Feeding our Family: Week 4

Technically this week marks Week Number 4 in my four week long challenge to feed our little family for under $100 a week.

In case you have been doing something a bit more exciting than reading my blog, you can catch up at the following links:

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Despite my huge savings last week at the grocery store, I did forget to purchase a few things for our little Super Bowl soiree we held last night at casa de phillips. After picking up those final items, I did go over budget by $11. However, I felt the purchases was justified because who can eat queso without chips and Monkey Munch minus the Chex cereal would basically be a huge blob of melted chocolate, peanut butter, and butter.

You can check out this week's menu here.

Although my four weeks have come to an end, I believe that I am going to continue my diligent quest to keep the grocery budget under $100 a week. I cannot promise I will be typing out our bi-weekly receipts (actually I can pretty much guarantee I won't be doing that...it was not an enjoyable task) but I do hope to have the occasional post about money saved.

During these economic times, food costs storylines have become quite popular in the news. Currently I am following this CNN blog of a man attempting to live off food stamps for a month. It is an interesting concept, one that I hope brings light to the issue that despite the fact we live in a country where people line up to pay $5 for a cup of coffee, drive ridiculous cars, and pour large amounts of cash into their recreational habits (*)....there are fellow citizens who wonder on a daily basis how they are going to be able to afford to eat.

When my children were babies, surviving solely on infant formula, I would sometimes have little fits of worry over how I would possibly feed them should our water supply become tainted or we were stranded somewhere without access to their food. Obviously I am a bit of worrywart and a bit dramatic, but the mommy inside of me felt a bit of panic over such imagined scenarios.

These days they both consume "people" food and I have the luxury at times to scoop up something organic or pay a bit more for healthier items. Not all Mommies out there are in the same situation. These four weeks of really focusing on our food budget have started me thinking of ways that I can reach beyond my little family of four and look into our community for areas where I may be of assistance. One of my personal motto's, which originated after time spent in Africa and after seriously struggling with events/conditions/life I witnessed, is "God has blessed me so he can bless others through me."

Time to put that little motto into action, I do believe. Not quite sure exactly how and I likely won't share the details here, but it is time to focus on others as well as casa de phillips.

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On a bit of a lighter note, here are my children dressed as the uni bomber. We went for a long walk mid-morning today (mainly because someone turned her alarm off and didn't make it to the gym this morning...fortunately she has a three year old little boy who asked her repeatedly why she didn't go to the gym, reminding her of her failed fitness attempt for the day) and stopped at our neighborhood park. Both kids wore their hoods because I am attempting to get everyone healthy in this house and both sported sunglasses due to the overhead sun (E. had taken hers off by the time I snapped these pictures). However, Isaac decided their outfits were not complete until they both tucked their loveys into the necks of their jackets. We gathered a few stares on our walk, but fortunately no one questioned if the two were twins (although I did get that question..again... just last week at Wal-Mart).

**Please note that I am not attempting to be pious here...I, too, drink expensive coffee on occasion and we own a gaming system here at casa de phillips. I was not attempting to offend, simply make a point.***