Did I Make It?

My challenge this week was to spend just $20 on food.

Did I achieve it?

I ate $8.64 worth of the $11.71 food that I bought. I still have over a kilogram of rice and half a kilogram of flour left, plus one and a half onions.

Here is the food I ate:

$ 1.99 — Cereal

$ 1.47 — Flour ($0.78 worth left)

$ 1.63 — Rice ($2.06 worth left)

$ 2.00 — Potatoes

$ 1.05 — Spaghetti

$ 0.39 — Apples

$ 0.11 — Onions ($0.23 worth left)

$ 8.64 — Eaten

$11.71—Spent

I could have saved a little by buying less rice and cheaper flour, but it would be a matter of cents rather than dollars.

What I've learned is that I can eat very cheaply with regular ingredients—none of my purchases were discounted—if I am prepared to spend time cooking and searching for good deals in stores.

Another thing I've learned is that serious self-denial is INCREDIBLY frustrating. On the last day of the challenge I walked past dozens of cafes, bars, restaurants, and fast food outlets after eating rice for breakfast and anticipating nothing but rice for lunch. Later I walked through the supermarket without buying anything. It drove home the fact that I spend more on food in a typical day than I have over this last week, and I do it so thoughtlessly. When the decisions became deliberate and came with a real cost, the focus switched to what I couldn't have rather than what I could, and a poverty mentality kicked in.

I began thinking about what I would eat next, and talking about food with others. It had become a non-casual subject. My life pivoted on the acquisition and preparation of food. I would imagine in some regions of the world it is this way every day.

So, did I make it? Well, I finished the week and came in under budget. It was a loooooong week. It threw up new challenges, and detrivialised the spending of money. This may be a lasting change, and a good one.