Day 1 - 8.23.15

Okay, so here is the details of this journey.

In my house there are three humans and three dogs. We also have a roommate and her little one that will be somewhat a part of our food planning.

Since 2009, I have gained 70lbs, now I was already on the heavy side but was working on losing weight - going to the gym, walking 3 miles a day and eating healthy. Since 2009, I was in a car accident and I fell down some stairs and I gained weight. All of these things have caused me to break my spine in 3 locations, I have arthritis in my whole spine, nerve damage and I hurt all day every day. What is worse, is I now have a fear of pain and because of all the meds I have been on over the years, even going to the dentist and having work done, causes me more pain than it should. I can't keep living like this.

In 2013, I was blessed to marry my best friend, and in less than 2 years from that date I gained 40lbs - that is part of the 70lbs. My hubby has gained 40lbs and my youngest daughter has also gained 40lbs. According to our doctor we are all obese and all of us need to lose weight - with my youngest needing to lose 50lbs.

So how are we going to do this on 1 income? Well, we are going to do the following:

1. Every Sunday we will do our meal planning for the week. What does this mean? It means, we will go through our recipe books and online. We will then go through our inventory (our pantry) and see what we have, so we can create a shopping list of items we don't have. Then we will go through our coupons and see if we have any that will work. Next, we will go through our local ads and Facebook for our local farmers market to see what is on sale and work everything into our budget.
2. We need to make a menu that will consist of 3 meals and 2 snacks a day for 3 people. All of it around 1600 calories. In a couple of weeks, we will add back in more carbs. 
3. We will be working with a nutritionist and our doctor to make sure we are healthy. 
4. We will also be cutting out some sugars and starches and trading in for something a little healthier. 
5. It may mean, also that we will go shopping more than once a week in order to make sure we have fresh veggies and fruit.
6. All of this has to be done within a budget - which for us is currently $250 for food a month.
7. We also want to include healthy dog snacks within this budget if we could as well from some of the leftovers.

Now I will be pulling recipes I find that are low-carb, fat-free, a set amount of calories, gluten free and so much more. My goal with all of this is to teach us to live within our budget and to change our eating lifestyle into being healthier people. 

Are you ready to join me on this journey? Okay, if so here is what you need to get started.

1. Talk to your spouse/SO/etc. and discuss a budget
2. Buy a 1"Binder and a Three-whole punch
3. Print our a Meal Schedule and a Shopping list (I will have one created for you to print out within a week)
4. Start collecting coupons if you haven't and purchase coupon sleeves that can go into your binder
5. Three-whole punch your Shopping list and put it into your Binder
6. Sit down with your family and create a menu - you can use this site, other recipes you find on Pinterest and more. 
7. Go through your pantry and make an inventory of what you currently have it put that in your Binder as well.
8. Post your Meal Schedule on your Fridge

Today...6.27.2011 - First steps

Welcome to our blog. Our goal here is to help those who are struggling with feeding their families healthy meals during this crazy economy. This all started because I was laid off from my job, lost our benefits and since I was already in school to improve our lives, we decided it would be worth it for me to focus on getting my education so I would not have to face another layoff. So far a positive benefit has been not only focusing on school and becoming a house mom, but being able to volunteer at my daughters schools. The hard part is that we live in Orange County, CA and the cost of living is high - trust me if we could move to another state and have a place to live and Zach would already have a job, we totally would. But for now, we have to make it here through this rough patch. So we have to be creative.

I am sure almost everyone has heard of the TV Show 'Extreme Couponing', if not has watched at least one episode.  Well, that is where I started this journey, was to watch one or two episodes so I could learn how it works and I did. Where I live, we do not have those kinds of grocery stores or those kinds of deals on coupons but a lot of stores do help. The show itself has stir a huge community out there, though, where people are huge on saving money to help take care of their families. So this is my part of that journey.

Here were the steps I took to get started (and I am still working on finishing up all of this to post here):

1.   Take an inventory of all the food I have in the house - this includes spices and items in the fridge and making sure I break down brands and types - (Better Crocker, Chocolate Cake mix; Duncan Hines, Dark Chocolate Cake Mix; etc.)

2.   Create a list of items that we tend to eat or like to eat and then circle the items that are must haves in our house - the Staples....ketchup, butter, eggs, chicken, etc.
 
3.   I am working on a spreadsheet that put those lists together along with a list of what coupons I currently have and when they expire.

4.   I contacted all the companies that I shop at to find out what their rules are for coupons, printed coupons and rain checks.

5.   A price list of the current sales for the week. Here I started looking on Yahoo! to see if someone else already started this and yes they did, so I downloaded it and found it was good but needed more for what I wanted to use it for. So I am in the process of redesigning it for our needs and added all my other lists so they are in one spot. Once I have this fixed, I will be sharing this with everyone - FREE.

After all of this, I forgot a key element - what is my monthly budget? So in our household, currently we only have a budget of $150 for four people. Our roommate is going to be pitching in and in exchange I will be preparing foods for him for an extra $100 a month. So that is $250 for 5 people. How in the world am I going to be able to do that when we are used to a budget of $600? My heart sank and I thought everything I had been working towards was about to fail. NOOOOOOOOO, I can not give up so easily. I will figure this out and make this work so we can have a better life. So I have to cook for 5 people on $8 a day! 

You ready to join me on this journey...please feel free to share your ideas, recipes, and eventual a coupon swap. I know if I can do this, we will become healthy because we will be eating less (since all the adults are overweight - this is a great thing); a little healthier - hopefully; but most of all, I will be able to teach my kids how to survive this crazy world and give them the faith that they can beat any obstacle!