30 Day Challenge: We Made It!

Well, we’ve made it through 30 days of no restaurants! 30 days turned out to be a lot easier than I expected. 

Check in on rules and goals:

Rules:

1. We will cook all dinners at home for 30 days beginning Feb 19 and ending Mar 18. DONE!

2. We will use all items possible from our already busting pantry and fridge/freezer. DONE!

3. We will eat leftovers at least one a week. DONE! We actually ended up eating leftovers more than once a week. The boyfriend requested that I cook more so he can have more leftovers. That was a pretty easy request for me to do.

4. This also means NO Starbucks for me. I can get a box of instant coffee at the grocery store for $3.39 that makes about 15 cups of coffee. That’s cheaper than 1 Starbucks Caramel Latte. DONE! I’ve also discovered another brand of instant coffee that’s $3.50 for twice as much coffee as the other stuff I was buying.

5. I will keep a menu for 30 days. This will help me stay on track. DONE! It was difficult for me to stick to it, but I did my best.

6. I will update this blog at least once per week to update you all on how we’re doing. We both love our sushi. Done! I actually discovered that people were really enjoying my blog, so I’ve been updating this 3-4 times per week.

Goals:

1. I would like to put all the money we aren’t using into our respective savings. DONE!

2. Learn to cook different meals and find new recipes. DONE!

3. Challenge myself. DONE! It was hard to fight cravings and plan a menu, but we did it!

4. Learn to be creative on our date nights besides a dinner out. We live together, so we see each other every day. Date night has become a staple of my week and something to look forward to. Let’s see what we can do without spending a ton of money on sushi. DONE! We’ve gotten Redbox rentals, gone to the zoo, and gone to a county park for a hike and picnic. I think doing things outside is much more fun than going out to dinner.

I think we did really well with our goals and rules. Sometimes we had to tell each other “no” in order to keep on track, but we did it! 

So, most people want to know how much we spent and how much we saved. We spent approximately $325 this month for groceries (rounded up to an easier number to work with). One of my rules was to use as many ingredients from our pantry and freezer as possible and this was something I really wanted to make sure I stuck to. We didn’t go to the grocery store more than three times during the month and we quit doing little stops that turn into $20-30 spent at the grocery store for items we didn’t really need.  In my original post, I estimated that we spent around $750-$860 on food both at the grocery store and eating out.  That means we’ve saved between $425-535 this month! I waited to do the math until I wrote this posting and I’m stunned! By sticking to a grocery list the best I could and using what we had in the pantry, we actually cut our grocery spending as well, which is something I thought would increase as we weren’t eating out. 

Things We’ve Learned:

It turns out that I’m pretty good at cooking/baking and coming up with new and exciting dishes to try (i.e. Cheez It Chicken). 

I like to spend time with my boyfriend in the kitchen. He tends to sit and talk with me while I cook and sometimes helps me cook. (He’s really great about asking if he can help.)

We both enjoy sitting down and eating a meal together.

We both enjoy saving money that we aren’t spending on food.

I can cook filet mignon from Walmart that’s better than any restaurant I’ve been too for a fraction of the price (see my first 30 day blog for the pricing).

I can cook for myself and my family for a fraction of the price. I cooked dinner for my boyfriend and his parents (again, the filet mignon from Walmart) and it was delicious and inexpensive. I really enjoyed being able to cook for them and have them over to our house. We also just enjoyed being together.  We will have to continue doing this one. :)

It was pretty easy to figure out what I could make from the ingredients I already had in the pantry and freezer. I typically start with one ingredient and figure out what I can add to that one ingredient to make a meal. Chicken plus stale Cheez It crackers = amazing Cheez It Chicken!

Things That We Struggled With:

Filet-o-fish: My boyfriend LOVES Filet-o-Fish and French fries during lent. It was really tough for him to not be able to just go grab his beloved Filet-o-Fish whenever he wanted.

Starbucks: I’m a Starbucks addict. I had a really difficult time not getting a Starbucks. I don’t typically get Starbucks more than once a week, but it was really hard driving by the local Starbucks without getting something. I’m going to try to continue not to get Starbucks as long as I can. (I do have a meeting at a Starbucks for work next week though, so I’m assuming that my Starbucks fast will come to an end.)

Menus: I have a hard time sticking to a menu. I am one of those people that gets a craving for something and that’s what I want. So if I planned chicken for Tuesday night and I get a craving for tacos, chances are we’re going to have tacos instead.

I hope our challenge has inspired you to try your own challenge. Whether it’s not eating out at all for a week or a month or just no Starbucks for a couple week, it is amazing what you’ll save. You can certainly use the money you didn’t spend to start that emergency fund or to save for that trip you have always wanted to go on or whatever you want to save for.