The 2014 Plan: A look at the weekly $5/day food budget

Now that the time is drawing near to when we'll be using our food storage, I decided it will be easier to think in terms of weeks rather than days, for using it up evenly.

Every week, between the 2 of us, we should use up a max of the following dry ingredients:

• Flour: 6C, 20 servings
• Beans, black or red:  3.5C, 7 servings
• Lentils or Peas:  3.5C, 7 servings
• Rice:  4C, 16 servings
• Cornmeal:  3C, 12 servings
• Oats:  2.5C, 10 servings
• Millet:  2C, 4 servings
• Garbanzo beans:  1C, 2 servings
• Popcorn:  1C, 16 servings
• Pasta:  1 serving

Whew, that looks pretty good.  With a weekly goal of using that much, it'll help keep the nutrition even over the year, and keep us from going on quinoa/pasta binges and using it all up at the beginning of the year.

To me, that looks like during the week I can make for 2 people:

• 1 small (4C) loaf of sourdough bread
• 1-4 meals of something flour-based:  pancakes (1C), pizza (2C), tortillas (1/4C), etc.
• 12 cups of bean & lentil sprouts (from 3c dry) to make for really hearty salads
• 4 meals based on legumes and rice
• 2-4 meals with rice side dish (chicken soup, etc)
• 2 meals with millet side dish
• 1 9x9 pan of cornbread
• 1/2 batch of corn muffins
• Soaked oats for breakfast every morning
• 2.5 cups of hummus
• 2 gallons of air-popped popcorn
• (1 9x9 pan of lasagna per month, unless I learn to make pasta)

In addition, for the week we'll have:

• 1 large whole organic chicken
• A dozen organic eggs (plus 2 that went into the baking)
• 1 gallon of homemade bone broth concentrate
• 3 quarts of homemade organic full-fat yogurt
• 3 quarts of organic rice milk (from Costco)
• 17.5lbs of fruit and veggies, fresh or frozen (averaging $1/lb), OR garden produce
• For every pound I replace with garden stuff, I'll put $1 into the weekly "extras" budget
• 1.2C organic olive or avocado or coconut oil, for cooking or salad dressing
• 1/2C sugar for baking
• Nearly unlimited spices and salts that are stocked up.
• $10.66 for weekly extras: tea, coffee, butter, cheese, tahini, honey, coconut milk, etc.

This sounds like a TON of food to me.  Am I really going to get my husband to eat a cup of yogurt and a cup of sprouts every day?  Hehe.

Half of me thinks we won't go through nearly that amount, but the other half thinks it'll be tight only having 10 bucks to spend on extras per week (because who knows what things I have accidentally left out?).  But if we can't survive healthily and be full on this amount, I'd be surprised!