Sunday, December 9, 2007

Eating On the Cheap, Could be a lifestyle

This week I am on vacation from my full-time job. However, it won't be much relaxation. For instance I still have to write posts for the various blogs I write for. More importantly though, it is a week of parties. Somehow, every group and committee that I am a member of is having their Christmas party this week. That's seven, count them 7 parties in 6 days. That means I will have to miss one, since I can't be in two places at once.

The remaining parties are each potluck dinners, so I will be eating on the cheap this week. Potluck dinners are wonderful, because you get to fellowship with friends while at the same time saving money on the old grocery bill.

In fact it has been suggested that it is a wonderful way to save money outside of some church or organization potluck. How? Simply invite some friends and neighbors over with each person bringing a dish. Since everyone is brings one dish, no one person has to cook an entire meal, so everyone saves money.

Some personal finance bloggers and experts even suggest making this a monthly event. Perhaps changing host homes from month to month. As someone, who loves potlucks, I think it is a pretty awesome idea. Even though, I find it difficult to actually implement in my life.

So even though this next week will be a lot of work, I will enjoy it. I will make my "famous" corn pudding for a couple of these events. Perhaps pistachio salad to another. Who knows what else I might make this week. I know I would love to make my crowd pleasing (and award winning) Pecan Pie. However, I just can't justify the $10 to make it. Since that would be more then I spend in one week for groceries.


4 comments:

  1. You spend 10$ a week on grocery? Wow. How do you manage this. I think the lowest have ever done was 30$ a week and that was many years ago...

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  2. I do it in large part because i am single and eat very little meat, although with milk prices exceeding $3/gallon, it is becoming much more difficult. It also helps that I have cases of canned food to get me through for a number of weeks to come.

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  3. Would you mind posting a typical week worth of menus? I've tried powdered milk for a while, it is Ok in recipe but the lack of taste is unbearable when you drink it. 1% Milk is cheaper than the milk higher in fat and still tastes ok.

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  4. Not sure if I have a typical week of menus. If you have read my Eating on a budget, then you get a typical idea. On that blog I conducted a 1 month experiment to eat on $30/month.

    I haven't ate much rice since the experiment.
    Last night since my dinner party was canceled because of the weather, I fixed homemade potato soup. I am eating leftovers of that today, because the dinner party for tonight was also canceled because of the Ice storm that is moving through the area yesterday and today.
    Some days I may fry some potatoes and open a can of veggies. Other days I might might mash some potatoes. Left over mash potatoes, I will make into patties and roll them in flour and fry them up.

    The biggest part of a food budget is the meat. It also helps, especially for a single person like me to eat the left overs.

    That reminds me, I have some cranberry sauce in the fridge that I need to finished to.

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