Not only am I challenging you to save money on your food bill, I’m inviting you to participate with your photos and by sharing with fellow participants.
Here’s the challenge: skip the market for a week. Whatever day you usually food shop, don’t. Cook with whatever’s in your refrigerator, freezer, cupboards or pantry. Pocket the savings. It’s the From Scratch Budget Challenge and I’ve set up a group for us at flickr. More on that in a moment.
I got the idea from egullet, which posted its paramaters for participation on its message board. I’m not that formal so in a nutshell: no stockpiling, knowing you’re going to skip a week. No endangering your children, ie: don’t stop buying milk. I’ll go a step further and say continue to buy any beverage you usually buy. No making yourself miserable; if you absolutely must have something, buy it.
Above all, have fun. And consider this. If you usually spend $100 a week on groceries and do this once per quarter, that’s $400 per year or nearly 8% of your annual food bill.
If you decide to participate — and I hope you will — you can share your tips and/or frustrations on our group message board and you can upload photos of your meals. My Budget Challenge group at flickr is a public group in that anyone can see the photos, but to add photos you have to be a member of the group. The message board is available only to group members. Joining is one click, no invitations needed.
If you don’t have a flickr account, it’s quick to join. If you have a Yahoo email account, just sign in with that email address and the password for it. Yahoo owns flickr so it’s one big happy family.
Flickr is intuitive — click the thumbnail to see what you’ll find — so even if you’re somewhat new to computers, it should be easy. Any problems, just shoot me an email using the contact page above.
If there are enough participants and photos, I’ll publish some here and if you’re fellow blogger, of course there will be a link back to you. And if nobody takes part I’ll just hang my head and shut up.
I’ve already skipped shopping for this week and have chicken thighs defrosting for a new recipe I hope will not let me down. I have no other chicken in the freezer, just seafood, red meat, sauces and frozen veggies. I have pasta on hand and canned tomatoes, so I see where that’s going. I have eggs, bacon, beans and a few fresh veggies. I’m challenging myself to come up with inventive ways to eat for the coming week — this might force me to use the ground buffalo that’s been in the freezer for two months — and enjoy the savings. I do hope you’ll join me.
If you’re ever stuck for ideas, check out my budget recipes, which often use ingredients I tend to have on hand.
3/11 Upate: To see what we’ve been cooking, click on over to We’re Saving Money.
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Well, we have a lot of snow this week . . . I am hunkered in and sitting on my backside writing, and I have a new digital camera which I got for dirt cheap.
The challenge will help me pay for it.
I may have to get some produce later this week. I have only one apple, 2 lbs of baby carrots, frozen berries, and a few cans of pumpkin for fruits and veggies.
Other than a few produce items, I’m in. Always enjoy a challenge.
If I make something photo worthy, I’ll drop you the photo. (But don’t hold your breathe!)
Word Bandit’s last blog post..Ohhhhh, Goooood Grief
Thanks for taking the challenge, Word! I think you’re the first. Hmm…snow and carrots make me think of my favorite carrot soup and you could make it with veggie broth instead of chicken. It sizes down very well and I often cut it in half.
Don’t worry about photo worthy. Everything is worthy. And you don’t have to send it (or them) to me; you can post them directly to the flickr pool for the challenge.
Thanks again!
Ella, great idea! Unfortunately, I can’t play now because it would be cheating. I went shopping just the other day and bought loads of fruits, vegetables and chicken. I’m good for quite a while. But, it seems like it will be a great experiment when I’m running low. I’ll give it a shot as I’m all for saving some money.
I just adore your site!
Thank you, Sunny. I hope you know I’ve never forgotten you were one of the very first people to visit this blog and leave an encouraging comment almost exactly two years ago. Your support has been a wonderful help.
Sure, when you get low, give it a try. I was a little surprised by that 8%, but I used a calculator. I’d never rely on my math!
This sounds like a great idea;-) In fact, I have already begun only cooking everything in my house, I’m down to eating boneless, skinless chicken breast in every meal, lol…
Johnna Knows Good Food’s last blog post..Food.Fun.Stuff: 10th Annual International Wine and Food Festival ReCap (D.C.)
Hi, Johnna! Long time no see. Maybe you’ll upload some of those to the flickr group. I never have too many ways to make chicken breast.
I’m very glad I’m doing this myself. I have a bad habit of seeing meat on sale, buying it, vacuum sealing it, freezing it and then rinse, repeat before I use up what’s in the freezer. I must have been a squirrel in another life…
Oh, you scared me. I’ll have to give this some thought. I don’t really keep much extra food, other than canned beans for emergencies.
I usually get my veggies and apples and bananas and pasta once a week and eat them all up! 
Q: How long can one live on canned beans during an emergency?
A: Much longer than one would want to.
So, if I participate, I’ll be eating a lot of beans. This does not sound like a good idea for anyone concerned.
MusEditions’s last blog post..Magical Musical Memeical Morph
Sorry to frighten you so early (or late, I guess, where you are). Just remind yourself how healthy beans are…and pray there’s no emergency.
So, I signed up at flickr and we’ll see what comes of this. Fresh fruit and vegetables are sort of scarce, but there is a lot of mystery stuff in the freezer that will be interesting to re-discover. Besides cat food and coffee, I’m good to go.
tess’s last blog post..Mochi + Waffles = Moffles
Hi Tess! I was just there a few minutes ago and saw that. I sent you a thank you there but will say thank you here too. I’ve had a bug and haven’t eaten much, so I might go another week. I’ll need salad greens and I’d rather fast than run out of coffee. Fun!
Okay, I just posted a picture of the hummus made with everything on hand on the board, but if anyone wants to see it, they have to click on my name because I haven’t a clue as to navigating Flickr.
Your recipe, ella!
Word Bandit’s last blog post..Rostropovich: YouTube Find Of The Week
Hi, Word. Flickr’s new to me too so I just click till I get to the right place.
The hummus looks absoutely delicious and I added it to the group pool. Yours is still in your own photoset.
Now you’ve made me hungry for hummus!
Consider me signed up, ella! This sounds like a great idea, and a rather instructive exercise. I’ll set up a flickr thingie shortly.
Phil Barron’s last blog post..The From Scratch Budget Challenge
Hi, Phil. Glad to hear it! Welcome to everything.
I’ll be posting an update sometime tomorrow. It’s been fun so far.
I found you from the link on Phil Barron’s blog. Great site!
I always cook to use what I have around the house (either without a recipe, or modifying one), because I can’t stand to see any food go to waste. It’s made for some interesting meals over the years.
Right now I have a full freezer, because I stocked up on meat at a local grocers “one day” sale last week.
Kathy G’s last blog post..It’s Two O’Clock Somewhere
Hi, Kathy and welcome. Glad you like it here — and isn’t Phil a sweetie?
I just saw your comment on his blog and it reinforced your feeling, which I totally share, of hating to see anything go to waste. I know it’s not possible for all the bits and bobs to be used up all the time, but when things go bad just because I didn’t have (or make) the time to use them, I am very angry and disappointed in myself.
Good for you that you could grab a one-day sale. Those victories seem little to some, but not to me. Thanks for stopping by!