My monthly budget

Before inflation took a big hike up, before the pandemic, before I began shopping online---before---before.

Before all this, I use to spend about $100 to $125 a week at the grocery store, which was entirely at Winco. Often, if there were one reason or another that I needed to do it I could cut that back to less than one hundred dollars on any given week.

Keep in mind that this included household items, cash back, and extras for Holidays, it was not just usual groceries alone.

I managed to feed two plus three more of us for one entire year on that budget.

With the horrendous rise in prices of fuel, utilities, and groceries in recent months I have paid close attention to how much I am spending at the grocery store and focusing seriously on healthy eating at the same time.

This month, (May) I spent $490 at the stores. Walmart and Winco, specifically. Again, remember that this includes cash back, household items (like tissue and purified water) and such things like masking tape, ballpoint pens, etc.

And as you can see from the menus I have posted, we eat quite well. I am bringing this up because I know that some of you out there are struggling to keep to eating healthy when it appears that 'healthy' foods are more expensive.

Even at the thought of eating fast food versus those 'healthy food' outfits like Hungry Root and the like the cost has gotten expensive. In my opinion, $4.99 per serving is too much. That's what it costs for a supposed healthy meal delivery system. It's also what it would cost for a cheap fast food meal For three people that's $15 for one sit down meal. Most people need to eat more than just one meal a day, so let's times that by three meals per day for three people and you get $45 a day. That comes out to $315 per week to feed three people, not counting any snacks or extras or household essentials.

That's not a good budget. Not in my opinion.

Order a $4.99 King Jr. Meal from Burger King. Build your own affordable meal from Sonic’s $1.99 menu. Grab a Taco Bell Luxe Cravings Box for as low as $5!

Clearly, eating fast food is NOT cheaper than eating healthy and it really is so much NOT what you would consider good for your health.

So, how much should a meal cost per serving?

The average American household spends $270 per week.

What is interesting, however, is what the Portuguese researchers discovered from their surveys and statistical analyses: far from being more expensive, plant-based diets, particularly the vegan diet, were associated with less spending than any of the other diets they included in their analysis (in total, they compared five diet types: vegan, ovo-lacto-vegetarian, flexitarian, pescatarian, and omnivorous).

A conservative couple (2 people) who eat plant based spends about $170 a week.

I am proud to say I can do better than that and I do.

If I can do it, so can you and I am not eating wholly plant based as you can tell from my menu postings. So if you need a little help to continue your health journey let me know. I will share what I know, what I do and how I do it.

Here's to keeping both you and I in the 'green'.

Knock, knock. Who’s there?

Lena.

Lena who?

Lena little closer and I’ll tell you!

(Still love me a knock knock joke).