Okay, this whole September Challenge is going super quickly! I can’t believe I’m in my last week already. Week three went very smoothly, and I’m even contemplating continuing the challenge indefinitely. Week three’s menu felt very balanced to me with plenty of vegetables, enough fruit to keep me happy, and I was full (but not overly so) every day. It was a good week and it gave me confidence!
I’m really loving the freedom that comes with planning a whole week at a time. I’ve always known that it helps, but you always forget how nice it is until you actually do it. I like knowing that I’m not going to be running to the store several times during the week for last minute items or refills of staples. I check everything before my weekly trip and then I’m set for the next seven days. Freedom!
Alright, so let’s get to it…
Groceries
I was feeling a little produce-deprived after week two, so I made sure to get plenty of vegetables this week (check ’em all out!). I unintentionally planned a vegetarian menu, but I didn’t miss the meat this time around and I didn’t go overboard on eggs like I did in week one. I DID splurge a little with a couple pints of cherry tomatoes and a fresh lemon that was probably a bit too expensive, but the flavor was worth it and I was willing to sacrifice a couple other items on my list to purchase them.
I also had to restock on a few staple items, like peanut butter, regular butter, and Parmesan cheese. They were out of generic butter that week, so I had to get a name brand, which was a good $0.40 more than generic. :( Ouch.
What items did I sacrifice to get those expensive tomatoes and lemon? Brown sugar, flour, and yogurt. I decided I had enough brown sugar to last another week and if I ran out I’d rely on the sweetness of the banana to make my oatmeal delicious. Not a bad sacrifice since bananas are healthier anyway. I had listed flour and yogurt on the “maybe” section of my grocery list because I figured if I had some extra cash after getting the essentials that I’d also make a batch of naan to go with my peanut stew. Then I remembered that a scoop of brown rice is excellent in the stew AND much cheaper than the flour and yogurt for the naan. So, again, I wasn’t sad to sacrifice those in the name of cherry tomatoes and a lemon.
These little compromises are decisions that have to be made quickly while your shopping and it can be difficult. Sometimes it’s even a gamble if you’re weighing options that aren’t clearly priced, like produce or bulk goods. Luckily, this week those snap decisions worked out fairly well.
I decided to try melon for my main fruit option again, hoping that this one would be a bit better than the melon in week one, which was a bit flavorless and past its prime. Luckily, this one was great! After cutting it up there was enough for me to eat a huge serving every day for SEVEN days. It was still tasty on day seven. Yay!
What I Made
Here’s what I made with this week’s groceries:
This African Peanut Stew is vegan, but still extremely filling, thanks to it’s creamy peanut butter and tomato based broth. Sounds strange, I know, but the flavor is SO GOOD. On top of that it’s full of delicious and healthy sweet potatoes and collard greens. The recipe calls for a half bunch of collard greens, but I just went ahead and tossed in the whole bunch this time. Sometimes I topped my bowl with a scoop of cooked brown rice for more texture and to help fill me up. And OMG did it ever. One bowl of this with rice mixed in filled me for half the day!
I also made this incredible Parsley Pesto Pasta with Blistered Cherry Tomatoes. Sometimes I ate it with a fried egg on top, sometimes I was too lazy to fry an egg and just reheated the pasta and tomatoes in the microwave. Either way, it was AWESOME.
One day I was craving a sweet treat, so I took one of my super ripe bananas and made a delicious Caramelized Banana and Peanut Butter Quesadilla. Super fast and sooooo good. The September Challenge is not a snack-free zone! :D
I continued to enjoy oatmeal for breakfast (with peanut butter and brown sugar mixed in, usually with a little milk on top) and a cup of coffee. I find that the peanut butter makes the oats even more filling and I kind of like its savory spin.
I also ate a meal or two left over from previous weeks, like Bowties and Broccoli, a Burrito Bowl, Focaccia Rolls, and Chili Rubbed Pulled Pork. I love having these left over options that I can interject into my weekly menu for variety.
What I Ate
Alright, here it is… The day by day breakdown!
9-15 Total $3.04
- 1 cup coffee $0.16
- 1/2 cup milk $0.16
- 1/2 cup oats $0.13
- 2 Tbsp peanut butter $0.24
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar $0.04
- 1 Focaccia Roll $0.10
- 1/2 Tbsp butter $0.07
- 1 bowl African Peanut Stew $1.06
- 1/2 cup brown rice $0.07
- 1 serving cantaloupe $0.43
- 1 serving Bowties & Broccoli $0.58
9-16 Total $5.06
- 1 cup coffee $0.16
- 1/4 cup milk $0.08
- 1/2 cup oats $0.13
- 2 Tbsp peanut butter $0.24
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar $0.04
- 1 banana $0.22
- 1 serving cantaloupe $0.43
- 1 serving Parsley Pesto Pasta with Blistered Tomatoes (with egg) $2.04
- 1 serving Parsley Pesto Pasta with Blistered Tomatoes (without egg) $1.72
(So, I couldn’t help myself while I was making the Parsley Pesto Pasta, and I pretty much ate a whole serving of the pasta and the blistered tomatoes while I was photographing the process, then ate the finished bowl with the egg after I photographed it. Oops. I was full for the rest of the day after that binge. #foodbloggerproblems)
9-17 Total $2.47
- 1 cup coffee $0.16
- 1/4 cup milk $0.08
- 1 serving cantaloupe $0.43
- 1 small tortilla $0.10
- 1 large egg $0.32
- Dash of sriracha $0.02
- 1 banana $0.22
- 1 bowl African Peanut Stew $1.06
- 1/2 cup brown rice $0.07
- Oyster Bisque & French Bread (FREE – see note)
(A friend of mine is hosting a weekly “Soup and Scary Movie” event every week until Halloween, so I got free soup for dinner!)
9-18 Total $4.50
- 1 cup coffee $0.16
- 1/4 cup milk $0.08
- 1 serving cantaloupe $0.43
- 1 serving Parsley Pesto Pasta with Blistered Tomatoes (with egg) $2.04
- 1 Caramelized Banana and Peanut Butter Quesadilla $0.49
- 1 bowl African Peanut Stew $1.06
- 1/2 cup brown rice $0.07
- 1 Focaccia Roll $0.10
- 1/2 Tbsp butter $0.07
(Yep, Parsley Pesto Pasta for breakfast! I couldn’t get enough of it.)
9-19 Total $3.22
- 1 cup coffee $0.16
- 1/2 cup milk $0.16
- 1/2 cup oats $0.13
- 2 Tbsp peanut butter $0.24
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar $0.04
- 1 banana $0.22
- 1 serving Parsley Pesto Pasta with Blistered Tomatoes (without egg) $1.72
- 1 serving cantaloupe $0.43
- 1 Tbsp peanut butter $0.12
(I woke up really late on Saturday, so my breakfast was kinda my lunch… you know how it goes.)
9-20 Total $3.94
- 1 cup coffee $0.16
- 1/2 cup milk $0.16
- 1/2 cup oats $0.13
- 2 Tbsp peanut butter $0.24
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar $0.04
- 1 serving Parsley Pesto Pasta with Blistered Tomatoes (without egg) $1.72
- 1 serving cantaloupe $0.43
- 1 bowl African Peanut Stew $1.06
9-21 Total $3.46
- 1 serving cantaloupe $0.43
- 1 small tortilla $0.10
- 1 egg $0.32
- Dash sriracha $0.02
- 1 Poor Man’s Burrito Bowl $0.99
- 1 serving Bowties & Broccoli $0.58
- 1 Focaccia Roll $0.10
- 1/2 Tbsp butter $0.07
- 1 small tortilla $0.10
- 1 serving Chili Rubbed Pulled Pork $0.75
Weekly Intake Total: $25.69
Weekly Grocery Total: $28.13
Leftovers
I saved three servings of the African Peanut Stew in the freezer (it was just so filling that some days I chose other things) and, hilariously, I bought cilantro to go on the stew but completely forgot about it. The cilantro is still good as of today, so I’ll be using that in my week four menu. I purchased a bag of carrots at the beginning of the week, thinking that I needed more vegetables in the menu. I planned on seasoning and roasting them, but never got around to it. Luckily carrots stay fresh in the fridge for quite a while, so I’m also going to use them in week four. Other than that, I ate up just about everything that I bought this week! Great job me! Ha.
Reflection
I felt really good about week three. It felt sustainable and that really made me consider moving to this system as my permanent method of shopping and eating. I’m loving raiding my pantry and trying to come up with new recipes to make with what I already have on hand. I thought I would run out of old stuff towards the end of the month, but it turns out I had a lot more stashed in my freezer and pantry than expected! Even into week four (which started today), I’m using up old stuff from before the challenge. That is definitely attributing to my weekly grocery expenses being low.
…And it really makes you think twice about food waste. It’s SO easy to get out of the habit of trying to use every last piece of food, so I’m thankful that I’m doing this challenge because it’s realigning my habits. Yay! I have barely been throwing away anything since the beginning of the challenge. This week all I threw away was a little leftover rice (and I could have frozen that if I had known it wasn’t going to be eaten). That feels GOOD.
On to week FOUR! :D
Hi Beth! In the week 4 summary, could you tell us how much you spent in total on food for the month of September?
I spend an average of $900 per month just for myself on food and booze. This month, inspired by your challenge, it’s about $420! It’s probably 4x what you spent but it’s a HUGE percentage of savings, for me.
My favorite thing that I made from this site this month was the chicken ropa vieja (A-mazing in burritos bowls)! I’m also going to make the baked pumpkin oatmeal this week! :D
Great job! And you’ll get better at it every month. :) I will definitely include a monthly tally this week!
Thank you for sharing your challenge and inspiring me to be more organized and inspired in my weekly cooking and meal planning!
I want to tell you how helpful I’ve found your blog and this challenge. It’s inspired me to stop being lazy and wasteful with feeding my family. Thanks!
I am loving your challenge. Have you considered doing it again and inviting your readers to join you?
I encourage anyone to try it at anytime. :) I don’t know if it would make sense for other people to try to do exactly my meal plan, since everyone has different appetites, food preferences, and household sizes, but it’s definitely a good exercise for anyone to try!
I will definitely be trying the Parsley Pesto Pasta, that looks fantastic and I love the bright colors of it too.
I was curious if you’ve ever considered incorporating $1 stores into this challenge? I’ve found some great bargains at Dollar Tree (the locations which have freezers) lately, including:
• 3 oz bags of crumbled feta
• frozen peppers and onions
• frozen broccoli, as well as vegetable medley’s of broccoli, carrot and cauliflower
• large bags of crinkle cut or straight frozen fries
• bulk Italian sausage
• canned artichoke hearts
…and other basic items, all for $1 each, which would normally cost $2, $3 or more at regular grocery stores.
I forgot to mention, Big Lots has also been carrying Bob’s Red Mill brand grains and oats at good prices. I got a rather large bag of their steel cut oats, for only $3.99, which has lasted me a few weeks already.
I’ve been hearing great things about dollar stores throughout this challenge! I haven’t seen one with a refrigerated/frozen section, but I’m going to have to look a little harder. It sounds like a fantastic resource!
Not sure if I’m too late on commenting, but I wanted to say I’ve been loving your September challenge!! It’s really making me try and rethink using up leftover ingredients, especially since I’m a novice cook and am more a recipe follower than an improviser. I’d love to hear your thoughts about learning to improvise with leftover/pantry ingredients! Is it just something that comes with time/experience?
I also noticed you use the notes app for your grocery list, have you heard of Anylist? It’s great if you buy certain ingredients often because it remembers items you’ve added before and autofills the suggestion, it organizes items automatically by grocery store section (produce/dairy/baking/frozen/etc), you just tap to cross items off the list, and you can share lists which is super convenient for multi-person households. I pay for the “complete” subscription which lets you load in recipes and just add the ingredients to your list with a click. I’ve been using it for a few years now, I definitely recommend looking into it!
Yes, improvising is definitely something that comes with experience. :D You’ll be surprised at how much you learn as you go, but you learn the most if you are constantly trying new things. That exposes you to new flavor combinations, cooking techniques, and ingredient uses, all of which will allow you to improvise. Thanks for the recommendation on that app, too! I’ll have to check it out. I also just learned that with the latest iOS update last week that now you can turn any “note” into a checklist, so that should help me to stop forgetting things, too. LOL :)
I love the banana quesadilla! What a simple yet delicious idea!! So often I crave something sweet but don’t have anything on hand, I will definitely be making these!
I really like how you tracked everything you ate in a day – it’s super informative. I noticed that most of the time, you wrote “1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup milk.” However, 9-16 lists 1/2 cup oats without including 1/2 cup of milk. Is this a mistake?
Nope, so I cook the oats in water, but then some days I would top it with 1/4 cup milk, some days I wouldn’t. I always have 1/4 cup milk in my coffee, so on some days it ends up being 1/2 cup between the coffee and oats, but some days it’s just 1/4 cup in the coffee. :) It’s a little confusing because I don’t really explain when or how the things listed are eaten, but I thought that would just be a bit overboard. Hahah
I hope to see you continue this series! I am on a limited budget and have become very creative on making my food budget stretch and you have given me some more creative ideas.
This is so inspiring, Beth! I’ve decided to take up the SNAP challenge starting on October 1st. I’ve adjusted the sum slightly to reflect the cost of living in my country (roughly 37% more expensive than the US), so I’ll be living on US $6 instead of the $4.5 that you’ve been doing. I’m hoping to make it on less than that, but $6 is the max limit per day.
Now I’m researching staple prices to get an idea of what things really cost, so I’ll be able to plan my meals ahead. I’ve also decided that October will be a month of no extra shopping besides the weekly trip to the grocery store. If I’m successful in sticking to the challenge, I’ll be able to cut back my monthly expenditure on food to $186 instead of $305 in a regular month.
Crossing my fingers. Will be using lots of recipes from budget bytes for sure. Your site is a big inspiration for me!
Awesome! I wish you the best of luck! I always find that it’s really tough the first week or two as you work out the kinks, but then it gets easier from there. :)
I also love reading these :)
I have to ask though.. are you a very small person!? And do you exercise? It seems like you don’t eat very much. I polish off a cantaloupe in 3 servings at most, haha.
Hahah, yes, I am fairly petite. And while I was working out quite regularly just before the challenge, some unexpected circumstances this month have messed up my schedule and I haven’t done much more than walk my dog. :( I notice a HUGE difference in my appetite on days that I actually work out. Like, double the appetite. So, it’s definitely been easier because of that. :P
But what was the horror movie!
Hahaha, it was The Ring that week. So funny watching it years later… not nearly as scary. ;)
I love reading about your journey throughout this challenge. If you do continue eating on this budget after the challenge ends, will you please post updates of what you bought, made, and ate for a week? These are incredible, detailed food plans and I really appreciate the time you have put into all of this. Your creativity inspires me to waste less and cook more meals at home. Thank you!
I think what I’m going to do is post week reviews like this except minus the daily breakdown. I REALLY hate recording everything I eat throughout the day, but I love going over everything I bought and cooked and how I used up leftovers etc. :)
Awesome. Every little bit helps!
You’re wonderful. I’ve looked forward to this September challenge since last September.
I keep a list in the kitchen of things that need to be used up. It’s inspiration for menu planning and keeps food from spoiling. I browse through the fridge and cupboards and jot down things like last week’s sad lettuce and 1/2 jar of red curry. That could be a Thai noodle stir-fry.
I’ve found a lot of great meal ideas hiding among the condiments in the refrigerator door. The last bit stuff in the jar can be the basis of a marinade or glaze.
I just have to say that I absolutely LOVE your blog. I’m nerding out right now reading about your September Challenge. I think it’s so awesome and inspiring that you’re making healthy, tasty AND budget-friendly meals.
After ready this post, I put some cooked rice into a bowl of your ‘sweet potato tortilla soup’ and it’s more filling and even tastier!
Hi Beth!
Thanks for your recipes! Have you ever tried borscht soup? I’m from a Russian-American family and my mom used to make that all the time growing up; it’s super inexpensive and tasty!!
I haven’t, but I’ve wanted to. :) I’ll need to look into it.
LOVE LOVE LOVE this series! Well done :)
In case you didn’t know but you can make your own brown sugar with molasses and regular sugar. 1-2tbls per cup of sugar! Hope that helps! :)
I was going to mention this also. If you get a bottle of molasses, you can make brown sugar as needed, with your white sugar.
So awesome! Very inspiring that you can eat SO WELL on such a tight budget. I’m always hearing my mom talk about how she’s “too poor to eat healthy”–after following along with your challenge in my own way (grocery budget weekly instead of a daily amount), I know that this is simply not true! Anyone with access to a grocery store and a typical kitchen can do this :)
I have to agree with you here….I found that the less money I had to spend at the grocery store the healthier my meals became. I became more focused on where my money was being spent!
This is so mind boggling! Thanks so much for sharing all these useful tips on Budget Bytes. One thing is about store bought butter. My husband has this neat trick of making our own butter at home. Trust me. Once you have done that you will never reach for a store bought butter again. Here is a link to the youtube video. We make it out of half a quart of heavy cream (he is using whipped cream in the video) which is enough for a week or so for us. Just leave the heavy cream on counter top overnight. You may also use it for baking and so on later. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMoC62CHwPc
I had noticed throughout this challenge that many times your recipes were vegetarian and love that this week it all was! I’ve been able to convert several of your recipes to vegan and will continue to do so. Keep up the great work!
This challenge is really inspiring me! My work situation is in flux right now so I’m trying to watch my budget and you’ve been sharing some great insight.
Still loving these posts! Very inspiring! Like i mentionned in your previous posts i’m trying to join you in the challenge and this week is going very good for me so far… my freezer is stocked up on leftovers (i may not even need to buy groceries next week except for b’fast), very few items get thrown out, a lot of my pantry items that i bought in the past thinking “i’ll use that… some day…” are FINALLY getting used, etc :-)
And i agree it’s a very rewarding feeling indeed to waste so little. Hopefully i can keep it up and best of luck to you! i love these posts!
Really interesting week. With all those carrots and fall coming I’d definitely be making a carrot apple soup!
My favorite way to use up leftover carrots is either to roast or boil them & then toss with butter and dried dill (way cheaper than fresh) and a little drizzle of honey.
Or, shredded and mixed with raisins, oil, salt, and pepper and a dash of red wine vinegar for a shredded carrot salad. This simple salad seemed to be everywhere when I was in Paris at delis and its so good as a bright side dish
This is so awesome! One thing that your day by day breakdown has shown me is that if you eat balanced meals, you need less snacking in between–I always feel like I need snacks, but have to remind myself to ask if I’m bored or hungry–thanks for sharing!!
I feel the exact same way. I always feel like I need snacks and when meal time comes, I don’t eat as good as I should. Especially bored, hungry or feeling a bit blue ~ these are sure signs to snack for me. Bad bad bad. Kids seem to make me so hungry too!
Yes, exactly! When I have these meals portioned out and I’m “purposely” eating a meal, I find that my need to snack pretty much goes away! When I’m not on the challenge I find myself grabbing little things here and there and then never really sit down for a true meal (you can see a little of that in week one). I like how this is changing my eating habits.
I love your site and I really appreciate how transparent you are through these challenges. As somebody who’s living on a limited income, though I was wondering if there was some way price per serving could be displayed along with the lovely recipe pics under the main subheadings? Sometimes price per serving is *really* important, and it would be awesome to see them right there rather than having to click, open, see it’s too expensive then try again. Maybe a special section for recipes under $1 per serving? Just a thought – love what you do either way – thanks!
Actually, I’d LOVE that too, if at all possible.
If you click through to the recipe of each item, she actually includes the cost per serving on every recipe she posts. It is really helpful!
Good idea, I’ll add that in! :) You can also scroll down and see the price per serving in my daily breakdown where I list the price of each item that I ate.
I am loving seeing these grocery receipts because sometimes I get thrown off by the prices you use, being that I am in Australia. I noticed in this one that our butter is a LOT cheaper (like $1.30 for the same size) but our fresh parsley, despite being on “special” this week, is three times more expensive!
That African peanut soup has made my want to make list for next week! I wonder if my kids will be willing to eat it?
I’m essentially permanently doing this challenge, since my grocery budget for 6 of us is under the $4.50/person/day level. (Yes, there are savings by buying in bulk, but then I have two teens, one preteen, and a husband that easily eats 2-3x what you eat). I have to agree with your assessment that sticking with a budget results in digging deep into the pantry and throwing out a lot less food than average.
I am surprised by grocery prices in the US. I thought food would be cheaper there, since your dollar is so much stronger than the Canadian dollar. Some things seem to be cheaper–mostly milk and dairy, but many are the same price or more expensive (particularly produce). Kind of shocking since so much of the produce in my local grocery stores comes from the US or Mexico. Maybe it’s partly just because I’m careful about shopping sales and stocking up for when prices are higher, but then some kind of apple is always available at under $2/lb, and right now it’s easy to get local apples for under $1/lb.
Yay for our dairy boards, eh? (Oh god, can’t believe I just said “eh” — I swear I never do that!)
I recently moved out of the central region for the Maritimes and noticed that, while some less-transportable veggies like lettuce are more expensive, bordering on prohibitive, the hearty survive-a-shipping-container veg is as cheap or even cheaper than what I was used to before. I have family in the US and they are always so darn surprised by the veg prices up here. It’s odd. (Then again, much of the US farmland is not prime or even mediocre farmland– they’ve got the sun but the soil sucks and water is a massive issue. Canada has soil and water but our growing season is shorter.)
And yes, apple season. Best time of the year. Rather sad I’m missing the heart of it, but it coincidences with blueberry & moose season out here so all is good.
Another good website for finding cheap meals is the prudent homemaker blog. (Not trying to say this site is not great, because it is, but the more resources we have for frugal dining, the better.)
I’m with you, Dawn! For years our family of (only) four was on one income, so I was skilled at making a little go a long way. Now we’re both working, but tuition (oh tuition!!) and growing appetites for my 8- and 10-year-olds require me to get back to grocery budgets. Cooking at the beginning of the week and having leftovers for days is unrealistic for us. One pot of stew feeds us for dinner and then lunch the next day, so the amount of food and the number of recipes we need every week is astronomical!
Also, we live in Hawaii, so looking at the receipts makes me want to cry a little. Things are so expensive here! On one side, we can get fresh, local herbs and greens from farmer’s markets all year, often for only a dollar or two, but most people buy their staples at Costco (the busiest Costco in the world!) so we get our butter 4 lbs at a time, and our carrots 10 lbs at a time, and our whole chickens two at at time. It makes food planning and budgeting quite chaotic. We go from an over-stuffed refrigerator down to an empty-ish refrigerator over the course of two weeks. Compared to the Mainland, I think we spend about 25% more on groceries.
Thanks again for a wonderful September series! This is really fun to read! I love how you’re showing that you can eat fresh produce on such a limited budget!
This is officially amazing. I feel inspired to try to combine random foods into new meals (like your banana peanut butter quesadilla, which I would never have thought of in a million years).
On a related topic, peanut butter in oatmeal rocks. I usually get the fresh ground kind at Whole Foods, which (surprisingly) seems to be pretty cheap as long as you get the unroasted type, although I admit I haven’t compared it math-wise to regular peanut butter from a cheaper store.
Good for you! I give you so much credit for doing this challenge and doing it so well.
I have had that African Peanut stew flagged to try sometime. I need to. It’s good that it’s stick good without the cilantro since I’m one of THOSE people that think it tastes like soap.
Aim curious about your soup and scary movie events. Any good soup or scary movie recommendations?
These challenge summary posts are my favorite! If you keep up the challenge, keep doing them!