So here is my first weeks $10 worth of grocery’s. I got two packages of mushrooms, one very large pinnaple, a big celery bunch -which’s end I have planted in a pot of good rich potting soil and I can already see tiny signs of regrowth starting, so I will so have fresh Celery greens to use sparely. One Avacodo, 1 bag of 3 pds of onions and 1 bag of 3 pd apples. I was just a few cents under my ten dollar limit for this buy out, thankfully they don’t tax you for fresh food like this, as I often say to hubby, I can tell by the tax I paid, on how well I bought in regards to fresh and or bulk food.
I also picked up 20 pds of four different dried beans in 2 pd bags for long term food storage on the same trip, they were on sale for an amazing price, they have been put into storage, I don’t consider them part of the eating challange per say, I will not use or eat any of them during this month but I was not going to pass on such a good sale for the longer term storage.
Heading into this week, for fresh stuff, I currently have 9 apples left, one 3 pd bag of regular yellow onions, 1 head of cabbage 1 small box an 2 locally produced mushrooms an 1/2 of a large turnip, half a head of celery.
We have had 2 spending day out of 10 days so far, It was a low/no spend month and I didn’t do so well on that, I did buy a few things that were not “required” but they were on sale and I felt they were worth it. I got a 60% percent off on a x-large in floor water proof dog heating bed, which works wonderful as a seed heating bed and costs a fraction of the ones in the seed catalogs, I was also able to pick up packs of gas stablizer on sale for 40% off, and a large animal measure weight tape for 55% off.
My second spend day was to take advantage of a coupon on ordering more plants for the garden, I was able to buy over 150 dollars worth of high quality soft fruits/bush’s for the garden for $59 dollars including shipping and tax. I had a credit with this company from last year, as one of the plant orders came, was planted, was babied and every single one of them was dead! I call and explained that none of them came up, and I got a full refund credit on my account, I was suprised at how good they were to work with. So between the coupon, and the credit, I got a very good deal.
- Black Current -Titania -I have lots of red currents but would like to add black currents, only need one bush as its so easy to cane off and create new bushes from the orginal one.
- Haskap -Borealis (2) and Indigo Treat (2) plus a male pollinator, these can also be honeyberries, they are hardier then high bush blueberries, and have a very early being ready in mid-june, can be eaten fresh or used like a blueberry in any other way.
- Nova -Raspberry’s – 3, I have mid season berry and late season berry, but I wanted to add in the earliest season producing berry’s that I could find, so I can extend the season.
- Jersey Giant Asparagus roots (12) – Would like to expand my beds and also try a different kind then the one that I grew from seeds.
I don’t know if I will consider buying the fruits for the garden a bad thing now, as if I had waited for March, I would not have been able to use the half off coupon for the order, and therefor would have not saved near as much on the order, plus its things for future producing food which is always a good investment in my book. Its not a eat it and gone, its a investment in the future of growing my own food.
So how was your week? Tell me about it! How did I do? Do you think it was a good idea to pick the things up on sale or was I just giving myself slack for failing that part of the challange?
Just another Day on the Farm 
Personally I think it’s folly to miss a good deal on something just to comply with the contraints of a constructed challenge :-). Frugality for me is about getting the best value for my dollar, not about being deprived. If you were doing this challenge in order to survive, I might think differently.
Re the celery, I didn’t know you could do that ( and will be trying it later). Is there anything else I can do this with to get new, useful shoots too?
Do give the celery a try, for mine at least, i never get the big stalks again but narrow thin once and lots of greens is what I have gotten, of course seeing as I am trimming it could be a chicken/egg thing on that one.
I have done the same with green onions, when you cut them to use, leave a bit of the white on the bottom and replant them, they will often come back and give you another set of fresh greens to use.
You can plant the sprouting ends of carrots if you like carrots greens (they are aquired taste( but a carrot greens will make one of the nicest house fern you have seen) I have never tried sprouting beets ends, but i would bet that they could be done as well for the greens.. something for me to try as well.
Oooh I agree, beets would be fun. I have a few languishing in the garden doing nothing, I might transpant one or two and bring them in and see if they sprout a bit more enthusiastically! Onions would be nice too. I know I’m not a fan of carrot greens :-).
I love that you share this stuff that seems just normal to you, but is revelatory to me! My parents grew a huge garden, but were obviouslly missing a lot of these tricks, I dont ever remember even beet greens being used 😦
I meant to ask the other day, I took it that you meant lettuce mixes sown inside and harvested young when you mentioned micro greens? I do hope so, as it prompted me to plant some LOL. It’s old seed so I figured nothing lost if it didn’t grow well. or I had misunderstood!
Wow, $10 I thought my $64 a week grocery game was tough for me. I agree with the other comment about passing up a great deal because of a budget. If you were doing it to survive then that’s fair. Myself we impose the budget for grocery and shop only 3 times a month at $64 a week on sales using coupons. However, IF we see a good deal we have no problem picking it up but we might have to watch the following weeks shop or simply we lose that week our grocery game. It’s all about how you spend your money. If you spend it wisely on products you will use and that are an amazing price then it is worth it. I post my budget for everyone to follow, I think that helps my temptation a bit more though.
BTW: Thanks for the tip on the celery, I didn’t know that. We grow quite a few veg in the summer and it truly doesn’t compare to the grocery store veg even if it costs a bit more to maintain.
Congrats on both the awesome shop and the plant stock scores! I think they both deserve a big ol’ Booya for sure. 🙂 I think it is not only acceptable to stock up on sales, but wise not to miss the opportunity when it presents itself. Make hay when the sun shines and so on. I blew my budget right out of the water on sharp cheddar tonight, but in the long run it will save me a lot. (And I really like cheddar.)
Hello Just Another Day On The Farm,
Thanks for the above, When you are considering about starting a long-term foods storage application there a good deal of factors to look into. Number one off, what are your meals storage ambitions? A regular guideline is to commence with a three month supply of meals you routinely try to eat, and then assemble up a one yr provide of for a longer time-term food items.
Henry