WHAT was I thinking?!

I just used the last of our grocery money for milk on Saturday. Payday is not until Friday. So that gives me five days (including today) to peruse the ads, make a menu and a shopping list and clean my refrigerator. But this payday we're doing things a bit differently around my house...

Yes, I kow I can feed my family for $250 per month, but it's taken at least a couple years to build my food storage to the point where we can eat well and replenish our food storage. This month I'll basically be starting from scratch again. WHY?! Because I want to see if I can take everything that I have learned over the past couple years and do it better from day one. I want to be better organized and I want to document the whole process. I want to show my sister and anybody else who's interested that it's not impossible and there's no excuses for spending a fortune on food. Don't get me wrong- I love food. I love to eat! But there are so many things that I'd rather spend my money on. I want to save up for vacations, finish the basement... FENCE MY YARD! and the grocery budget is one of the few areas of our expenses that I feel like I have control over. I mean, the bank isn't going to be too happy if I cut back on my mortgage payment...

So- what to expect? Expect Semi-consistant updates with pictures, menus, recipes and maybe even receipts. :) I will try to update every day, but this won't always be possible since I know at least one weekend this month we'll be camping (yay... I'm excited... really... ). Expect to get ideas along the way on how to cut your own grocery budget and maybe if we're super lucky some ideas to better manage your time. However, do not expect to see gourmet meals and decadent desserts. They might happen, but I'm not making any promises. In fact, I'm thinking this month will be a fairly bland one since I am only planning for the basics at this point. I've already told my family they may have to go without some things this month. Hubby may have to give up chips and yogurt in his lunch (don't worry hunny- I'll find something else just as good. muwah!). I may have to swear off cookies- which I've been trying to anyway.. and the kids... they will have to go without Goldfish and fruit snacks. We may even have to drink WATER instead of juice with our meals! Point is- it will be tough. But it's been done before and I know we will survive.

The Rules - Ok here's where things are going to get a little tough. For the purpose of demonstration, I will be barring up the cold storage and padlocking the extra freezers so to speak. I will try to match my sister's situation as best I can. She is a working mother of two with no food storage and not a lot of extra time. I've had her inventory her pantry, refrigerator and freezer and have cleaned mine out to match hers as best I can. Ever trickier, I will be trying to do all of my cooking, planning and preparation only during the hours when she would be home from work, giving her NO EXCUSES! (Love ya sis!) She'll have no choice but to follow along! :)

So here we are... Day One of a new adventure. Tomorrow I will clean my fridge and take a picture so we all know what I'm starting with. Also the ads come out tomorrow so I'll get a good idea of a menu and post that either tomorrow or Wednesday. Til next time!