I began reading a book that is wodnerful for information and advice on making a transition from a processed life to a wholly organic life, all for $5 or less a day. The book is called Wildly Affordable Organic by Linda Watson. (Check it out here: http://www.cookforgood.com/blog/tag/wildly-affordable-organic).
I've enjoyed reading this book and it has offered some really good insight into making the transition to organic. She talks a lot about the cost of various foods and she gives advice about namebrand or not; bulk or not, etc. I like this book for the information and I think her meal plans are clever. I don't however think that her recipes are very kid-friendly (or in my case husband-friendly) and she doesn't account much for issues like peanut allergies. I haven't looked much at her blog and maybe some of those issues are addressed there.
I'm also baffled by the cost analysis. She took the "food stamp challenge" of planning and eating each meal at $1 per meal per person. When I first read that, I thought, that's impossible! But then I started calculating my grocery spending and I found that I spend about 95 cents per meal per person per day. When I started doing the math I was shocked. And I'm buying plenty of processed garbage.
So. I am giving myself a challenge. Maybe I'll make it, maybe not. Starting August 1st I'm going to take my family organic, mostly meat-free, and all on my mere budget of $100 a week. For those that don't know me- we're a family of 5 with a a hungry teenager and an 8 month old baby.
I've been working on my menu, shopping list, etc. I'll post the final menu for August 1-15th tomorrow with my shopping list. I'm pulling from Watson's meal plan ideas, but putting twists that fit my family because I'm not a fan of most of her recipes. Because Sophia is a particular eater and Dave is unable to eat most things and Zoe and I will pretty much eat anything, I'm going to try to make meals that work for us all. Ethan, bless his heart, will have the pureed leftovers.
I doubt I'll be as efficient or wasteless as Watson is in her book and plan, but this is a start, right? I'm hoping to see health and weight benefits right away. I hope eventually I'm able to perfect this plan for maximum efficiency so I'm not rushed at night to push out dinner or left with the "what should we cook?" dilemma that plagues all of us cooking moms.
Wish me luck.
