Motivation Monday – The Grocery Game?

Part of me wants to accept the MILLER FAMILY challenge. Let  me back up…

Wouldn’t it be fun to just try to go through EVERYTHING in our cupboards?

As a professional runner living in a small town, I can “run” most of our errands. If I need to meet with a sponsor who is in town; I’ll run to meet them. I’ve found most meetings can be done via Skype or FaceTime.

We also live very simply, so there’s not a lot of running around that needs to be done. We don’t have kids, which simplifies things GREATLY, and I can do most from my home computer – YAY doing pretty much everything online. I’d like to think I’m not dependent on a car. In fact, I’d love not to have to have one at all, actually :).

Saturn, I THOUGHT I needed you, but I didn’t!!! Well, maybe… (Secretly, I still miss you… a LOT… there was one in the dealership lot we went to Saturday, but Nate wouldn’t let me look… tear… I apologize!!!)

Now, 3 weeks into my no-car adventure, there have been just two times I’ve had to borrow a car (for appointments). Thank you, Craig, for helping!! I’d like to think I’d only need a car for sporadic appointments, but there’s one other thing that I’ve found I need a vehicle for…

FOOD.

It’s a good thing I have a little more time to be creative with food. Our pantry has become more bare as time goes on with me operating sans-car. Our fridge doesn’t really have any thing for “quick snacks” (Nate did pick up a container of Greek yogurt for me for Valentines day, though, so that has been a lifesaver!).

Tonight’s meal is grilled cheese (Nate also bought bread on his latest trip) and a noodle soup with all of the random vegetables in the fridge I could find. Because we had just 2 ounces of leftover chicken to add to the soup, I added a can of pinto beans.

It was actually pretty good, but I can’t imagine the quality/flavor of our meals to come…

So, you’re wondering, what is the MILLER FAMILY challenge? What is this? What does this have to do with you?

What it is: My best friend in high school went through (endured??) a
period of time where her mom decided to forgo grocery shopping/spending
money on food. They would eat whatever they had in the fridge/pantry/had
stored.

My best friend started to say things (complain?) the second week (!!!) because they had gone through their milk supply and her mom wasn’t going to buy another gallon. At the time, I didn’t really know what this meant.

Honestly, I don’t know how long the MILLER FAMILY challenge lasted. Perhaps she will find this and comment here. But it’s something that has always been on my mind as something that would be “fun” to do. Nate will kill me…

But again, I could be creative, right???!!!???

We don’t have kids, we have meat frozen downstairs in the freezer… 

Reasons to do it:

To finally use all the *crap* cans, boxes and random stuff we have in our pantry. Some of that stuff has been there for years…. I should probably just throw it away…

It would be a fun adventure!!! At least, that’s the way I would think of it… Nate might not agree…

It would force me to be even more creative with meals, which could be fun (or awful, depending on how you look at it…)

Reasons to not do it:

It’s not like our food bill/week will go down dramatically (after averaging receipts)– at least I think? It will in the short term… but long term?

Our grocery bill the first week out of the challenge would be outrageous, which scares me.

Plus, there is something nice about having a pantry with options in it….. although something fun about making something from nothing…

Alright, need comments/suggestions here. Bad idea? Good idea? Fun adventure? Done something similar? 🙂