Skip to main content

Welcome To Saving Cents

 The 35 Diet 

The goal of this blog is simple- provide easy to make, nutritious meals and snacks on a weekly budget of just $35US for the remainder of 2023 and share of the ways I do it.  

According to the USDA, in February 2023 a thrifty food budget plan for a person aged 20-50 ranged from $243.50- $304.40 if shopping within a family unit. Outside the unit, the cost rose an extra 20 percent on average. This means that, on average, in February 2023 a single person spent approximately $292.2-$365.25 per month or $67.44-$84.29 per week where weekly cost is broken down as a month having 4.333 weeks. This puts the average spent weekly at about $75.87. 

Look, I know it’s a lot of numbers and if numbers aren’t your thing, I’m sorry but the gist is this- I want to show that it is possible to eat nutritious meals and snacks on just half of that “thrifty” food plan.  

So, to recap, my monthly budget of $152 breaks down, according to the USDA and a month having 4.333 weeks, to $35.07 a week. As there are currently 37 weeks (about 8 and a half months) left for 2023 that means a total budget of $1,295.  

The Breakdown 

Weekly posts will be broken down into 4 main categories and the occasional bonus category- 

  • The Game Plan 

  • The Goods 

  • The Play by Play 

  • The Review 

  • BONUS- The Assist 

 

The Game Plan 

This will cover several areas. The first is shopping sales while using coupons and sending in rebate or using rebate apps when applicable. The second part is meal planning to maximize time, creatively use leftovers, and reduce food waste. I’ll try to shop on Sundays or Mondays and have the post up by Monday evening. This will give some of you the ability to also shop some of the same deals if you have those stores near you. The stores that I’ll be frequenting will include but aren’t limited to- Meijer, Kroger, Walmart, and Aldi.  

The second part of the game plan will be the meal planning. By using meal planning, I hope to maximize time spent in the kitchen but still provide meal ideas that are easy to duplicate, delicious, and nutritious. The idea is also to get the goods from start to finish in less than 30 minutes per meal. A fantastic way to do this will be to follow a “cook once, eat twice” philosophy. By cooking enough of a main ingredient for two or more snacks or meals at a time, I can save time overall and  

 

The Goods 

This section of posting will cover just that! The goods purchased to plan meals and snacks for the next given week will be displayed under this title with the week’s dates. I’ll try and give a breakdown of what everything cost per item, where it was bought, and the grand total for the week.  This also ties in with the bonus posts. 

 

The Assist 

With this category of posts this will be random items that I didn’t buy that week. Don’t worry, I’m not fishing for freebies and I’m leaving food pantries for those who truly need them. These will be items that I bought at some random point in the past. If I can remember what I paid for each item, then I’ll include it in the post and also add it to my total running food budget. I’ll try and set a limit of $20 for items coming from my WSP (Well Stocked Pantry) per month.  

 

The Play by Play 

With these blog posts, I’ll be sharing my daily meals, the recipes for ones that are worthy of such, and the approximate nutrition count for each day. It’s better to think of these posts as more in depth Instagram foodie posts.  

Finally, that leaves us with... 

 

The Review 

This is a weekly recap post where I can look back on the past week and reflect on what was great and what could use some improvement. Will also include a final recap of the budget for the week, the remaining budget for the month, and an outlook for the week ahead.  

 

Until next time, feed your soul with savings! 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Weeks 4/24 and 5/1/23

  As you may have noticed, this week is a little different. I was busy at the beginning of this week with work and taking a mini staycation to the zoo. So, this week I’ll be shopping for 2 weeks in one and while I did go over my average of $35 a week, I don’t foresee spending much in a couple weeks .  Alright , so let’s get started with stash goods and then shopped goods-           Item   Price   Store   Cadbury Chocolate Eggs   $.98 for 2   Kroger   SodaStream Flavoring   $3.79   Amazon   Rice Vinegar   $1.25   Discount Grocer   Chocolate Macaroons   $2.10 for 2   Amazon   Instant Coffee   $2.34 for 2   Amazon   Pancake Syrup   $1.49   Kroger   Pistachios   $.99   Kroger   Protein Shake 4pk   $5.00   Walmart   Refried Black Beans   $.71   Kroger   Oscar Mayer Bacon   $2.49   Krog er  ...
Post a Comment
Read more

4/10/2023- The Assisted Goods Haul

  I’m starting this off with an assisted haul and some current grocery store items. Assisted hauls are items that will be long-term items as well as items and bulk item purchases that will be broken down by cost per servings used that week. This will be an estimate that I will end up adjusting in the weekly recap.   The Goods- The Rundown Item                                                                                                    Price Mini peppers   $1.98 for 2   Baby Potatoes   $.99   Mushrooms   $1.99   Oys ter Mushrooms   $3.91   Red Lentils (4lbs)   $4.99   Parle- G cookies   $2.99   Daikon Radish ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Week of 4/17/2023- The Game Plan

The Game Plan for this week is to get some food preservation done. This will include:    Freeze the leftover berries from last week   Cut the pineapple into chunks to freeze   Use pineapple skins to make tepache   Prep some dates into syrup   Make the pickled daikon and tomatoes   Go through remaining celery, asparagus, kale, and corn and prep for freezer   Prep some garbanzo beans   Plan out work meals   Let’s look at some of these-   Prepping and freezing fresh fruits and vegetables-   Different fruits and vegetables have different methods for preparing for freezer storage. Berries just need a good wash and dry before the freezing stage while asparagus, corn, and many other vegetables do best with blanching first before hitting the freezer. When in doubt, always look up the best method for the produce you’re trying to freeze .       Tepache   Listen, I am by NO means a tepache (written recipe from S...
Post a Comment
Read more