own salad dressings. I am going to try mayo and ranch soon. I would love to make our own yogurt and cheeses and have found so many great resources online. I just need to find a good local source for milk. Maybe we will just get our own milk goat. I try to cut out eating so much fresh produce in the winter time and instead use what I bottled over the summer. Its not like the produce in the grocery store in the winter is very fresh anyway (except oranges and a few others).
ReplyDeleteBen and I also want to both be stay at home parents. We are working on a plan to work from home for ourselves. If it weren't for stupid expensive health insurance we would be set.
In America I made our own yogurt and it was 2 cents per ounce instead of 10 cents per ounce like at the store.
ReplyDeleteAnd I also have mixed feelings about Ramen having vaulted into the category of acceptable foods while we've been here...