Shopping for knowledge

As many of you who have been following my IG stories for a while now will know, we were without a fully operating fridge for 10 weeks a few months ago. The fridge would only last 3 hours before beeping away because the heat wasn’t regulating and more often than not the inside was warmer than room temperature.  In hindsight this was possibly responsible for the serious case of food poisoning which Mark and I feel victim to for two days.  At night we had to turn it off at the wall and put the cold goods in the freezer because I for one was not getting up to that white plastic piece as well as Lottie. Interestingly, Mark never heard the beeping (#selectivehearingatitsfinest)

But aside from the annoying practical problems this presented, there was learning to be had.

What I soon realised is how little you can spend each week on shopping and still eat healthy, satisfying meals.  Limited by dry foods and having to plan to use the cooled first, naturally I started to plan my meals and as a result my grocery shopping. 

I watched a news segment last year regarding the price of food in New Zealand.  I cannot remember the programme but questions were raised about how a standard family of four can be expected to live off only $150 a week if not less on groceries each week. 

Always up for a personal challenge, I took it upon myself to get our grocery costs down to $150 each week while our fridge was not operating. We are a family of three but we certainly eat like a family of four going on six so fair game right?

Given that we get meat provided as part of Mark’s employment, I thought it was going to be easy.  I got arrogant and did not plan, resulting in failure each and every time.  In my defence, however, the presence of my very own grocery hand picker (#babyfingers) is not conducive to a quick shop.  Endless food on floor pickups not only results in a sore back and thighs, but adds time pressure to the shopping experience and often means that while you go in with great intentions, any plans you have quickly get thrown out of the trolley (literally speaking).

However, with the fridge down and out and my “must have” list cut right down, there could be no excuses.  I have always been one to make my own additions to recipes and use what I already have in the fridge (hypothetically speaking of course) but I was well and truly chucked in the deep end.  I was forced to look to the pantry for substitutes/alternatives to my normal go to’s.  I had to swap cream for coconut cream, full cream milk for long life milk and fresh veges for frozen veges.  Thankfully pinot noir doesn’t need refrigerating.  If it did, that would have probably been the catalyst for a new fridge (#prioritiesonpoint).

I soon realised that with planning and a different mindset, it is possible to feed your family on a budget, particularly if you look past the overpriced and over-marketed items and think outside the box. 

Of course, external factors such as the market and whether you only have New World as an option in your local town (inserteyerollhere) are factors which come in to play but that is out of your control so you just have to work with what you have got.

So where does one start?

Initially I went to the New World online shop to see what deals there were on meat and then planned my meals from there.   I find that if you start with the most expensive item and get a deal, you work with that. 

Once I had decided on the meal, I then wrote a meal plan based on that.  I then scanned the aisles by way of sitting on my bottom (cute word) and moving the cursor on my laptop for the best deal on the accompanying ingredients. 

I will confess that it took me a number of goes and variations to my dishes (by way of removing some of the ingredients) to make the budget workable .  Other than avoiding queues and tantrums in the supermarket (#mumlife), that is the benefit of online grocery shopping. 

We are not herbivores, and generally we have meat in our dinner but in order to give myself some hope for cooking 7 meals for under $150.00 (with enough left over for our lunch each day), I needed to be realistic and prepare one vegetarian meal.

Here is my meal plan prep, based on the sale items generally.

Sunday - Chicken pasta bake with spinach and garlic bread.

Monday - Beef Snitchell with mash, pumpkin and spinach salad and mushroom sauce.

Tuesday - Tuna, potato and pea pie with kumara and spinach salad.

Wednesday - Beef stir-fry with noodles

Thursday - Thai green curry with lamb.

Friday - Chicken burgers with Potato fries.

Saturday - Pumpkin soup.

If you want to see the full recipes, comment below and I can post all in their easy/mumified glory in a further blog.

This budget gets us dinner and lunch for 7 days (#leftovers).  Obviously, condiments are not included, nor is toilet paper, cleaning products, tea or coffee, fruit or other liquid substances which make life that little bit easier (#wine). However, we must all bear in mind that a lot of those purchases (other than wine and hopefully the toilet paper) are long term purchases which last more than a week so I am not counting those. 

It is therefore possible to live on $150.00 a week and eat healthy meals.  I found that online shopping helped making the whole budgeting process much easier also.  However, I do have real sympathy for those in society who do not have knowledge around healthy food and budgeting.  Granted I made it work for a week but it was a lot of effort and planning.  Those who do not have the tools are struggling and justifiably so.

Yes there are options like my food bag which is an amazing business model but at $169.00 for a family of 4 for 5 meals, this is not a viable option for many of those in society.  While it takes away the thinking and budgeting, it is only generally for one meal a day.  You are still required to plan the remainder of your meals, and attend the supermarket for the same.

As a mum who prioritises healthy living and budgeting, with the reality of being on one income, it has turned my mind to this problem more acutely than ever. 

We need to be feeding our children, the next generation, nutrient food so that they can not only grow into healthy adults who have knowledge around healthy choices but we need to be feeding ourselves, the current generation, nutrient food so that we can lead by example and be there to watch our children grow up.

It’s hard in the current market, but it’s possible.