The 50 Cent Meal Challenge week six and what we ate last week

 The 50 Cent Meal Challenge is a joint effort between two sisters in different regions and with different challenges.  Tina lives in Ohio with her husband and son, and is learning to stretch her shrunken budget while trying to develop an old fashioned, basic approach to cooking.  Jen lives in New Mexico with her husband and they are Foster Parents who are learning the art of flexibility. They live on a single income and are joining this challenge for the sake of the challenge.  Tina and Jen are planning their family groceries on a 250.00 budget for 6 weeks.


                                                         September 19-25


This was the last week of our challenge. Did I make it or did I bust the budget? I don't even know yet! 


I came home from the conference in Alb with a horrible case of Bronchitis! And nobody was home to pamper me. So I spent the week on the couch watching t.v. sleeping and coughing. Not the best week. It was pretty good for the budget though cause I really didn't have an appetite at all for most of the week. I lived on cereal, orange juice and my mom brought me chinese and that lasted for 2 meals for me. 


Sam came home on Friday and I made Aussie Chicken for dinner and Panna Cotta with balsamic strawberries for dessert. So glad to have him home!!
Saturday we had cereal for breakfast and leftovers for a late lunch and had a late dinner with some friends at Denny's ( 41.00 included in the budget).


Weekly budget     41.66
Amount spent     -70.72
                                29.06 over budget


Did I make it????


Drumroll please......










I came in 2.57 under budget! 


To be fair the only reason I came in under budget is because we were out of town for a time and because I was sick. But those are the numbers.


I did learn a lot during this challenge. 

• I buy way too much unnecessary stuff. 
• It forced me to focus on not loosing produce (and other things)
• Cutting trips to the store makes a huge difference 
• bake from scratch (not something I love to do but saves tons of cash)
• I will stick to a set budget from now on, because I know I can do it!
• I really like challenges!

                     The 50 Cent Meal Challenge
                                                        Track Tina's progress