Eating Healthy Isn't Expensive

This morning we woke up early and went to the West Palm Beach Farmers Market. At first, I was a little disappointed with the number of booths at the market, but then we turned down a street and realized we had just started. We had brunch at a Mexican food stand that was serving Pork Tostada. I am not sure 9 is considered brunch, but Huck isn't a traditional breakfast food person. The sample we tried of the pork for the tostada was a lot better then the meat we were served.

Our Pork Tostada

While shopping around, we bought some overly priced flavor pasta from Pappardelle's Pasta , which I'm actually pretty excited to try and a lot of vegetables. I was really surprised with how cheap the vegetables were. I would have bought more, but I was worried they would go bad before we used them. I really wish I would have bought the Basil for $2 for a huge bundle. That is a deal.

Here is a break down of everything we bought:

• Whole Wheat Garlic Fettuccine 1/2 lb- $4.50 (Crazy I know. Impulse buy.)
• Whole Wheat Chipotle Lime Mafaldine  1/2 lb- $4.50
• Cucumber-$0.25 
• Rosemary- $2.00
• Purple Potatoes $1.68lb- $2.20
• Mango- $1.00
• Florida Avocado- $1.00
• 2 Orange Bell Peppers $0.75 each- 2.25
• Total: $17.70

When we got back home, Huck wanted to wait for this bike that was being delivered by FedEx, so I dropped him off and went to Publix to finish our shopping. With my plan to originally start the Real Food Challenge Sunday, I stocked up on fresh real food.

I bought lots of vegetables and beans for my meals for this week.

• Oats- $1.79
• Parmesan Cheese- $4.41
• 1 Cabbage- $1.35
• 1 Head Garlic- $0.39
• Dried Pinto Beans- $1.63
• 1 Bundle Fresh Broccoli- $2.50
• 1 Zucchini- $0.83
• Large Red Onion- $1.03
• Plain Chobani Yogurt- $1.00
• 4 Plum Roma Tomato- $0.94
• 1 Large Poblano Pepper- $ 0.60
• Total: $16.47

Winn Dixie is less than 0.2 miles from Publix, so I decided to stop and get some chicken since it was Buy One Get One Free. I also looked at the Salmon since Publix was $10.99lb.Winn Dixie was $6.99lb. $4 saving :)

• 2 Jumbo Packs Leg Quarters- $7.43
• 2 Packs Boneless Skinless Breast- $ 10.41
• Over 1/2lb Salmon- $4.75
• Dried Black Beans- $1.00
• Peanut M&M- $1.09
• Total- $24.74

Total food cost for the week including breakfast, lunch, and dinner:

                          $58.91

I have decided since there is a lot of food in our house that does not fall under the rules for the Real Food Challenge we will not be doing the challenge right now. I have a lot of different foods that are health, but do not fall under all the rules, and I do not want to spend a lot of money when we already have all the ideas I need. We also have a lot of leftovers that I hate to waste. We will not be buying any processed foods and will be buying only whole grains, though.

We are big leftover fans. It is rare food goes to waste in our house. I take leftovers for lunch at work and Huck eats them when he is home during the day. Sometimes during the week, we will have a leftover night were we just eat what is left in the fridge. We save so much money by doing this. 

Food on a Budget

I am excited to make a few new recipes I have come up with this week though, and use my new pasta.

I decided to start my food budget again. I have set my budget at $50.00 a week. This week I bought a lot of meat that will be used in following weeks, so I do not feel so bad going over. And I spent $9 on a pound of pasta. If we would have skipped that we would have been under budget.

My new challenge for the next few weeks is to only spend $50 a week for two people, and $20 a week eating out, not including alcohol (Huck will be happy).

Do any of you guys have a budget? If so, what is it and what kind of food do you buy with your budget? Packaged, fresh, half packaged and half fresh?