Diet In Terms of Dollars

In order to save money one of the things to do is to figure out where it's being spent.  It's easy to see where larger amounts go, but one can lose a lot by not being careful with the little things.  For example a medium Tim Horton's coffee costs $1.37 (I think).  No big deal, right?  Say you buy a coffee every day on the way to work.  Allowing for two weeks a year of not going to work (therefore not buying the coffee), your coffee bill adds up to $342.50 a year.

Okay, coffee can be a sensitive subject.  The point is the little stuff can get ya'.

I'm paying attention to how much it costs me to eat and I'm going to keep track of it for a while.


Yesterday went like this:

Breakfast - nothing
Lunch - egg salad sandwich (no butter) $0.89
Dinner - wasted egg salad (the one that froze) $0.89
             - hot chocolate $0.30
              - cheeseburger $2.

Today
Breakfast - coffee at home approx $0.50 for the entire day's worth
Lunch - egg salad sandwich $0.89
Dinner - spaghetti - $0.53; two slices of bread $0.22; yogurt $0.76 (I'm trying the yogurt thing to see if it helps with the tummy problems)

So my food costs for the past two days is $6.22.  (Everything was bought on sale, by the way.) Not too bad.  

Is it balanced and healthy?  No.  But in the past I've spent more and done worse. 

Food shopping tips:

If it has no nutritional value it's a waste of money.  If you don't have enough money to spend freely at the grocery store, you need to buy things that are going to give you a nutritional bang for your buck.  (yeah, yeah, I know.... I drink coffee every day, but I need it now to stay awake to work the two jobs!)  If you can't eat a lot then it's even more important to get at least some nutrition into you.

Buy whole wheat bread.  The store brand whole wheat costs the same as the white.  No matter what the ads tell you, food that is less processed is better for you.  If you don't like whole wheat, try it anyway; You'll get accustomed to it.

If you like to snack, invest in an air popper for popcorn.  You can get a lot of popcorn for very little money if you do it that way.  Even the Light microwave popping corn is full of stuff that is terrible for you and it costs a lot more per serving.  If you go with air popped, both your wallet and your body will thank you.

Water is your friend.  Forget about the bottled stuff.  It's been proven that it's no better than tap water.  Your wallet and the environment will thank you if you stick with tap water.  Drinking water instead of pop is much better for you anyway.  In spite of my need for coffee, I've replaced much of it with water.

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Well, I'd better get off of the computer.  I only had two hours of sleep last night and have a busy day at both workplaces tomorrow.  There are still a few things I have to do around the house before I can go to bed.  My pillow has been calling me all day!
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