Day One

I'm well into Day 1 and am quite hungry! I'm going to be making spaghetti with tomato sauce for dinner, no extra frills like cheese or butter (I have those things in my fridge but it doesn't fit into this weeks budget!)

I went into Whole Foods today to see what I could purchase for $21. The food is much more expensive there but the quality of the food is high and it is organic and natural. Living off of $21 a week doesn't allow you to get fresh fruits and vegetables.

After Whole Foods I went to Giant and found that the prices were a bit more in my range.
The amount of time and thought it took me in the grocery store was suprising. Normally, I pick up random things and throw them in the cart and don't think too much about the cost. This exercise has forced me to think about each item I put in the cart.
Usually I would buy whole wheat pasta but with a price difference of almost $2.00 that was something i would have to do with out.

Here is my list of food and the total amount I paid:

4 apples
Generic Creamy Peanut Butter
Generic Spaghetti
Generic Spaghetti Sauce
Whole Wheat loaf of bread
1lb of pretzels
dozen eggs
ramen noodles (6pack)

The total is $18.57 including tax

I had to look at the typical brand I might buy versus the brand that would fit my budget as well as what would fill me up for the whole day.
As you can see by what I chose, meat and fish were out and nothing extra was allowed.
It was extremely difficult and eye opening and i'm looking forward to seeing how i feel tomorrow on Day 2.