The Beginning

There are a lot of websites and blogs out there dedicated to frugal living, especially when it comes to the costs of food. There are some that are an interesting and informative read (Sean Callebs: Living on Food Stamps) and some that are less than stellar (One Dollar Diet Project). In each, I find lessons to apply to my family's lifestyle.

My husband and I are pretty careful with our money; we have to be. I work full time as the main bread winner of our household, though my husband works a couple nights a week at a baby retail store. He doesn't bring in much, but every little bit helps. We have a baby that is eating pureed, mashed foods, which we make ourselves. If you want to save money and give your baby a healthier and diverse start, definitely make your own baby food. We also had to eliminate any foods containing gluten (wheat, barley, rye, and most oats) due to food allergies. That means avoiding most of the convenient cheap methods most people use, like pastas, store bought breads, and canned condensed soups. Add to this the fact that we are also trying to avoid other unhealthy food ingredients, like fake sugars, corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup (though we do make some concessions: soysauce, worchestershire sauce, etc). Basically, I am supporting a family of three on less than $40k a year, in a "high cost of living" state, with extra considerations to keep in mind. You'd think we'd feel the brunt of the recession and rising food costs a bit more, however, we haven't really felt much change in our daily lives... yet.

This blog is mostly going to be about our attempts to live on less than $50 of food per week. Granted, as the baby gets older, this might have to change, but we hope not. Yet, as I type this first entry, I'm realizing that I'll probably post more than just the food related aspects of our lives. We'll what direction this blog will take.