Update: Eating In = Saving $

Well, we are 2 weeks in to this goal of not buying food out for an entire month. It has been an interesting transition and I have some findings to share.

• First, let me clarify that we are not "Clean eating" we are just eating food we make at home. 
• We have had to up our food preparation, but that just means we are eating at home. If I can't make it in 30 minutes we don't make it. We do not decide on Sunday what we are eating all week. We have staples in the house and I make food based on what we feel like eating. We are trying a lot of new things, but they are made with the staples that we have normally in our diets.
• My Fitness Pal App
• Rob and I added one twist to this effort. We have started religiously logging our eating and exercising in an app called my fitness pal, which we are now addicted. This addition has made us more aware of what actual nutrition we are getting. So far we are painfully aware that Iron is something we don't get a lot of since we don't really eat red meat. I have a potassium lack in my diet and without a calcium chew I have one of those too, since I do not eat dairy except on occasion. This app is much improved from when it first came out and way more user friendly. 
• Physical/Mental Changes
• Rob reports sleeping better and feeling generally better all around since starting this effort. 
• As for me, there is a lot to say. I have done research on how clean eating can take away your cravings for sweets and carbohydrates. I never thought I could handle this. However I can honestly say that after two weeks of eating only food we prepared and paying attention to what that food is I am not craving candy and sweets. Now let's be honest I am a true addict. Candy is crack to me for real, all joking aside. I still look longingly at the cookie display in the cafeteria at work and the snack shack just outside the bathroom. However, I can recognize that its my brain telling me I want to eat that, not my body telling me I am hungry. I can honestly say I have never had that distinctive a felling. Not even when I lost a bunch of weight when my daughter was younger. 
• The Grocery Bill
• Before this goal we spent about $225/week on groceries and another $125-150 eating out
• Math says that we as a family eat 63 meals a week, divide $375 by 63 and we paid about $5.95 a meal per person or $18/day for each of us to eat. 
• Now we spent about $275 for the whole week (this is inflated since we bought coffee pods and toilet paper this week)
• Math says that we eat the same 63 meals, so this week we will pay approximately $4.36 a meal or ~$13/day for each of us to eat. 
• In 2 weeks we have reduced our spending by 30%!!!
• Kid benefits
• Tonight our daughter prepared a salad for herself that boasted fresh butter lettuce, celery, broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, feta cheese and some croutons. the bowl was filled to the brim! 2 weeks ago she would not have even come close to eating that. She is now eating a 2/3 full bag of 4 types of vegetables in her lunch (including broccoli). She is not asking for treats every ten minutes and is talking with us about the value of nutrition. 
• How many 10 year olds do you know that will eat a salad like that with NO dressing? Not many. This is a super exciting development in our house!!
• Exercise
• Since we are using the app we are working at at least 4 times a week and this is having its own set of benefits as well. 

Overall I am blown away by the results of this trial we are doing. Rob and I are working together which is GREAT for me. He is disciplined and does not require this sort of support. I however am a week sugar addict that needs a buddy to be accountable too. Thank God Rob knows this. He is a good husband.