Do you watch or listen to YouTube.com? Did you realize there are bloggers who post on YouTube?
I have found that I can listen to the YouTube bloggers through my smartphone and get things done around the house at the same time – hey, it at least makes the time go by faster when I am doing the dishes, etc.
So, here is the first (I think, since I have been planning on posting these for a long time, but don’t think I ever wrote one up) of the YouTube.com bloggers that I listen to weekly.
Oh, and no, these are not sponsored and if you say you found them through me they would have no idea who I was, but I would love it if you did tell them 🙂
If you see Jordan Page’s face you might recognize her from the Rachel Ray Show or other television shows. I had never checked out her blog or YouTube channel until another YouTube blogger mentioned her earlier this year.
Jordan Page – https://www.youtube.com/user/funcheaporfree or search Jordan Page
or go to her blog: http://funcheaporfree.com/
So, in September Jordan did a challenge called #Shelftember Challenge. The premise was to eat the items you already have in the your refrigerator, freezer and pantry before going to the store and shopping for groceries. You were give a small amount to buy fresh vegetables, milk, etc each week.
Since we were going on vacation in mid-September (yes, we had fun and I will post about it in the future) I thought this was a good idea for us to implement.
Well, other than a few shopping trips where we picked up bargains, something special, something we needed to make a dish that went along with what we were eating from our refrigerator, freezer or pantry or to replace something we were running low on we have been eating mostly this way since September.
Oh, and I will say that we still go out to eat randomly, but I consider those ‘Dates’ and the cost falls into another bucket in our budget. Hey, we need to have some fun in life and at least once a week I don’t want to cook 😉
I can’t tell you exact amounts, but our food bill was definitely lower in October versus August. The other bonus is we are starting to see some blank space in our freezer, etc so I will be able to buy the turkey that is on sale this week and have room for it in the freezer until Thanksgiving.
I will always be happy to have a stockpile of food for in case of emergencies (earthquakes, snow, floods, power outages, etc can all happen here), but it was getting a little crazy that each week we saw multiple things for sale in the ads and had to go buy them instead of having multiple days a week that we ate the food that we already had.
So, after doing this for a couple of months the husband appears to be on board. From now on I will plan my menu for the week and then look at the local sale ads. If there is something we are craving, a super bargain (think baking supplies that go on sale before Christmas, etc) or something that we are running low on then I will buy those items, but I will always be looking to get the items on sale or with a coupon, if at all possible
.
How do you keep your food bill under control?
Later – Heather
A Creative Engineer In Nevada 