The Reluctant Naturalist: I paid HOW MUCH for groceries??!!??!!??

Erin was told that her chronic pain was caused by a combination of things, to include sugar and an allergy to potatoes.  As it turns out, potatoes are in nearly everything in some form (even your table salt).   She had to dump nearly all of the spices and pantry staples she owned and find alternatives that were foreign to her cooking style and tastes.  There is a major learning curve to this, as anyone who’s gone through it would tell you if they got honest enough.  Be encouraged!  You–and she–will learn more tricks to the trade.  There are definitely ways to keep the budget lower, but you have to learn what you can eat and how to cook it.  Give yourself time.  In the meantime…let’s take a peek into Erin’s journal.

–Chaya

It’s been a while since I wrote. It’s like a tornado, tsunami and earthquake hit me at once with this whole yeast thing.

Let’s start at two weeks into my adventure with food. So, I was in a bit of a sticker shock crisis at that moment. I kinda went a little crazy those past couple of weeks on my food buying frenzy, but I didn’t pay too much attention to the cost – if you read my last blog about grocery stores being casinos then you would understand how easy that can be. I was nearing the need for a Grocery Shoppers Anonymous meeting – but, it’s for my health, right?

This is where the grocery stores are laughing at me.

I paid $1181.62 for groceries that month. My budget is $500 for my family of four.

I haven’t broken the news to my husband yet.

OOPS.

Now, I should mention that my grocery budget is considered anything I have to replenish for the household like Pull-ups, lightbulbs and cleaning supplies. I know, I know these things should be in a different category, but I buy them at the same store and at the same time so deal with it (if it helps, my one time purchases like the glass Tupperware I bought this month are in a different category).

Back to my OOPS.

I knew I spent a lot, I really did, and I can tell myself that I am buying pantry supplies that I won’t have to buy every month, but am I? If I’m being honest, I have no idea.

I really didn’t buy the entire store. But, in the first two weeks of my diet I went to 26 different stores trying to find something to eat. I bought more organics and replaced certain brands of foods with potato and sugar free counterparts. I bought several pricy spices (apparently it costs more to have less ingredients) and found pastas I could eat. We had several meat free meals in an attempt to make up for the extra cost, but this price line is not sustainable. Not even a little bit sustainable.

Who can afford to eat healthy? So far, I have spent $10 on my current budget and I’m only 2 days in to it. I have to do my real shopping tomorrow and I am so discouraged at the thought of it that I am ready to give up on this whole thing.

It’s a horrible thing to have to choose between feeling great and having the money to pay your mortgage.

There has to be a middle ground. Doesn’t there?

My plan? To find one of those $5 meal sites and figure out how to tweak it for my diet. Of course, they keep the meals at five bucks because they fill the meals with potatoes and other starches, but I am not going to think about that at the moment.

Wish me luck.

Blog 2

Ok, so I broke the news to hubby. His response? He went to mow the lawn. He wasn’t mad, but he needed time to think.

We have an acre to mow and it’s a push mower so he was getting his thinking cap on. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. He hit a tree root and bent the mower blade beyond repair. Now he has more money issues on the brain.

Plan fail.

Now what?

Oh, right – the plan. Groceries on a budget.

This time my plan was basic. Buy only what I am using for each recipe. Simple, right?

Maybe, but it’s hard to do when you are hungry all the time and there are so few ‘yes’ foods.

Chaya told me to get her book “Fermented Vegetables” to help me expand my options of healthy food. Maybe I will. But, considering I have never had a pickle outside of my mother’s potato salad, I am a little nervous about branching out successfully.

So, this month I’ll stick to the basics. What can I eat now that I like?

Back to the groceries.

I adjusted my budget from $525 to $650. Lets face it, natural is just more expensive.

I picked a handful of meals that I have made before from my budget books and tweaked them for me. I bought the spices needed, but rather than a whole bottle of them, I bought just what I needed from the bulk aisle.  Now I know this is potentially more expensive in the long run, but it saved me from buying 4 bottles of spices at $8 a pop. Instead, I spent less than $8 for all of them. That’s already a savings of over $24 bucks!

Instead of paying $6 per dozen eggs from the store (the ones that didn’t test positive for potato), I searched for neighbors that sold eggs for $3. As luck would have it, a kid walked to my house selling eggs this month for $2 a dozen.

My first door to door egg salesman! Unfortunately, she hasn’t been back, but it worked for this month.

A couple rules for me:

Force myself to focus on each individual meal, rather than the potential what ifs of mealtime and the ‘I may need that’ trap of so many healthy alternatives. Who can’t use another bag of unsalted sunflower seeds?

Plan out my snacks so I buy only what I need for the month and I don’t ‘buy the farm’ on the one brand of crackers I can eat. I already have 2 boxes, but I could run out any moment!

Force myself to go to the store once a week to buy fruits and veggies (I prefer the two week plan, but then several items seem to go bad on me). Money thrown in the trash can!

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In the end, when I did the grand total I had to admit it worked out for me. I didn’t feel like a lost kitten in the four new stores that I had to add to my shopping regime. I had a game plan and a list. Granted, I did buy a couple non-list items, but I said no to more things than not.

My goal was $650. I spent $702.75. I over spent by $52.75, but I considered it a victory compared to my overspending the month prior by $531.62!

I think I could improve if I just honed in on exactly what tastes good without sugar and starches. It’s hard to spend forever making something that you pray is edible and then find out you hate the taste. Time, wasted. Money, wasted. Hunger, worse.

I intended to hone in on it over the next month, but things changed. Pain started. And my whole roller-coaster yeast infection threw me a curve ball.

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We’re still praying for Erin to experience complete health!  In the meantime, if you relate to her journey, leave her a note of encouragement!

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