Thoughts on No Grocery Shopping for a Month
We are on our last day of our challenge to not buy groceries or spend money at restaurants/fast food for the entire month of January. We prepared for this challenge by stocking up on some bulk foods and other groceries. We had to be strategic about the fresh fruits & vegetables we bought at the end of December because we wanted to try to make them last through the month. We also bought more milk than what we normally consume and froze what we wouldn’t use in a couple of weeks. What we hadn’t anticipated was that we would use way more milk than usual because Savannah got a Ninja Creami for Christmas. We experimented with a lot of different recipes and enjoyed a lot of ice cream. This caused us to run out of milk so we did have to buy more towards the end of the month. That was the only thing we bought in regards to food in the month of January. Here are my takeaways from this experience…
1. We saved money, Time, and Sanity
When we shared about our plan, many people poked fun saying that if you are buying double groceries in December to get through January, what is the point? I get that perspective but there is so much more to it. Previously we went to the grocery store once a week, and sometimes even more if we had to make the trip to town already. We didn’t always do a big haul but we usually needed a few things every week. I don’t know if you’re like us, but I may go in for one or two things, and then come out with several more. Oh there’s a new gluten free offering? That will suck me in every time. And even though we make a lot of food from scratch, we can be suckers for convenience foods. Sometimes you’re too tired to cook a homemade meal so something pre-made in the frozen section feels easy. What I learned this month is that by not stepping foot into a grocery store, I avoided spending money on things I don’t necessarily need.
We also saved money on gas because our nearest grocery store is 28 minutes away and the nearest larger grocery store is 45 minutes away. We ended up going into town a lot less during this challenge, which was honestly a relief. Every trip into town is another opportunity to be tempted to pop into a store and buy something you don’t need.
Also the time factor- grocery shopping is a time suck. We had to be more strategic and do more planning up front but that paid for itself ten fold by saving so much time later. I also simply hate going to the grocery store and going there makes me antsy. I think there are too many options and too many decisions to make. Is this gluten free? on sale? organic? fair trade? Free Range? GMO? What about chemicals? It should be simple if you’re following a list but it’s never that simple is it? Maybe I’m a bit overdramatic but I sure did love not stepping one foot into the store. Savannah was the one who ventured in to buy the milk.
2. Traveling with food for the day is an annoying
The no restaurants part was challenging because we live so far away from town. When we have to go into town we usually run several errands, which often means being away from home during a mealtime or two. Seriously, town days usually take the entire day. The first time we went into town we were prepared. We heated up soup and put it into a thermos and brought drinks & snacks. But to be honest, when you are trying to leave you just want to go and not have to pack a lunch. We also often decide to go into town on a whim because we are missing something we need for a project. Even if a trip into town is at the last minute, we’ll still pile on other errands since we’re already going into town. So we’d be ready to go but would realize we needed to stop and scrounge up food to eat. As a result, we sometimes had mozzarella cheese sticks & pretzels for lunch and by the time we got home we were hangry.
A delicious salad creation - salad mix, feta, apples, pomegranate seeds, almonds, & pickled onions. I can’t remember what dressing I put on here- some sort of sweet vinaigerette probably.
3. Creativity in the kitchen is necessary
When you have a limited selection, you’ve got to come up with different ways to eat certain foods. I made pickled onions twice during the month and put them on everything. We were running low on snacks and Savannah whipped up some homemade Cheez-its that I liked better than the originals. We made a pizza using a gluten free flour tortilla Savannah made from scratch. I came up with a new dinner that resulted in a very proud moment. I was able to use taco meat from our the pigs we raised, a salad mix from our garden, homemade salsa we canned, pickled onions I made, and rice that we bought in bulk that we cooked & froze to make a super filling and delicious taco bowl. I made that meal many times during this challenge, and it was a culmination of everything we have been working towards on our homestead. I loved that this challenge pushed us to experiment making new recipes and get creative with how we used the foods we had.
4. Freezer meals are my best friend
This is true every month regardless if we are doing this challenge or not. That being said- not going to the grocery store & not having an abundance of convenience foods made freezer meals crucial. We did not want to be cooking meals 3 times a day. Savannah has always been the main cook over the years, and this is a task she mostly enjoys but resents at times. I don’t enjoy cooking at all, but I can make rice and freeze it into individual portions in these freezer cubes. And Savannah can make a big batch of whatever she’s cooking and then freeze the rest into smaller portions, saving her time in the future.
I’ve probably talked too much about freezing foods into individual portions since we’ve started doing that. But freezing prepared foods into smaller portions has literally changed our lives. If we want something different for dinner, we can each get something that we want. Because not only do we not always want to eat the same thing for a meal but we are often hungry at different times. What is essential with the freezer meal game is the way you freeze it. The key is freezing foods into individual portions with these trays. The resulting cubes of food store so much better in our freezer.
5. I would do it again
I have really enjoyed this challenge, and it’s almost been like a game. We even talked about continuing the challenge on into February with a few tweaks. What we have decided to do is give ourselves a budget for eating out, so we can still reign in our restaurant/food spending but keep our sanity. We are going to do another big shopping trip at the beginning of February with a grocery budget of $150, and we are going to try to make that last the whole month. We still have a good amount of bulk foods, canned goods, and a freezer full of pork, so I think we can do it and it will be another fun challenge. If this month goes over well, we will likely tweak the challenge if needed and continue on into the year. We are planning on keeping tracking of our grocery and restaurant spending this year, so we know exactly what we are spending.
This challenge really opened our eyes to how much time and money we saved just by being intentional with our food habits. And I think we realized that we have the ability to provide ourselves with the convenience of pre-made meals and that our lives are so much better when we take the time to do so.