How To Survive Survival Week: 7 Days To Spend Nothing?

Okie dokie folks . . . anyone ready to really change their grocery budget this week? 

We’re taking on the challenge to SURVIVE SEVEN DAYS TO SPEND NOTHING, and I’d love for you to join me too.

Now, we’re all at very different places in our lives and finances, so this is going to look different for each of our families.  I’ll share how it’s going to look at our house, and I’d love to hear how you’d like it to look in your home too!

Here’s what you need to do to join me:

1) Decide if you’re going to do a complete no spend challenge or “partial” no spend challenge (like our family is doing.)

You may have enough in your kitchen that you can survive an entire week without a single purchase. (If that’s you, WOOHOO!) Or, if you’re like me, you may need to stock up on a few basic pantry staples ~ that’s totally okay too.

2) Take stock of what you have already, and what you really (REALLY) need.

Now, you may have everything you need, but if you don’t, take stock of what you absolutely must have to survive a week. Here are the essential items on our family’s list (they definitely may vary for your family):

• eggs
• milk
• loaf of bread
• flour
• sugar
• baking soda
• baking powder
• fresh fruit & veggies

Because I’ve been doing the 21 Day Fix (watch for details coming soon ~ I’d love for you to join me in February!), I had to tweak this a little bit from what we would normally do. While we have plenty of meat in our house we were almost out of chicken (again?!) so I did re-stock at Fresh Thyme yesterday when I saw it on sale for $1.67/lb.

This list may look very different for you. You may be able to make it without those items, and you may absolutely need more items on your list! Tweak it to fit your family, just don’t go buy an entire week’s worth of groceries when you shop ~ only stock up on things you absolutely need to get you through the week.

3) Get ready to bake.

(and cook.)

(but I like baking more.) 🙂

If you’re out of something that your family thinks they need, baking (and cooking too!) can will save you in a pinch. If you run out of store bought snacks, make some muffins (these or these are great).

If there are no Oreos left in the cupboards and your family can’t survive (ahem), bake up some cookies from scratch.

Your family will love it (and you’ll save so much time eating out and going to the grocery store that you may actually have time to bake!)

4) Think outside the box.

All out of bread? Bake a loaf from scratch. No hamburger buns to use with barbecue? Make loaded barbecue stuffed potatoes.

Get creative and see what ways you can use what you have on hand to come up with a meal.

Not sure even where to start? Here are our favorite what-to-eat-when-there’s-not-much-left-meals:

• breakfast for dinner ~ make homemade biscuits or pancakes, eggs, and fresh fruit
• grilled peanut butter banana quesadillas
• slow cooker chicken nachos
• homemade egg mcmuffins (substitute toast or bagels if you don’t have english muffins)
• homemade Olive Garden Fettucine Alfredo
• Mexican pizza

5) Really use what you up what you already have.

Do you have a roast that’s been hiding at the bottom of your freezer for 6 months? This is the week to use it.

That pasta that hasn’t been cooked since you stuffed it in the back of the pantry a year ago? Time to eat it up too.

If you’re not sure of what to make with the ingredients you have on hand, I highly recommend All Recipes ingredient search – you literally can type in the few items you do have at home, and in just a few seconds hunt down a delicious meal!

As for how this is going to look for us this week, I’ll be honest and say that we’re still going to eat lunch out after church on Sunday (because it’s just one of those things we do.) I did run to the store yesterday to grab the staples we absolutely had to have, but still saved a bundle on a full grocery trip!

Here’s what I bought. . .

Aldi

• 3 gallons milk $1.49 each (I love that price!)
• 2 dozen eggs $1.39 each
• Total = $7.25

Fresh Thyme

• 10.32 pounds Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast at $1.67/lb = $17.23 (I hated to spend so much, but didn’t want to run out and that was too good a price to pass up)

• 5 pounds potatoes $1.50
• Granny Smith Apples $3.99
• 2 bags organic carrots $.99 each
• 2 bell peppers $.99 each
• 4.73 pounds bananas at $.37/lb (I was so excited about that price!) = $1.75
• (also in pic above – Organic Salad Blend from Kroger ~ $3.99)
• Total = $30.99

TOTAL FOR BOTH TRIPS = $37.69

TOTAL GROCERY SPENDING IN JANUARY, INCLUDING WEEK 1, WEEK 2  and WEEK 3 = $323.25 or $80 per week for our family of 4 ~ and our pantry is still pretty packed!

Would you like to join me? I would so love for you to enjoy a few days off of spending too ~ I promise you’ll be amazed at how much you can easily save! Leave a comment HERE if you’re joining us ~ I love hearing from you!

Looking for more ways to save on your grocery budget in 2016? Here you go:

• Top 10 Grocery Budget Busters
• The Ultimate Guide to a Better Grocery Budget Week #1: 7 Strategies To Save
• The Ultimate Guide to a Better Grocery Budgert Week #2: 7 More Strategies To Save
• Ultimate Guide to A Better Grocery Budget Week 3: Don’t Turn A Mega Sale Into A Mega Mess
• How To Really Change Your Grocery Budget: 3 Strategies to help you save
• 20 Items You Need to Buy At Aldi
• Monthly Menu Plans as low as $3.50 Per Month
• My Teensy Tiny Couponing Pet Peeve
• No Spend Grocery Challenge
• Ultimate Aldi, Costco & Sam’s Club Price Comparison Sheet to easily compare prices before heading out to the store.