I am a SNAP recipient who receives $110.00 per month in benefits. To augment that, I am able to budget an additional $100.00 per month for food. Altogether, that leaves me with a budget just shy of $50.00 per week. Join me as I share what I do to make it work.
Welcome to Week Four
Well, last week ended with some good news, and I’ll be breathing easier because of it. I recently went through the renewal process for my SNAP benefits. On Friday, I received a letter stating that, in March, my monthly benefit will be increasing! Usually it goes the other way, so I’m both shocked and elated. Instead of $110.00 per month, I will receive $193.00!
Now I have some decisions to make. First of all, do I want to continue contributing $100.00 of my income to my food budget each month, or do I want to allocate the extra $83.00 elsewhere? Lord knows I could use it in any one of my several budgets. Secondly, if I continue putting it towards food, how will that affect my $50.00 a week budget? Do I increase my weekly budget or keep it at $50.00?
Stay tuned to find out my decision!
After totally blowing my Week Three budget, I was glad that Meijer didn’t have any great sales on items I like to stock up on in Week Four because I would not have had the extra money to do that. For this week’s groceries, I only had $41.00 to spend.
At the conclusion of Week Three, I said “no regrets,” but I kinda regret blowing 20 bucks on the pączki. They honestly weren’t any better than Meijer’s, and I was dismayed at size and the amount of filling [I do have to admit that the custard was the best I’ve ever had]. However, I did support two local businesses through my purchase, so there’s that.
I’m not perfect, and sometimes that bites me in the ass. This past week, was one such occasion. As I was preparing my Week Four shopping list, I was anxious about being able to stretch that $41.00 far enough. I am kinda pissed for putting myself in that position. An extra 20 bucks in my food budget would have given me some breathing room.
The Jet’s pizza, however, was a different story. As always, it was so freaking good, and I savored every bite. I had also planned that trip several weeks in advance, so it wasn’t a spontaneous decision spurred by a momentary craving [But it’s not like that never happens. Read on.]
That’s enough talk of the past. Let’s look at Week Four’s food.
Meals
Smoky & Spicy Stuffed Pepper Soup (two nights)
I talk all about this soup here. I thought it was really good, but of course that’s because I created it for my palate. I’m not sure about your palate, however. Plus, you probably won’t care to run out for Caldo de Tomate and Aleppo pepper. Regardless, I published the recipe. That reminds me! I fixed the print version of my recipes! So, if you print out a recipe now, the print is actually visible!
Smelly BBQ Bagel Delights (zero nights)
Is there a food in your life that you love to eat and for which other people think you’re weird? I have one such concoction, and I can’t make it when the girls are around because they say it sMelLs bAd. Well, well, well, guess who’s home alone? That’s right, friends.
There are no annoying kids here to whine about my smelly treat, and I’ve really been craving it lately. I haven’t had one in years, and so I thought, “What the hell!” And decided to eat the garbage for two dinners.
I’ve been making these for so long that I can’t remember when I first created them. And believe it or not, I was not under the influence of the marijuanas when I made my first one. It was probably just hunger and necessity that led to this culinary triumph.
But what exactly is it that I make?
My Smelly BBQ Bagel Delights are a symphony of textures and tastes destined to tantalize the tongue and redefine one’s bagel experience. Imagine, if you will, a canvas of lightly toasted perfection—a bagel—kissed by the flames until it boasts a gentle crunch. Upon this masterpiece, we cascade a tapestry of sweet and smoky BBQ sauce—its aroma a siren song to your senses. But wait, there’s more! A translucent veil of thinly sliced onion adds a welcome bite—a touch of tearful joy to contrast the smoky sweetness.
Now, the maestro truly begins to paint. She shreds a generous portion of cheddar or mozzarella—you know, whatever she has in the fridge. Behold! As it broils, a melty blanket of cheese oozes ever so slightly across the canvas. But fear not, dear diner, for this is not a one-cheese show. A final flourish of Kraft Parmesan, cellulose and perfection in a green shaker can, is sprinkled with abandon, adding a touch of umami magic and textural delight.
Alas, they didn’t last long enough to be crafted for any dinners. I love these delicious delicacies so much that I enjoyed them for lunch over two days—and those damn kids of mine couldn’t say boo about it!
Bacon, Egg, & Cheese Bagel Sandwiches (one night)
Since I prematurely gobbled everything up for my Smelly BBQ Bagel Delights, I was short a dinner. However, I had two bagels left after eating all of my SBBQBDs. I also had eggs, cheese slices, and bacon. Who doesn’t love a dinner that’s quick, easy, and free?
Wild Mushroom Orecchiette (two nights)
For being a carb-lover, I’m surprisingly not a huge fan of pasta. However, pasta dishes are usually cheap & filling, so when I was brainstorming meal ideas last fall, I created a pasta category. This recipe looked really good, so I added to my list. However, while the dish was filling, it wasn’t cheap. This meal was pricier for a few reasons:
- I had to buy a wedge of parmesan,
- The only available orecchiette was DeCecco brand, which is $1.00 more than my usual Barilla,
- Mushrooms are rather pricy for being 80-90% water. Plus, Meijer apparently only sells the organic variety, and
- They were all out of 8-ounce containers of cream, so I had to get a 16-ounce container.
Luckily, with the exception of the mushrooms, all of these ingredients can also be used in future recipes, so I will end up getting my money’s-worth.
The first night I made this, I kept getting pieces of thyme stem in my mouth. So, the next night, I nixed the thyme, which pretty much turned this into Alfredo. However, I discovered that I like eating orecchiette, so that’s a plus!
Cheese Enchiladas w/rice (zero nights)
For some reason, when you buy a package of corn tortillas, you get about a hundred of them. So, even though I had just had enchiladas, I planned to make more to use up a few more tortillas. I had an extra can of sauce and more rice to boot; therefore, I just needed to grab a bag of cheese, and I was set for two nights.
However, I ended up not making them. On Tuesday, after a morning of tests at the hospital, I was starving. I had some money in my wallet, so I decided to grab a pizza for lunch. I bought a large because it’s less than $5.00 more than a small. In the end, that pizza served as Tuesday’s lunch as well as dinner for Tuesday & Wednesday. I didn’t pay for it with my food budget, so I’m not including it in my cost breakdown here.
I will be moving my enchiladas to Week Five.
Total Spent on Meals: $22.67
Baking/Dessert Project
I didn’t schedule any baking or dessert projects. Instead, I worked on my kitchen countertops over three days. And earlier in the week, I had made some changes to my website that led to things going haywire here, there, and everywhere, so I spent a few days fixing things. I hope you are all enjoying the new layout though. If not, lie to me and tell me you are. But if something is buggy, please report it to me, so I can get it fixed!
Total Spent for Baking/Desserts: $0.00
Stock Up
As I previously mentioned, there were no big sales on anything that I like to keep stocked, so this week I was strictly replenishing staples we were low on or out of.
Total Spent to Stock Up: $12.08
The Final Tally
Despite my fears, I came in under this week’s $41.00 budget. Without the benefit of coupons & sales, I would have been over budget at $41.93 (my spreadsheet is off somewhere by 5¢). However, since I managed to save $7.18 (18% of this week’s budget), my grand total went down to $34.75.
Grand Total Spent on Food This Week: $34.75
In Conclusion
So, while I managed to technically stay under budget this week, I did spend more than $50.00 on food this week because of my pizza. I didn’t include the pizza costs here because it didn’t come from my food budget; however, to remain transparent, I spent $54.86 on food this week.
Going forward, I need to decide what to do about situations like my impromptu pizza. Do I include that in my weekly budget even if the money came from a source other than my food budget? Perhaps I should. I just don’t know. Feel free to offer your opinion.
