$20 a week items

Well after doing the meal plans I believe we have a few issues to clear up:

#1. You are going to need a good spice rack! Such as


This is one that I have. Spices are the flavor of life. You will be using them EVERY day. I cant emphasis this enough. You can completely change up boring dishes.

#2. Get the basics down. Before the new year, get in some dry pasta, beans, canned tomatoes, frozen peas (The biggest bag you can find), frozen kernel corn, Bread mixes (You can make your own bread and save a fortune!), tuna, canned veggies, tomato sauce, pasta sauce, canned chicken. Etc... That's the main ones I can think of.

#3, Nick and I are so busy in the first few weeks of January, that we survive on slow cooking. The one we have is

It is amazing. :)

#4. get up and get peeling! Essential for surviving on $20 a week. Keep the peels and start a vegetable garden with fresh compost.
In the summer this will keep your costs down.

#5. Use what is in your pantry! Dont go over the $20 budget, if your missing a few ingredients in the meal, substitute. Use one type of bean instead of three.

#6. Clip some coupons.

#7. Go to your local Farmers market. Grab some fruits and veggies. Bargain prices :). If they are still more expensive than your local store, haggle with them. And bring proof. If you haggle loud enough, they will probably match the price you are asking.


Later today will be the first food plan. I will post the recipies underneath the scan of my plan.

Keep the recipies in a word document. This will be useful for reusing specific meal plans.

See you all later.

Please feel free to comment!

A thought for Vegans

This week Nick brought me home some rather odd looking sushi. Normally when I ask for my "Avocado Roll" I get a sushi roll topped by avocado. This time I sent Nick and actually got something completely different. It was some rice paper with avocado, cucumber and carrots inside. It came with a sweet red chilli dressing and it was very good.

The amount of calories in this dish was perfect. A round 200 calories and I was full for a very long time. However it did cost $6 when buying it from the store.

I found a way to buy the rice wraps online and save myself $4. And if I grew the vegetables at home, my cost would me minimal. I love avocado and cucumber. Its refreshing and very healthy.

So after all this research and thinking, it came to my attention that Vegans must have a really great immune system. As well as a cheaper shopping trip.
One week next year we will keep to the $20 budget, and eat completely vegan. I think we will loose a lot of weight. But I am also worried about loosing some muscle mass. Its definitely food for thought.

Our Egg cooker

I love this egg cooker. Its going to be used a whole lot on the $20 a week mission. Its very energy efficient, it matches my kitchen (Big point for Miss Katie!) and it cooks my favourite type of egg.
Soft boiled!
Theres nothing better on a Sunday morning than Toast and Soft boiled egg. Dip the toast in to the egg yolk... Awesome...

Well.... Lucky for me I have no cholesterol problem. But if you do, you can also take out the center of hard boiled eggs, and eat them as a snack with a little pepper and mustard on.



Some other items you may want to invest in are storage containers for food. This will be the main way to save money. Its absolutely key to use these through the whole process. I use Rubbermaid, because it stops Nick rummaging through all our cupboards for one lid.