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Whole30: Cheapskate edition


kirkor

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Inspired by Munkers's* thread (Whole 30: Budget Edition), I'm choosing for this current iteration of W30 to track all the dollars I spend on food.

Mine will be unique in several ways:

  • I'll be staying in 3 different states
  • Several road trips will be included: 2,200 miles, 1,300 miles, 700 miles (round trips)
  • One cross-country airline trip
  • My birthday is happening
  • Thanksgiving is happening
  • I eat ketogenically
  • I am okay with eating very simple foods. I definitely enjoy high end fancy food, but I also am fine with relatively plain and repetitive food.  Earlier this year I did a W30 using only 10 food items, to give you an idea.
  • I'm pretty frugal with my money, so I try to buy in bulk, on sale, marked-down meat, etc.
  • I'm single (I don't think this is related to the previous 3 points....)
...if my specific circumstances don't seem relevant to your situation, think of this as a way to show how W30 can really be adapted to any scenario.

 

where-theres-a-will-theres-a-way.jpg

I tend to shop at various times throughout the week.  I don't really have a weekly shopping trip. I also haven't yet delved in to batch cooking (check out https://www.reddit.com/r/MealPrepSunday/),but I use a crock pot a lot and try to have leftovers available.  For this reason, I'll be doing a breakdown of the cost of each food item, summed up for the day and the week, as opposed to Munkers who had her tally of the week's grocery bill.  I'll still have the weekly tally, but it will be based on the quantities of food at each given meal.

 

If anyone has any suggestions of what they'd like to see during this month, please let me know.

 

 

 

 

 

*Did you know that the possessive form for proper names ending in an "s" is a bit controversial? http://www.dailywritingtips.com/possessive-of-proper-names-ending-in-s/

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  • I'm single (I don't think this is related to the previous 3 points....)
 

If anyone has any suggestions of what they'd like to see during this month, please let me know.....

 

*Did you know that the possessive form for proper names ending in an "s" is a bit controversial? http://www.dailywritingtips.com/possessive-of-proper-names-ending-in-s/

 

:lol: 

Photos of food are always good - both for inspiration, & portion size - particularly for newbies.

*And yes - this one always gets me and I ALWAYS try to find a way to word the sentence in another way to avoid having to figure it out.

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Ya, I thought about doing photos, but with both the keto thing and the IF thing, I don't know if they would set good examples for people.

 

 

In other news, I'm thinking I won't include tonight's dinner in the average $ calculations.

http://www.spaceneedle.com/dinner/

$40 for chicken, $50 for fish, $60 for steak .....................*koff*

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Wholey Mackerel!  You're not just a woofin' now are ya.  That's a mighty fine dinner.   

 

So much for cheapskateville.  :D  So if you don't post your food and you don't post the prices, what's left?  Music videos?   :lol:   Oooo dear me,  who would post music videos.  Why they'd have to be nuttier than a fruitcake to waste valuable time with singing and dancing.   ;)   Own it, Kirkor.   

 

This is your budget edition.  It ain't got that swing if it doesn't have that ring of authenticity.  

 

Show me the money!   I want to see how this is done on a shoestring budget.   Tell us.

 

 

showmethemoney.jpg

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So if you don't post your food and you don't post the prices, what's left?  Music videos?   :lol:   

 

Now hush! ;)

 

Imma post food & prices, but I was going to do it a week at a time like Munkers did. So tomorrow I'll have Week 1 posted.

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Ok, so at a local market I scored some crrrraaazy sales!

They had chicken thighs on sale for $0.68/lb, ground beef for $2.78/lb, and 5-dozen eggs for $7.99!

 

As I mentioned above, I went to a fancy restaurant for dinner tonight which is HIGHLY unusual, so I'm not including it in the daily average, but I'm still listing it for completeness's sake.

 

Days 1-6 I spent a total of $35.40, and then spent $45.89 just on Saturday alone.  So the daily average for days 1-6 is $5.90, which if you count Friday as an "average" day, that would mean a Week 1 total of $41.30. Literal total was $81.29. I know I titled this thread "cheapskate edition" and I don't really want to skew the data just to fit my cheeky "theme" ... hmm, I mean I suppose the thing about any given Whole30 is that there is never a perfect time to do one, and things crop up that are not ideal.

 

I think for now I'll keep Day 7 separated out, and as the month progresses I'll see if other outliers occur, like with Thanksgiving or some of my travel days.

 

In order to track costs, I'm having to measure, so that's why you'll see notes as to grams, ounces, etc.  Also since I'm keto as well as an IF'er, my meal composition doesn't always conform to the recommend template, so keep that in mind.

 

yi5KqMQ.png 

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Ya, I thought about doing photos, but with both the keto thing and the IF thing, I don't know if they would set good examples for people.

 

Well, we could always edit the title for you to reflect the keto & IF aspects of your Whole30 for total transparency...... 

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I've been off the wagon a couple times, so I'm not a keto monk or anything.

Truth is, I have zero health problems, and all my experiments with keto, paleo, fasting, etc., are all in an effort to find that "magic formula" that will give me the greatest long-term payoff for the minimum short-term effort. My current 3 prong approach is based on my understanding of the research, and I'm hoping 50 (or 100....) years from now I'll be able to look back and be glad I went this way.

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Some notes:

 

Regional difference will impact your budget.  I'm now in a different town from Day 1, probably #2 of 4-5 for the duration of this W30.  In town #1, there was this awesome grocery store that I got the sales I spoke of above.  Well, now in town #2, instead of 60 medium eggs for 7.99, it is 60 large eggs for 13.49 ... and I haven't (yet) found chicken cheaper than $1.49 ...

So ya, $1.49/lb is still cheap, but it's hard not to feel like "OMG I'm paying DOUBLE!!"

 

Took cooked chicken thighs, hardboiled eggs, pickles, and olives for my food while driving yesterday.

 

Crock-pots are amazing.

 

Sometimes you have to  make do.  This will be my kitchen for a couple weeks:

Quodf0H.jpg

Coleman stove with the propane conversion. Rice cooker is used to steam vegetables and make hard-boiled eggs.  Coffee maker rather than my preferred AeroPress.

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  • One cross-country airline trip

 

100.gif

 

HR bought my ticket today.

 

Airport is 90 minutes from where I live ... flight leaves at 7:40 am ... so, I have to leave the house at probably 5:30 at the latest ...

I fly from South Dakota to Dallas where I have a 90 minute layover ... then I fly to Chicago where I have a 90 minute layover ... then I fly to Toledo.

 

So from leaving my house at 5:30 I'll probably be at my hotel at 7:45 that night if all goes well ... with literally the entire day being spent on a plane or in an airport.

 

Can anyone say canned fish & hard-boiled eggs???

 

GIF-angry-eating-Jim-Carrey-nom-nomming-

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Ya jmcbn, I mean, maybe like once every several months I'll go to brunch with friends and eat earlier, but I usually will have had an earlier dinner the night before so I still get the 16h fasting period.

I do a 24h fast now and then as well.

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2 or 3, it depends. That's why I mentioned being reluctant to post pics. My meals don't always correspond to the recommended template.

Part of my research has led me to conclude that the benefits conferred by W30's meal size/timing recs (breakfast within 1hr of waking, 3 template meals 4-5h apart, etc.) are also obtainable through IF: hormonal regulation, management of satiety, etc. And I think there are additional benefits to be realized from a narrow feeding window.

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kicker,

 

I am SO glad I found this thread. Thank you for taking the time to document and share your data. I think this will be my bedtime reading tonight. I am all about spending as little bit of money, on food and all things, as possible. 

 

Thanks again,

LoveAKA

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