Food for a Week

When the hubby retired, I knew that because of our reduced income, I would have to be a lot more thrifty than I had been while he was working. It’s not that I was excessively wasteful, or at least I don’t think I was. It’s just that I often couldn’t plan, which led to a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for me and a lot of convenience and fast foods for the hubby. It wasn’t good for either of us, but you do what you have to do.

Anyway. Our habits have changed a lot in the past ten months, and I got to thinking about them when I saw this post about food for a week at A Penny Closer. It got my attention because the food shown is for a family of two, and I wanted to see how what they spent compared with what the hubby and I spend nowadays. Actually, we are pretty close. We spend a little less, but I think Indiana might be a cheaper place to live than Texas is.

The TIME photo essay from which the blog post evolved is here.

I don’t know that I will ever get around to making my own photo of the food we eat each week, but I think it would be a good idea. We bought a small freezer the summer before the hubby retired, so I am able to stockpile like I used to, which helps a lot with reducing expenses. Still, it amazes me to see how much smaller our grocery list is each week than it used to be. I think menu planning has really helped us there. When I looked at the TIME essay, I couldn’t help but think how rich we Americans are, and how much we take that wealth for granted. God calls us to be good stewards of what we have, and I am glad I viewed this essay as a reminder.