Groceries. Can We Afford Them?

"Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter."   --- Proverbs 6:6-8

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Now, don't bail out till the end of this, ok?  ツ

Call me insane (you might), but I'm enjoying this challenge of buying high-priced food. It's like playing a game and celebrating when I win.

No, really.

These past three 'covid years' I've spent less than $55 per week on groceries delivered from Aldi. I prefer giving money (tips) to kind delivery folks rather than my gas tank and oh the dollars I save by not roaming aisles picking up tempting-but-not-on-my-list items.

That $55 includes items for my prepper pantry, the occasional salad or hoighty-toighty eggs (I call them) for Naomi or her organic coffee, daily snacks for our delivery folks and $15-ish of foods Tom chooses.

To that let's add $40 monthly on groceries from Target or Walmart deliveries, bringing the total to $260. (I'm not counting cat food here.)

And yes, we do order-out once weekly (unless it's snowing) for our Saturdates and often Naomi makes lunch for us (her $) on Sundays, plus, we don't eat evening meals, but rather, a snack. But there you go.

Two-hundred sixty dollars for groceries per month (actual grocery costs minus tips and small delivery fee) while stocking a 6-month+ supply of prepper pantry foods.

(Wanted to add: if I had to cut way back on this budget, I could. It actually feels rather extravagant some weeks.)

Pretty much what I paid pre-covid years and yet am I bragging? No. Rather, I'm encouraging you that high prices barely matter. Our creativity, curiosity and hard work are way more important.

We can complain or we can search for cheapo, healthy meals from not only cookbooks, but videos like Youtube's '$5 or less meal plans' ones. (Links below.)

And we can--

 

--experiment by using just half the meat recipes call for.

--make our own chicken or beef stock. Snacks. Soup. Coffee. And taco/chili seasoning mixes.

--use our regular cooking oil to grease baking pans rather than buy the expensive spray bottle type.

--make our own scented room sprays, fabric refreshers and liquid hand soap.

--and so much more.

Are we diligently searching for new ideas/recipes online or elsewhere? Or are we throwing up our hands and sighing, "It's impossible to live cheaply during inflationary years."?

Life consists of seasons and I believe this inflationary time will calm down. That's encouraging, but so is knowing that God will always provide if we-- 

use wisdom

give to others

stay open to learning

remain determined

live in the joy of gratitude

and seek Him with all our hearts.

What a challenge! But with God all things are possible--and during inflationary days-- all things can still be a joy, as well.

Here's a prayer I like to pray: "Lord, please ignite my creativity! Restore unto me the joy of ________." (Gee, I've filled in that blank with lots of stuff).

God helps us stay victorious by sending us help: the Bible, people, videos, blog posts, books, magazines. It's a scary thing actually to ignore this help, to think, "That was a nice thing to read/watch," then move on and forget what now became our responsibility to live-out.

Take nothing for granted, consider nothing a coincidence, ok?

Some seasons are more about survival. What can we give up in order to keep the things we truly need? Will we remember that someday we can make different choices, but for now we still have the ability to remain happy in our current challenges?

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$5 Dinners (Julia Pacheco. Love her! She's such an example of the happiness you'll find while doing what you were created to.)

Eat For $3 a Day Per Person (See Mindy Mom. Another joyful, accepting-the-challenges blessing in my life.)

Frugal Fit Mom is also a delight.

Tons more videos like those exist online. How many others can you find?

Last week I discovered another wonderful vintage teen book: True to You by Viola Rowe. Devoured it at Open Library. Perhaps it resonated with me because it involved changing schools (you may recall I attended 3 high schools!).

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Please remember: My posts are always about more than they appear to be. *** "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15