Eating Good

I think I have done it. I think I have really let go of my issues of spending a lot of money on food! My father said something to me a few weeks ago and it really made me think. He said "We like to live good, and to live good, you need to EAT good." Now I have tried before many times to let go and just buy what I want in the store when it comes to food, and it always started out promising but ended with me going back to being a cheapo and cutting myself short to save a little money here and there. I have been for about a month now, just LETTING GO and freely buying whatever I want to eat at the store and whatever Anthony wants to eat too for that matter.

We are no longer eating Hamburger Helper, chicken 5 times a week, or frozen food. I am buying ingredients to make recipes that I want to try and have been wanting to try for a long while. Some new recipes that I have tried this month are: tomato pie (came out bad), stuffed bell peppers (this was pretty good), tuna noodle casserole (it was okay but I won't be making it again), and I also make egg foo young again and it didn't come out as well as the first time. I have on the menu for the upcoming weeks: turkey pot pie, chicken cordon bleu casserole, meatloaf, spaghetti and meatballs (we don't normally make this), lasagna, chicken shawarma, chicken enchiladas, nachos, egg salad sandwiches, pork chops, home made stroganoff and buffalo chicken sandwiches. All of these are things we never used to eat before because they were just too expensive to buy the ingredients for.

I used to try and budget our food bill to be around $120 a month so that would give us about $4 per meal allowance and that would not even be counting drinks or snacks or lunch items (which I never used to buy). On $4 a day for just two people there is not much that can be done. We ate a whole lot of boxed and frozen meals. A bunch of nights we ate chicken with a $1 side and a $1 can of veggies. After about 8 months of this I decided it was time to step it up. While I have been saving up money like I stated in a previous post, I am freely spending on food.

This month alone we have gone to the store many times, bought lots of food, lots of ingredients, lots of snacks, lots of lunch items, and when we run out of stuff.... we don't go the rest of the month without it, we just go to the store and get more! And you know what? I have been absolutely loving it! It feels great to open the fridge and see lots of food. Lots of different foods, and foods that I can just eat without having to cook. It is nice to know that I can eat something and not worry about the menu and ruining a set meal (because I can just go back to the store and buy more!). And it feels so good to have so much variety!

Are we spending a lot more money? YES, we have spent around $350 this month on food so far. Seems a little crazy but that's okay. I am okay with that. I am not broke, and I have tons of food to eat. Tons of snacks at home and at work and drinks in the fridge too. Having no food, little food, or little variety of food just made me feel so poor! And now I no longer feel that way, and its nice. REAL nice. I hope I can keep this up and not back down just to save a few bucks here and there because I am really enjoying eating well.