The Sky is Always Bluer; All You Day 27

I know, I know--you're sick of reading about how great Maine is, but honestly, isn't that sky gorgeous? (I was laying on my back on the shore of the lake when I took this picture.) Absolutely wonderful day; very little humidity and about 75 degrees. Of course, I miss my mom. I think of her often, but there is healing just in being here. Perhaps more thoughts on this later.

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 27

Wow, can't believe that there is only one day left! I picked up a few groceries yesterday at Hannaford:
2 cans of baked beans (easy way out, I know), "crystal light" style lemonade 6 pack (this equals about 35 cents for a 2 liter), 2 bags of Cape Cod chips (I got multi grain and lower fat varieties) 3# of clementines, cake mix for a picnic$15.00  Today I picked up a dozen still-warm -from-the-chicken-eggs from my neighbor for $2.00 and she threw in a pint of homemade strawberry jam to boot (thanks, Melissa!!) I found out the kids had bought some junk food when I wasn't around--two 12 packs of soda, some chips and some gummy worms. Even though this wasn't from my budget (they thought because they bought it it, I didn't have to count it; they actually felt badly after the fact: "We're not going to make you lose the challenge are we???") and even though I don't have a receipt, I'm going to liberally add $16.00 to my total...I think that's only fair, even though I don't think they spent that much.


So my week 4 total is: $71.00


Groceries: $71.00


Hannaford: $36.00
WalMart: $17.00
Neighbor's eggs: $2.00
Kids' purchases: $16.00


Eating Out $0.00!!


This makes my weekly average for the 4 week challenge $78.00!!  I'll be honest, my goal was to cut the allotted amount ($150.00) in half. If I wasn't adding in the kid's purchases, I would have made it at $74.00, but overall, I still feel very good about the month. Tomorrow I will write about my conclusions and thoughts for the whole chi-bang.


Brunch: (we slept late) Oatmeal pancakes with sugar free syrup, clementines, OJ, milk, coffee
Dinner: lasagna (I used turkey sausage, spinach and low fat ricotta for a healthier version), green salad, smores on the fire pit, milk