I have been thinking about my grocery list for the challenge, what to buy, where to buy it etc, etc.
On my way to work there’s a fruit shop, that seems to have fairly cheap fruit & veg (compared to my local store anyway). I was thinking about trying to get a lot of my food there for the challenge, thinking I could stretch my $2 further.
But the only spare time I’ll have to shop for the challenge will be on the Sunday, so getting there will waste about 14kms (round trip) worth of fuel. First off, people living on $2 wouldn’t have the luxuary of travelling 7kms to buy cheaper food. Secondly, it’d cost my daily [food] budget just to get there. And thirdly, the pollution and carbon produced by this extra 14kms of me driving is such a waste.
There’s one fruit shop within walking distance, and another two either a long walk (or a very short drive) away. I think I’m just going to make do with those ones. It’s a real pity there’s no farmers markets close by either. There’s also an asian grocery store near me, that I’ve never been into, that I’m keen to check out – I’ve been told they’re cheaper for things like rice, mushrooms etc.
So far I’m thinking of getting:
1 x Homebrand spagehitti or pasta (I think a normal sized pack is about 50c. I think I could stretch that out into 4 or 5 meals!)
Half a loaf of bread (so I’ll buy a whole loaf, just will put the other half into a different fridge and wont touch it, so that will be about 90c.)
Rice if i can find a very cheap pack ( or a cheap bulk version that I can get a quarter or half of. I’ll set aside maybe $1 from the $10 for this)
So that’s approx. $2.40 on carbs
For fresh fruit & veges I’m thinking:
2 x sweet potato (i love LOVE these. they can get fairly expensive though)
2 field mushrooms (sold by weight, and they weigh nothing!)
1 x onion
1/4 x pumpkin (if cheap enough)
This section really just depends on what’s cheap at the time. Sweet potato and onions I usually get every week. I also usually get tomatoes, apples, bananas, walnuts – but these all seem to be very expensive at the moment. So will have to see.
Hopefully i’ll have enough lettuce & tomatoes from my garden so I wont have to buy them. I’m counting each cherry tomato at about 5cents each, and each serving of lettuce at 10cents.
I also have sweet basil (one serving at 2cents), and mint (the mint plant was given to me free from my mum. I might say 1cent though) to add for flavour.
Things from my pantry like oil I wont buy (as we don’t go through it enough to warrant buying a new bottle), but i’ll still add to the price.
I think I’m set. I can eat dry toast if I have to, and there’s 10 slices of bread in half a loaf, so that’s two slices a day. I will be hungry, but I’m not going to be starving.
