31 Days of Living Well and Spending Zero Challenge -Day 2

 Day 2...

One of the first things I noticed after starting this challenge was that I was being bombarded with sales offers from my favorite sites. Now I know that this was happening daily before the challenge started, but what I didn't think about was missing out on something that I have been waiting to go on sale. I think that the best way to deal with this is to delete all sale ads without looking at them. 

I looked to see where we could get the best prices on the agreed upon items that we needed to purchase before heading into the stores. We like to get in and out of the city as fast as possible and that means knowing what is on our list and what store we will be purchasing the items from. 

Day 2 - Organize Your Pantry (This includes the freezer)

A simple online search for free printable panty and freezer inventory sheets will produce a plethora of results to print off. I chose the legal pad route. It is clean out, organize and inventory the pantry day. The first part of this challenge is food focused. Being committed and organized will determine the success or failure of this challenge. These lists will be the backbone of my meal planning and the inventory on these lists will be what sustains us through this challenge and beyond. 

It is time to find all those must have specialty foods that were pushed into the back of the cabinet never to be seen again. It is time to use them up and make magic foods out of them. Making magic foods from whatever is in the pantry is what the food portion of this challenge is going to be like...

All the strange cans of this and that, bags of rice and funky seasonings will soon have a purpose other than taking up valuable space in the pantry. I will soak those old beans that I found an extra-long time, because that is what it is going to take to get them soft enough to eat. I will use the pressure cooker on those old legumes or grind them into bean flour if I have to. I won't give up on them! 

I keep an active list of what we use every month on the refrigerator with a handy pencil nearby. With that being said, I failed to add potatoes to this monthly list. Not only did I forget to put potatoes on my monthly list, but I also failed to add them to the must have challenge list. Ugh, again! Fresh potatoes are not considered a life sustaining item, so I followed our only rule, and did not change the agreed upon challenge list. I am so grateful that I put tea on the list. It is okay! We can do this challenge! As long as I have tea... 

I keep a list of what we use during the month, so I know what to
replace when we go shopping.

The reason behind our grocery list choices:

Everything else not mentioned on yesterday's post were chosen by me to add depth and flavor to the foods that we already have on hand. Onions, celery, carrots, and peppers are the base for flavoring things like stocks, sauces and soups. Without them, most of the foods I cook would not have much depth of flavor. These vegetables enhance the flavor of foods similar to the way that seasonings do. I usually stock them in my refrigerator, but I was close to being out. Just imagine hot water sauce instead of using a richly flavored stock. Not too appealing, is it? 

I chose the lettuce to make salads to go along with the micro-greens and sprouts that we grow ourselves. We have to have some live green foods! I did not choose any fresh fruit, because we just ate 27-pounds of apples in about two months. I absolutely enjoyed every apple. I look forward to buying more the next time we order from Azure Standard in the Fall. The new harvest will be available by then. We have some frozen, canned and dried fruits in our pantry that we can use during this challenge. 

We stuck to our list today and did not waiver. I kept having to remind Number One Husband that we had started the challenge. I got up early and made breakfast. I never eat breakfast, but I knew that I would be starving before I could get back home. I packed drinks and snacks to get us through until we could get back home and have lunch. It took exactly 6 hours. I removed the temptation to grab something to eat that was not on our list by bringing something from home. 

The Asian store is still out of tea! I substituted with a more expensive and less desired option. Ugh! Sam's only had gallon sized tea bags, so that is what we bought. I will make a tea concentrate out of the giant bags and store it in the refrigerator. It actually turned out to be a less expensive option than purchasing the small tea bags which have gone up another $5 bucks. We even looked to see if we could purchase my regular tea online. That was a big negatory! I may have to start drinking coffee. Not!

We spent $103.44 just on fuel. We saved .43 cents a gallon. The first Sam's that we went to had already raised their prices, so we went to another club on the way to my appointment. We were in line when the fuel truck pulled in. We actually needed a bit more fuel, but the pump would not allow us to buy more fuel once we hit the $100 limit and the fuel truck started unloading the fuel. I'm sure the 20+ cars waiting in line were very disappointed when the price increased before they could fill up. 

I will purchase the milk that is on the list in two weeks when I go to town to go to the dentist for the umpteenth time. I will end up spending $5.11 more than I budgeted for once I purchase the milk. This is completely due to the inflated tea prices. Talk about Super Inflation! Imagine if every $8 item increased in price by $5 bucks...

See you tomorrow for Day 3,

Mrs. Smith