Maine! All You Day 22

We arrived at our cabin in the great state of Maine last evening about 5:30...a 26 hour power trip; five hours longer than it normally takes. We did stop at a rest area to sleep for a couple of hours, but we managed to not stop at any fast food joints on the way! (OK, I think the kids did pick up a pack of gummy worms at a gas station, but I refused to pay...they used their own money...and they honestly haven't been doing this!!) I packed boiled eggs, ham, colby-jack cheese, pretzels, apples, apple sauce, oranges, buns, whole wheat chocolate chip cookies, water and a Sunny D type drink, and this managed to hold us over. Here's shot at a picnic area in Maine, after the food was mostly devoured. (You will notice Abby's basil plant in the little red cup. She brought it with her so she could nurse it along and use her basil! It obviously needed sun while we ate our lunch) ; the trash can just made me laugh...no dumpstah divin' he-ah:

I will be updating daily on the All You Grocery Challenge, which runs June19- July16. The Challenge: spend only $25 per person per week or less ($150.00 for my crew) to feed your family, including eating out...but do so in a creative, healthy way. An * denotes our own garden food; (parentheses indicate healthy changes.) Winner gets $1000 and a write up in ALL YOU magazine! Please know that for grocery purchase totals, I round to the nearest dollar.

Day 21 (update) and 22


We had to stop in Lincoln to pick up just a few things. I like to see what I left behind last year for canned goods before I do a big shop, and one of the perks of letting people use our cabin is the food stuffs they leave behind when they know we are coming after them--so to the families that were here over the last few weeks, thanks for the cereal, ice cream/sugar cones, salad stuff, lemons, plums, half and half, OJ, eggs, condiments, Triscuits and whatever else I forgot to mention.

Rite-Aid: smore fixins (graham crackers, hershey bars, marshmellows), 2 gallons milk, apple juice. Since I had a bunch of + UP rewards and coupons, I only paid 42 cents!! Yes, that's right!

Steaks and Stuff Grocery: red dogs, frankfurter buns, eggs: $6.98

As I mentioned, there are things I buy in Maine that I wait all year to have. I seriously considered NOT entering this challenge for this very reason: extra money out and not the healthiest choices. But then I realized that every family must have certain traditions, and the goal (at least for me) is not to ban junk food completely, but to eat healthy the majority of the time so that special treats are even more special!  Last night after we unpacked, I made our beloved red dogs--on toasted buns--and balanced it our with my homemade salsa and chips with milk. (I brought a box of NC tomatoes, cucumbers and summer squash with us!!):

My totals for week 3: ($41.00)

Groceries:

Walgreens: $2.00

WalMart: $10.00

Merita Bread Outlet: $4.00

Aldi: $18.00

Rite Aid: 42 cents (rounded $0.00)

Steaks and Stuff: $7.00

Eating Out: only freebies at Chick-fil-A ( I have a funny story to blog about with this...stay tuned:)

Today

Breakfast: cold cereal left here (cheerios, honey bunches of oats, Great Grains), my delish New England Blueberry coffee, milk and apple juice

Lunch: vegetable soup with crackers, ice cream left from our friends stash (thanks Ragans and Thompsons!)

Dinner: spaghetti alfredo, green salad (half was left here, half I brought with us) milk

So much to tell you, but some will have to wait!