Okay so sadly due to everything that happened at our house I was not able to complete our $200 challenge I lost track of what we spent about 2 weeks in. I am really lucky that at this time I was able to do that.
So, what was the $200 Challenge? The $200 Challenge was to feed my family of 5 with only $200 for the month. But wait! There’s more! Not only am I to feed them but I was to buy everything. And I mean everything, as though I was just starting out except for basic seasonings and herbs. Did I do it? Obviously I failed miserably this time around but in many ways that was due to unforeseeable problems and needing to adjust everything to make life work for my family.
Even though I did not complete it I want to share what I had planned out for my family.
Breakfasts:
Cereal- 4 boxes for a month I only get cereal when it is $1.50 a box at 11.8 oz or every once in a while I find that size at the 99 cent store or Dollar Tree.
Quick Oats- I get a number 10 can of quick oats for around $8 through where ever has it that cheap.
Freeze dried Apples- $13 I like apples but most stores have a number 10 can of a few different fruits around this price I get online through a few companies or Winco or the local The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints storehouse.
Milk- I try to get milk at or under $2 this takes scouring the ads but usually you can find 1 store with that price and a lot of places ad match if you have the physical ad with you. We go through at least 4 but some times as many as 6 so for this I went with 6. So that’s $12 dollars worth of milk
We also do eggs but since we use them more in other spots the price is included with dinner. So minus the eggs our breakfast for the month comes out to $39.
Lunches:
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches-
Peanut butter- we get ours from Winco in the bulk section and I spend a little more to get the honey roasted so we spend about $10 a month on Peanut Butter but don’t worry we use it in a few other places too.
Jelly- we get the giant containers from Costco that will get us through a month pretty easy for about $7
Meat and cheese sandwiches-
Meat and cheese we get both usually at the 99 cent store actually you can get the 16 oz good lunch meets there and we just place them in freezer Ziplocs and place in the freezer until we need. We do the same with cheese which is more of a hit and miss. We spend about $10 on the two for a month.
For both these lunches we make our own bread we make anywhere from 8-12 loaves a week at our house since Sandman doesn’t like a lot of other foods.
So for the bread we buy the large 25 or 50 lb bags of flour and spend about $10 a month on flour.
Butter is the expensive part for us since we do not substitute it out but you can your flavor will just be a little different. We get out butter from Costco and spend about $20 a month on it.
We also get our yeast from Costco but you can only get it now at the Business Warehouses so we usually stock up they sell it in 2 lb packaging and it’s been a bit since I went there but I know it’s cheaper than $10 and lasts us more than 6 months. So we use about $1.75 a month.
So Lunch for us costs around we will round up to $61 a month
Dinner:
Rice: we get this at Costco in the 25 lb bag and use about $10 worth a month
Pasta: Okay so I am so guilty of watching for those buy 5 save $5 deals that Fry’s (which is a Kroger store) has. I usually get American Beauty on sale for 50 cents during those sales and buy enough that my family can get through the whole year. So I estimated out that we use around 20 packets of that a month and got $10 for pasta. However if we are running low I will get ramen and use that instead which you can get 10 bags for $2 at Walmart or 24 bags for $4 at Winco- $10
Sauces:
Cream of Mushroom: we use about 8 cans a month and I always by store brand from either Winco or Walmart and I only buy when they are 50 cents a can. -$4
Cream of Chicken: That goes the same for cream of chicken.-$4
Tomato sauce: So I buy plain sauce when we are tight on money and you can usually get the larger 28oz can’s for like a $1.50 or less if you buy store brand. We use about 6 cans a month. (The sauce pictured is 24 oz already seasoned that I got for 88 cents on sale at Walmart) So around $9.
Bag of Potatoes: I love potatoes because they can be a filler, or the main dish and 1 bag can go a long way. We spend about $3 a month on potatoes.
Cheddar : 5 lb bag Sharp Cheddar at Walmart for $10 this can be added to anything to spice it up. Costco has 2-2.5 lb bags of Mild Cheddar for around $13.
Bacon: you can get uncooked or we get the precrumbled for $10 and it’s a large bag but you do have to refrigerate and not everyone eats bacon as quick as we do one bag lasts us about 3 months.-$3.50
Eggs: we use about 4 dozen in a month and try to only buy when they are at or below $1.50 a dozen- $6
I’m going to add sugar because between sugar, flour and eggs you can make so many things.
Sugar we get at Costco in the 25 lb bags we use about $4 worth a month.
Dinner-About $64
Total for staples $164 so we got about $9 a week to spend on Fruits and veggies to supplement and add in.
Veggies: a bag of carrots or celery are each $1 at Walmart. I use one bag and if I have any left overs I shred and put in Freezer Ziploc bags to be added to stir fry or fried rice. Cabbage is pretty cheap and can actually be a main dish if seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper. Apples and Bananas are our fruits of choice at my house since they are cheaper and then I get Romaine lettuce and a bag of Spinach so I can add a salad here or there throughout the week.
So, all in all I will learn from this failure going forward and try not to let life’s mishaps get in my way. What do you think? Want to know what we make with these goodies? Stay tuned in and I will be sharing pics and recipes in April.
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