Carrie Cox
I have a confession. I stopped keeping a budget long before I had children. While not being reckless, I spend what I think is necessary to feed my family - me, my husband David, and our kids Emily, 13, Lara, five, and Carlton, three.
My weekly grocery shop is generally around the Aussie average of $320, so I guess we're not doing badly, but it's still a big weekly expenditure.
My shop includes cleaning products and toiletries, and I've watched it creep up steadily as the children grow older and consume more.
I'm often at pains to show my hubby where I've tried to save money - buying meat in bulk, taking advantage of two-for-one specials, cutting out snacks. But even if I'm saving $10 to $20 a week, the balance is still hefty.
So when that's life! asked me to road-test the new book The $21 Challenge, I was interested. It challenges you to live for a week on just $21, an idea I'd scoff at under normal circumstances. But, armed with my new bible and a website full of tips, I began to think maybe we could do it.
The idea isn't to do the $21 Challenge every week, just for one week. After that you'll have learnt money-saving tips that will enable you to save on shopping in future.
I discussed the concept with David and the kids. Hubby was happy. I was determined. The kids asked if they could stay with relatives for the week.
MONDAY
As the challenge outlines, I begin with a stocktake of my kitchen cupboards. This is a highly embarrassing exercise, because many of the condiments and cereals I find have expired well before the last change of government.
Among the still-edible pantry items I extract are dozens of pasta side-dishes, exotic couscous sachets, several half-empty cereal boxes, enough flour to bake a cake for England, and tin after tin of canned food (I'm always prepared for the next tsunami).
In the fridge are multiple fete-bought condiments, including chilli paste, pesto, lemon butter and mango chutney.
There are also staples, such as margarine, milk, half a pack of cheese and a few tomatoes, plus the kids' lunch stuff such as yoghurt and tinned fruit.
In the freezer is a large packet of mince, two packets of sausages, a bulk pack of blade steak, a small serve of chicken fillets and about six half-used packs of vegies.
I also have eight potatoes, three apples, four overripe bananas, two onions and one loaf of bread. Game on!
TUESDAY
In a perfect world, I wouldn't be starting this challenge in the week that my great-aunt happens to be staying with us, but she'll simply have to come along for the ride.
I try to explain the concept to her, but the figure of $21 sees her throwing her arms in the air and despairing for the wellbeing of my children. 'They'll starve!' she says.
I assure her the challenge is about expanding our diet by thinking outside the square and getting creative with the food we already have, but she's immovable.
Fortunately, the book accompanying the challenge has a whole section dedicated to handling naysayers, so I mentally file my great-aunt under the 'guilt tripper' category and press on.
Today would normally be my grocery-shopping day, so I'm happy to be gaining an extra two hours to get other things done around the house.
Realistically, yesterday's stocktake also showed me we don't actually need much food anyway. I've got a lot more than I thought. The only things we've completely run out of are sugar, juice, lettuce, lunch meat, eggs and coffee (argh!), but I'll hold off spending my $21 until I really need to.
WEDNESDAY
We all have cereal for breakfast and I make the kids cheese and tomato sandwiches for lunch, as well as throwing in a yoghurt and the last of the apples.
While the kids are at school I make a banana loaf with the overripe bananas, even though I don't have two of the key ingredients - sugar and cinnamon. After consulting the ingredient-substitution section of The $21 Challenge book, I learn I can use half a cup of honey instead of sugar, and ginger for cinnamon.
For dinner I stretch my small serve of chicken fillets by using them in a tomato-flavoured casserole. Some diced potatoes make it a bit heartier and I also add some mango chutney for flavour.
Unfortunately the kids aren't big fans of the wet-meat concept. But instead of pandering to them by making an alternative meal, which I too often do, I explain what we're trying to achieve this week. Much eye-rolling follows. WEDNESDAY
This morning I buy milk and bread for breakfast and school lunches, so I use $6.50 out of my $21. I'm tempted to buy coffee, but the cheapest jar is $5! I call into my mum's house for a mid-morning coffee instead.
The banana loaf helps fill the lunch boxes this morning and for dinner we have rissoles made from the mince, dried herbs, tomatoes and cornflour (a substitute for the egg that would normally hold the rissoles together). We have the rissoles between bread, hamburger-style, and I serve up a side of the couscous I'd found in the pantry.
The couscous isn't a big hit with the kids, but at least they're trying some different things this week.
THURSDAY
Disaster. My sister and her family call in this evening and although I haven't allocated enough food to feed 10, I ask them to stay for dinner anyway.
This means I need to defrost an extra packet of sausages and also the steak, so I'm left with no meat for the rest of the week. I serve it with oven-roasted potatoes and frozen veg.
This, I decide, is the only flaw in the $21 Challenge – its lack of flexibility. Planning every meal for a week will prove tricky.
Nevertheless, I'm determined to see it through. On the upside, my sister felt sorry for me and left behind a jar of coffee. I'd warned her I had none.
FRIDAY
I have to buy bread and milk again, so we're up to $13 now. My great-aunt is looking at me in a smug manner, aware I have no meat left. But I do have The $21 Challenge on my side, and it contains a swag of suggestions for making substantial no-meat dishes.
I use tins of four-bean mix and a tin of chopped tomatoes to fill hot jacket spuds for dinner. For this I need to buy six more potatoes, costing $3.20.
The spuds are a huge hit - a new family favourite.
SATURDAY
It's the weekend and I've got the kids (and the hubby) under my feet, piling on the pressure to make them something yummy.
Scrambling through the pantry, I dig out all the cake ingredients and whip up some muffins with a tinned-fruit filling. They go down a treat. Result!
Dinner is beans on toast, which I'd forgotten I could enjoy so much.
SUNDAY
I decide to make a big sweet-corn soup for dinner. I have tinned creamed corn, tinned corn kernels and chicken stock, but I need to buy another can of chopped tomatoes ($2.64) and so my total is up to $18.84. With the remainder I buy a French stick from our local bakery.
The soup is lovely, although my husband laments the absence of our usual weekend takeaway. Sorry dear, not in the budget!
I've done it. I've fed the family on $21, and I know that I could do it again. I've learnt lots of great money-saving tips and found a greater awareness of what I have in my kitchen, instead of focusing on what I don't have. Best of all, the experience has given me a fresh commitment to continue saving more money in the future.
Click here for more information about the $21 Challenge PLUS tips on how to start.
Have you taken the $21 Challenge? Let us know how you went by leaving a comment below. |
