January Challenge: Week 3

Our January Challenge is moving right along. As of last Saturday, we had spent about $125 on groceries for the month, so we're in good shape to finish on target. This past week we've been enjoying stir-fry, rice and beans, soup, fruit and fresh salad, and homemade granola with dried fruit. Not too shabby.

One of the biggest things this experiment has taught us is how much food we waste. In the past our refrigerator has been half full of leftovers and half used ingredients that we had no honest intention of using. I hate having the same thing three days in a row. So we've learned if we cook more than two meals worth of something, immediately freeze the extra for lunches and meals down the road. When we plan meals, we've also learned to begin with assessing what we have already. A lot less food goes to waste.

Our fearsome guard dog keeping watch

This is also helping as assess realistically what should we preserve during the growing season. This past year, we didn't freeze much, so we're getting low on frozen vegetables. Our peppers and green beans are gone. At this rate we'll be out of peas, broccoli and corn in the next month or so. I'm already plotting and scheming my garden and plans to put food aside this summer. In the weeks to come, i'll share some of my ideas and look forward to hearing yours.

Red Lentil Soup

 
After holidays full of caramel corn, chocolate cake and Irish cream, it's good to fill my belly with something healthy. This afternoon we made our favorite Red Lentil Soup. I always modify the recipe based on what's on hand and this soup is pretty hard to mess up.

This time I added a cup of organic long-grain brown rice from Swamp Rabbit Grocery. I didn't add any additional liquid, the result is a heartier soup. Also I added some corn, a half tomato and a parsnip that were leftover from other things. I didn't have any fresh parsley, but no worries. I use the Better Than Bouillon organic vegetable base instead of broth. It has good bit of sodium, so use sparingly and don't add the salt from the recipe. The magic ingredient is the cumin. It gives the soup a warm buttery flavor. And cumin is great for you.

Red lentil soup ranks pretty high up there far as healthiness. Adding the long-grain rice to the lentil creates a complete protein. It's full of fresh vegetables. It's vegan but so tasty. The cost for a pot of this soup (approximately 6-8 bowls) is about $8. This is the perfect soup to start a new year.

A Challenge for the New Year

The word I'd use to describe this past year is "FULL". Full of friends, full of both work and play, full of love and learning. And full of good food. We're learning to be better stewards of everything God has blessed us with. Especially our time, relationships, possessions and bodies.

Us with Tiffany's family in the Tennessee mountains

Last year, Tiff and I went vegetarian for a month and what a life-changing experience that was. We still like our meat, but that month opened up all kinds of delicious and healthy foods. It radically altered our approach to choosing what we eat, and precipitated a big shift towards eating a plant-based diet.

So this January, we're going to try another challenge. So often, I hear eating healthy costs more. This month, we're going to try to eat healthy for under $200 for the month. We typically spend $400-$500 a month on food (can you tell we like to eat and share food?), so this will take some doing. Now we aren't exactly starting from scratch, we have some canned goods, rice, beans, in our freezer are a couple frozen chickens and frozen vegetables, and in our winter garden are peas and salad greens. We have a little money for eating out, so those meals won't come from this budget.

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According to my math, spending $200/month for two people means spending an average of $1.58/meal per person. Unhealthy alternatives such as our old staple Tombstone pizzas cost about $1.50/meal per person (on sale). Ramen with an egg on top is probably less than $1. So the trick will be to eat HEALTHY for about that same amount. So the fun starts today, we'll let you know how it goes and let us know if you have any meal ideas.