kyuuei
Emperor/Dictator
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2008
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- 13,964
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I've had more than 1 PM asking me about what my weekly food intake looks like. I've adjusted quite well to intermittent fasting, and true to my military tummy nature, I can now tell when it's 1pm without any phone use because my tummy starts growling.
I spend anywhere between $35-40ish on food a week. I had this budget all year last year, and it is easier to stick to and make room in now that I am not factoring in breakfasts. This week is a little off since we're traveling... but that's okay. This week:
Sun: Started out eating a simple snack pack (one of those fancy Hillshire ones). I went in 50/50 with a friend on a large green pizza (banana peppers, spinach, goat cheese and mozzarella, broccoli, and bell pepper and onion) while we were out and about, and I bought some rice krispie christmas mini-snacks and almonds from the flea market, as well as 2 avocados, 1 sweet potato, and guavas. $0.50 for the snack pack, $11 for the pizza (I ate 3 slices, shared some, and had 1 slice leftover that I took home), $2.50 for the almonds, and $3 for the rice krispies (32 came in a box. Makes them about $0.09 each.), $3 for the fruit at the flea market. I already had the snack pack from the previous week, so total for the day was $19.50.
Mon: Today, I ate the leftover slice of pizza, and some almonds to start with. I have some re-grown green onions I'll be chopping up and using leftover cabbage, mushrooms, sweet potato, and carrots that will be turned into a simple clear soup. Lettuce, cucumber, and wakame I already own will be a wakame salad in a couple hours. I have some defrosted tuna I forgot I bought weeks ago that will serve as the main dish on top of some rice. (I buy my rice in 10 lb bags, so it usually lasts me 6-7 months at a time for $15 each. The tuna costed around $6-7 at the time.) Total cost for the day: $0.
Tues: Will be a repeat of monday using the other 3oz of fish, with the exception that I will swap out the pizza indulgence for avocado toast (we buy bread for <$1 a loaf at the flea market for decent pepperidge farm bread, so we have plenty from the last time we bought 6/$5 still) and instead of soup I'll be mixing wasabi, mayo, ginger, and soy sauce and tossing cabbage and lettuce in it to coat it.. then mix it all with the leftover rice. Leftover wakame salad from yesterday too. Again, $0 thanks to already bought and long-lasting ingredients.
Wed: Will need milk by that point, and more cereal! A trip to dickie's (one of the discount grocery stores in the area) will be needed, and Aldi. I'll stop on my way home from work. Milk costs $2 at Aldi and biscuits (for later) $1, and cereal is 2 boxes for $1.50 at dickies. Going with eggs, toast, and the other half of the avocado today, and changing it up with some mussels in the freezer steamed over rice with the mussel sauce on top. Total: $4.50
Thurs: We're traveling to KY! Just for a couple days. Likely going to be eating out, and budgeting $6 for a cheap meal + packing all the travel snacks with me too. It's a good way to get rid of the stuff we've been meaning to eat. I might not actually spend that much, but giving myself room for it. Total: $6
Fri: Hanging out in KY, I am not sure of the budget here, but I know breakfast will be free thanks to the hotel we'll be at, so I'll be bringing fruit in my pocket as a snack and grabbing some freebies for after 1pm. I'm budgeting $10 for the day which will likely be spent at a single place. We might make the trip back home by now and I'll eat at home IF we left on Wed night instead of Thurs morning. But either way, I'll have packed some food to take with me for today too just in case. Total: $10
Sat: Lazy eating day... cereal, salads, toast and avocado, fruit, yogurt, and the can of biscuits + the rest of the mushrooms and sweet potato + the sausage in the freezer to make sausage gravy and biscuits. Total: $0.
Even with an off week where I am eating out a ton I'm still spending $40 for the whole week. I budget my food by how much it costs to buy When I buy it. (i.e. I count the bag of rice as $15 that week, and $0 for every single serving until I have to buy it again. I count veggies by how much they cost when I buy them, and $0 as ingredients if they're used multiple days/weeks. I do NOT budget based on serving, because sometimes food doesn't last and you throw it out, and I think it makes it too easy to blow a budget..) As long as I stay close to and hopefully under $40 a week it is a good week to me.
Example of a grocery haul I made recently.. this was probably 2-3 weeks ago and many of these ingredients will last me multiple weeks or even over a month:
- Sashimi grade frozen tuna - $15
- Bottle of wasabi - $1
- Bottle of ginger - $2
- Miso paste - $4
- Various vegetables including limes, napa cabbage, potatoes, various mushrooms, lettuce, and carrots - $10
- Fruit and a tub of yogurt - $3
- Pre-made snacks of cheese, dried fruit, and chocolate pieces inside that were 3/$1 - $2
Total: $37. If I buy a cheaper meat like shrimp (usually $7 a bag at aldi or $8 at the asian grocery), or canned tuna, or chicken and tofu, this would go way down, and I've had grocery hauls that were closer to $20-30 and had much more in it, but the tuna was on sale and I like making poke bowls at home so I went for it and adjusted a bit. I haven't eaten that tuna yet, but probably will defrost it next week to have 2 days of fish when I know I'll be busy and home to eat.
A couple weeks from now I'll be defrosting and roasting an entire turkey, because it was only $5 for the big guy on clearance after thanksgiving, and I will have access to an electric roaster I can borrow from a friend when they get back from their honeymoon. That turkey will be split up, shredded, and packaged into the freezer as multiple weeks worth of meat, and I'll make some broth from the bones and freeze that as well... which will free up my budget for over a month to add some nice things I normally don't get to buy with meat taking up my budget. So a week of nice sushi, or a bowl of pho or homemade shabu shabu, or even just nicer ingredients from Trader Joes or something. Whatever I decide really.
So, that's basically my week and some of my budgeting in a nutshell! Not a great display of a super healthy week, but one that's typical of what I am doing, and even with inconsistencies in my schedule, a consistent budget with just a tiny bit of foresight and planning.
I spend anywhere between $35-40ish on food a week. I had this budget all year last year, and it is easier to stick to and make room in now that I am not factoring in breakfasts. This week is a little off since we're traveling... but that's okay. This week:
Sun: Started out eating a simple snack pack (one of those fancy Hillshire ones). I went in 50/50 with a friend on a large green pizza (banana peppers, spinach, goat cheese and mozzarella, broccoli, and bell pepper and onion) while we were out and about, and I bought some rice krispie christmas mini-snacks and almonds from the flea market, as well as 2 avocados, 1 sweet potato, and guavas. $0.50 for the snack pack, $11 for the pizza (I ate 3 slices, shared some, and had 1 slice leftover that I took home), $2.50 for the almonds, and $3 for the rice krispies (32 came in a box. Makes them about $0.09 each.), $3 for the fruit at the flea market. I already had the snack pack from the previous week, so total for the day was $19.50.
Mon: Today, I ate the leftover slice of pizza, and some almonds to start with. I have some re-grown green onions I'll be chopping up and using leftover cabbage, mushrooms, sweet potato, and carrots that will be turned into a simple clear soup. Lettuce, cucumber, and wakame I already own will be a wakame salad in a couple hours. I have some defrosted tuna I forgot I bought weeks ago that will serve as the main dish on top of some rice. (I buy my rice in 10 lb bags, so it usually lasts me 6-7 months at a time for $15 each. The tuna costed around $6-7 at the time.) Total cost for the day: $0.
Tues: Will be a repeat of monday using the other 3oz of fish, with the exception that I will swap out the pizza indulgence for avocado toast (we buy bread for <$1 a loaf at the flea market for decent pepperidge farm bread, so we have plenty from the last time we bought 6/$5 still) and instead of soup I'll be mixing wasabi, mayo, ginger, and soy sauce and tossing cabbage and lettuce in it to coat it.. then mix it all with the leftover rice. Leftover wakame salad from yesterday too. Again, $0 thanks to already bought and long-lasting ingredients.
Wed: Will need milk by that point, and more cereal! A trip to dickie's (one of the discount grocery stores in the area) will be needed, and Aldi. I'll stop on my way home from work. Milk costs $2 at Aldi and biscuits (for later) $1, and cereal is 2 boxes for $1.50 at dickies. Going with eggs, toast, and the other half of the avocado today, and changing it up with some mussels in the freezer steamed over rice with the mussel sauce on top. Total: $4.50
Thurs: We're traveling to KY! Just for a couple days. Likely going to be eating out, and budgeting $6 for a cheap meal + packing all the travel snacks with me too. It's a good way to get rid of the stuff we've been meaning to eat. I might not actually spend that much, but giving myself room for it. Total: $6
Fri: Hanging out in KY, I am not sure of the budget here, but I know breakfast will be free thanks to the hotel we'll be at, so I'll be bringing fruit in my pocket as a snack and grabbing some freebies for after 1pm. I'm budgeting $10 for the day which will likely be spent at a single place. We might make the trip back home by now and I'll eat at home IF we left on Wed night instead of Thurs morning. But either way, I'll have packed some food to take with me for today too just in case. Total: $10
Sat: Lazy eating day... cereal, salads, toast and avocado, fruit, yogurt, and the can of biscuits + the rest of the mushrooms and sweet potato + the sausage in the freezer to make sausage gravy and biscuits. Total: $0.
Even with an off week where I am eating out a ton I'm still spending $40 for the whole week. I budget my food by how much it costs to buy When I buy it. (i.e. I count the bag of rice as $15 that week, and $0 for every single serving until I have to buy it again. I count veggies by how much they cost when I buy them, and $0 as ingredients if they're used multiple days/weeks. I do NOT budget based on serving, because sometimes food doesn't last and you throw it out, and I think it makes it too easy to blow a budget..) As long as I stay close to and hopefully under $40 a week it is a good week to me.
Example of a grocery haul I made recently.. this was probably 2-3 weeks ago and many of these ingredients will last me multiple weeks or even over a month:
- Sashimi grade frozen tuna - $15
- Bottle of wasabi - $1
- Bottle of ginger - $2
- Miso paste - $4
- Various vegetables including limes, napa cabbage, potatoes, various mushrooms, lettuce, and carrots - $10
- Fruit and a tub of yogurt - $3
- Pre-made snacks of cheese, dried fruit, and chocolate pieces inside that were 3/$1 - $2
Total: $37. If I buy a cheaper meat like shrimp (usually $7 a bag at aldi or $8 at the asian grocery), or canned tuna, or chicken and tofu, this would go way down, and I've had grocery hauls that were closer to $20-30 and had much more in it, but the tuna was on sale and I like making poke bowls at home so I went for it and adjusted a bit. I haven't eaten that tuna yet, but probably will defrost it next week to have 2 days of fish when I know I'll be busy and home to eat.
A couple weeks from now I'll be defrosting and roasting an entire turkey, because it was only $5 for the big guy on clearance after thanksgiving, and I will have access to an electric roaster I can borrow from a friend when they get back from their honeymoon. That turkey will be split up, shredded, and packaged into the freezer as multiple weeks worth of meat, and I'll make some broth from the bones and freeze that as well... which will free up my budget for over a month to add some nice things I normally don't get to buy with meat taking up my budget. So a week of nice sushi, or a bowl of pho or homemade shabu shabu, or even just nicer ingredients from Trader Joes or something. Whatever I decide really.
So, that's basically my week and some of my budgeting in a nutshell! Not a great display of a super healthy week, but one that's typical of what I am doing, and even with inconsistencies in my schedule, a consistent budget with just a tiny bit of foresight and planning.
:bookish:
