Cooking up an August challenge!

Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4 a day

A perfect and irresistible idea: A cookbook filled with delicious, healthful recipes created for everyone on a tight budget—and a cookbook with a strong charitable component: With every copy of Good and Cheap purchased, a second copy will be given to a person or family in need.

I ordered this book about 6 months ago and just received it in the "mail" today. You can either order a copy on Amazon via the link above for about $12, or you can download the FREE PDF here. Receiving the cookbook reignited my fervor to stick to my budget and be better about meal planning. Honestly, even with the help of coupons and sales, I don't think I could eat on $4 a day, but I think I could come close! After delving into the book at bit, Leanne Brown gives tons of tips and tricks on saving money on your grocery bill, and you don't have to print or use a single coupon. The main point is to learn how to prepare food, and keep basic staples on hand so you can throw a healthy meal together quickly.

Now, for the challenge! I've let my grocery budget slip lately and I need to reign that back in. I'm going to challenge myself to get as close as possible to $4 a day for food, or $30 a week ($2 wiggle room for treats) while sticking to a healthy eating plan. Here's what a typical weekday looks like for me right now:
 Breakfast 
 Cereal $0.33
 Fruit $0.33
 Almond Milk $0.25
Total  $0.92
Lunch 
 Frozen meal $2.00
 Apple $0.50
 Yogurt $1.00
 Snacks $1.00
Total  $4.50
Dinner 
 Protein $0.75
 Grain $0.31
 Veggie $0.25
 juice $0.17
Total  $1.48
Total Day  $6.90

I usually allow myself $50 a week for groceries, but that includes supplies for the furkids and all those things that food stamps doesn't cover like toilet paper and shampoo. For the month of August I will be diligent about meal planning and recording how much I spent on just food for human consumption. I don't have any major life events happening in August, and it's a super month for fresh veggies. The challenge for me will be committing to cooking in the summer. I have a feeling I will be doing some freezer meals, crock pot dinners and some batch cooking on the cooler days.

So what do you think? Want to join me in this adventure? You can download the free PDF to get you started with meal planning, maybe order the book later when your budget allows, and post your progress in the comments after I post my weekly update? I think we can learn from each other through this, but I'm happy to get it rolling!
I will still post weekly deals, as a separate post.