April Challenge: Food Stamp Budget

The less said about being gluten-free the better. Neither of us liked it. We felt irritated a lot. We cheated (and it was worth it). I did enjoy experimenting with gluten-free flours (and adapted a kick-ass muffin recipe) but I'm glad to be done.

Which brings us into April.

Alex and I shop at Whole Foods. We indulge in exotic spices. We thoroughly enjoy eating out. We [unintentionally] waste food.

Not this month.

In April (starting on Saturday, to give us four full weeks, Saturday-Friday) we will be eating on a food stamp budget. The maximum benefit for a family of two in King County is $12/day or $84/week.

This was a blogger challenge back in January but I found out about it too late to join in. So we're doing it for a full month.

The challenge said you couldn't use any pantry items, couldn't accept food from anyone, and the only "free" spices were salt and pepper.

We're fudging that a bit, because, while it's fine for a week challenge, I think it's unreasonable for a month.

We will use pantry items on a case by case basis. AP flour, sugar, and white vinegar are some examples of what we have that we will continue to use. Our "fancy" flours and our extensive spice cabinet are off-limits.

We will accept food when it's offered. Easter dinner, for example, will be eaten at my dad's house.

We have pre-determined exceptions:
-April 23rd we're having an Iron Chef dinner. It's been planned for months. That dinner is exempt from the budget. (Meaning we only have $72 that week for food).
-If I get into graduate school, we are celebrating.
-I make cakes for people, for money and as gifts. If I need to exempt those ingredients, I will. But whenever possible I will include them in the budget. (I have two coworker birthdays, a baby shower, and Easter to supply baked goods for).

Everything else falls into the purview of the budget. We will eat breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks on $12/day. If I get ambitious, I'll scan in our receipts for each week.

So that's the deal.