Well I survived the first week on a food budget of just $29! Rather nicely actually as I do have a decent amount leftover. This surplus will roll over into next week as I purchase another $29 worth of food.
First, what I ate on day 7.
BRUNCH – DAY 7 - $1.10
I didn't end up eating until 11am but it was a great meal! TWO egg and bacon sandwiches with strawberries and a banana.
DINNER - $0.75
I made a bacon carbonara (minus parmesan cheese) for the first time ever!
Having limited ingredients really gets you thinking of different ways to use what you have. A carbonara is when you mix in eggs after the pasta is cooked and drained. You mix the eggs and then dump them into the pasta on the cooker and continuously toss it so the eggs don't cook. This was pretty creamy so I consider it a success!
WHAT REMAINS
This is all the food leftover from week 1. It will really be useful during week 2, allowing me to expand my list of possible meals.
Adding the total cost of meals from day 7 to my running total, it comes out to $13.34.
I ate the entire week for just $13.34! Incredible.
To put this into perspective, today a guy at work spent $13 on lunch. In ONE MEAL he spent as much as I did all week!
If you can eat like this by choice, instead of necessity, could really be an accelerator towards saving loads of money.
Ya know, if you can eat simply without sacrificing your happiness.
PURCHASES WEEK 2
As you can see, I went over the $29 dollar per week limit but I only spent $28.16 last week. That 84 cents rolls over. Subtracting the 27 cent overage, I still have a surplus of 57 cents.
CONCLUSION
After the stumble out of the gate with having problems cooking the beans, the week actually turned out great! I'm excited to have so much leftover to add to the new ingredients I have now.
Stick around to see what I do with it all!