Whew! Here we are at the end. The month has been crazy on multiple levels for many of us, but we made it. I’m pleased to say that I didn’t give into the boredom and I stayed out of the stores today.
This means that we beat my original goal of spending $600 on groceries. We only spent $511! I feel pretty good about that accomplishment and am curious to see how we can adjust our budget going forward into the year.
Saving $689 out of our normal monthly budget feels pretty good. I know it’s thanks to having stocked up well (maybe too well?) in the past, so we’ll see.
I’d love to put together a tally for our collective savings. Drop the amount you saved from normal in the box below and I’ll update this post at the end of the week and announce it in the newsletter.
In other news…. One kid is better. A second is now unwell. Bryan isn’t feeling 100%. We are having Chipotle for dinner, and that’s a good thing.
Re: the illness, as someone mentioned, my family is almost always sick during the Pantry Challenge, so the fact that we made it this far is miraculous. It seems just like a cold, no cough or fevers, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed that it’s nothing serious.
Re: the Chipotle. We got takeout as a family a few times over the month, but nothing close to what I thought we might spend. I had intended our takeout to be from small local businesses, but there aren’t too many close to home that we enjoy. Driving 20 minutes means you end up with really soggy food, so Chipotle is it. There’s something for everyone, including high protein, low carb, and vegan — that’s pretty hard to swing elsewhere.
As for cooking, I spent a good amount of time in the kitchen this morning, making pancakes, baking hot dog buns, prepping salads. I also used a bunch of veggie leftovers in my eggs this morning, so we’re going into the week with a pretty clean slate.
Our meals on Day 31:
Breakfast: Pancakes, Eggs
Lunch: Bratwurst with Sauteed Peppers and Onions on Homemade Hot Dog Buns, big salad for me, vegan burger for my daughter
Dinner: takeout
How did your Pantry Challenge go?
