the verdict on the Challenge

Well, we finished our 21 Dollar Challenge last week. It was almost a success. Although I had tried to clean out our fridge before the start of the challenge week, we still had a few things left that we splurged on the first half of the week. The second half of the week required spending about $20 more to pacify the hungry crowd :) Overall the menu was a success. The lentil soup stretched for 4+ meals (I actually froze 1 meal's worth for another time). The squash soup was a bit expensive for the yield, but it did stretch over a couple meals when I combined it with brown rice. If I were to do it over, I probably would have added some beans to every meal. I think that the hardest part was having such light lunches everyday. Overall I think that it was harder psychologically than anything else because in the past we've gone a week with less than this and been quite satisfied. It is harder when you're choosing a challenge versus being forced into and surviving a one.

The lessons I learned are: a healthy vegan diet is do-able on a tight budget; I need to be spending less money on food per week; no matter who you are or what diet you are following, the food stamp allowance is barely enough. It seems to me that having a few more people in the family (and therefore a bit more money to spend) must be easier than having only $21/week to feed yourself, especially if you're working and probably doing a lot of walking to and from home.

I still haven't posted the price per meal. Maybe I will get to it, but I do know that making a soup is one of the most economical ways to cook food.

Even though we didn't properly succeed in this challenge, I'm glad we gave it a try.