I need to pay rent and water today but other than that, there shouldn't be any spending. I hope! I need a lot of NSDs as January's budget is slim, indeed. My car and life insurances are up for renewal this month so I have a lot money going out and not much coming in!
I'm going to cut my grocery budget to $100 for this month. Considering that I can't eat enough of the high carb, low cost foods like rice, beans, and pasta to do much good it's definitely going to be a challenge. My diet is mainly meats and low carb vegetables with a tiny amount of the higher carb things thrown in once in awhile for variety. I'm going to have to make better use of the foods I already have on hand and really limit my trips to the grocery/food spending. I know I can do this but I might need a cheering section. 
In light of the above, I have a mexican stew simmering on the stove and will take that to work with me. My boss will most likely eat some as will some of the other folks hanging around. I've had a few people online and at work express the opinion that it's odd to take food for all to work but it isn't odd to me. I still struggle with cooking small quantities, leftovers seem to languish into oblivion in my fridge, and I'm not real big on food that's been cooked, frozen, and reheated so in addition to making very small quantities of food, I make larger quantities and share it. I call it Random Acts of Food Kindness, or RAOFK for short. 
Some of the young people where I work don't have money, don't have much food, and absolutely love to dig in to whatever I bring. And I love cooking for others so it's a win win situation. It might look like I'm spending money on food for other people (which doesn't help my budget) but this stew is made entirely of leftovers and if I hadn't created it I'd have thrown it all out!
Not bad, huh?
January budget, using leftovers, & more boring stuff ;)
January 3rd, 2012 at 03:52 pm
January 3rd, 2012 at 03:57 pm 1325606268
January 3rd, 2012 at 03:59 pm 1325606394
Insurance is due for us this month too. I suck in my breath and count the pennies starting three weeks before the payment deadline.
January 3rd, 2012 at 04:08 pm 1325606931
Paulette, I always have the best intentions with larger quantities of meat. I say I'm going to divide and freeze it but I forget. Ugh! My sister brings the meats home and immediately does that. I have a food saver type thing and use it but I need to use it more and for this purpose! Maybe we can cheer each other on???
January 3rd, 2012 at 04:25 pm 1325607934
We also make Mexican "chile". You can use the cheapest steak or cut up a portion of the cheapest roase (that's what I do) and season it with garlic salt and black pepper, you can also add a bit of comino, brown it and then finely chop a jalapeno or serrano and simmer in tomato sauce until the meat is tender. We eat just that with either flour or corn tortillas...It's great with both...
January 3rd, 2012 at 04:37 pm 1325608650
January 4th, 2012 at 03:21 am 1325647279
January 4th, 2012 at 03:31 am 1325647913
Shiela, good luck to you too!
January 4th, 2012 at 12:15 pm 1325679320
January 4th, 2012 at 12:29 pm 1325680151
January 5th, 2012 at 03:28 am 1325734091
January 5th, 2012 at 04:29 am 1325737790
It seems January and February are somewhat stressful months for a lot of people, huh?
January 6th, 2012 at 11:37 pm 1325893063
January 7th, 2012 at 12:29 am 1325896166
I sent you email so we can make sure to stay in touch!
January 9th, 2012 at 11:36 pm 1326152196