# $21 Challenge



## ksmama10 (Sep 17, 2012)

I am currently reading a book called The $21 Challenge, by Fiona Lippey and Jackie Gower. The idea is to pick a week, and determine a dollar amount limit to allow yourself to spend for food for your family..the $21 is a baseline guide for a family of four, but the main thing is to pick a goal to aim for. This is basically a pantry challenge; the book gives lots of info and lists to determine exactly what is already available/paid for to work with to form a meal plan. The idea is to find recipes that use whatcha got, so the actual shopping list is very short. 
Now, the writers are probably not thinking of how this could help Preppers, but I know one of my worries has been how to free up my budget to allow extra purchases for storage. Since we are always told to use our preps as we go along, this scenario in this book starts to make sense if I choose to make my challenge week coincide with one of those crappy sale weeks..you know, when there's not much good to buy anyway..anyway, I can keep his library book for two weeks, so I will be thinking more on this subject. Your thoughts?
Here is a link for YouTube videos on this subject:

http://www.youtube.com/user/SimpleSavings/videos


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

21$ LMAO! I've done it for ten!
two boxes of eggs 3$
loaf of bread 1$
bag of grits 3
Two packages of ramen.
and two two liters of store brand cola.
I did this within the last six months, so prices will vary.

Ban be done cheaper but beans/chili starts to suck after three days straight.
two bags of beans
corn meal
hambone/meat scraps.


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## ksmama10 (Sep 17, 2012)

Magus said:


> 21$ LMAO! I've done it for ten!
> two boxes of eggs 3$
> loaf of bread 1$
> bag of grits 3
> ...


In the book, and one of the videos, they said it could be done for less than $21.. All depends on what is on hand already.


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

We keep a fair mount on hand, ain't unusual ta go a week er two without goin ta the store. Specially since the boys be gone. Sorta be the idear a the pantry. Keep what ya need on hand.


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

My personal best is seven weeks without purchasing groceries. Then again, I've had a lot of practice. Cooking on the tugs where we were only in port for a few hours every week or so honed that skill. When I lived on my boat I might not even see a place with a store for in excess of three weeks. I planned on my boat stores to last me for up to six months.

At the time I never thought of it as a prepping skill. Of course, at the time I don't believe I had ever heard the word prepping.


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## Lake Windsong (Nov 27, 2009)

ksmama10, I forget offhand how many are in your household, but haven't you mentioned teenage boys and your struggle for maintaining preps--when they see a stocked cabinet, they see extra snacks? If so, I think this could be a good exercise for your family, much like a practice off-grid weekend. It could give you an accurate idea of how long food lasts in your particular household and teach your family to participate in planning your household preps and meal planning.

I googled '21 dollar challenge' and up popped a pdf for 'survival recipes for the 21 dollar challenge' by the simplesavings group. You might be interested in downloading it.

We are all at different stages in our preps, and strategies that work for one family might not work for others. I remember trying a 'save every five dollar bill you get as change' method I tried once to increase emergency cash.

I would be interested in a follow up 'lessons learned post', or even daily posts like the 'what's for dinner thread' ... we could learn from anyone who does this challenge and maybe even come up with some new recipes.  For the challenge to be beneficial to you, I would suggest keeping a good record of the recipes/quantity of food used during your challenge to help you see how much or how little food your family consumes in that week's time.


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

Thanks for the post Windsong. When I was growing up Mom would only allow herself to shop once a week. This was a cost savings exercise on her part. The idea was that if she went to the store for one item she would come back with other items that she really did not require. We made due with what was in the cupboard till the next regular trip. As I remember it she started that when we lived across the street from the store she worked at. Later, when the store was an easy 16 miles away and a trip to town to pick up one item took and hour and a half there were more reasons to adapt a recipe or change the meal plan. Then I got my shiny new drivers license and Mom never had to do without again. You need a teaspoon of salt? I'll be right back!


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## ras1219como (Jan 15, 2013)

My DH and I usually make a trip every week or two to buy groceries. These weekly trips are pretty much just for the stuff that gets eaten up quickly milk, cheese, fresh fruit, and in my house boxed Mac n cheese...I am told it isn't as good if its made from scratch :eye roll:


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## ContinualHarvest (Feb 19, 2012)

Hardtack, GORP and wild edibles. did it for a week on a camping excursion along the AT. Came in under $20.00. Still hard to eat a peanut sometimes hah!


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## Wellrounded (Sep 25, 2011)

My total grocery budget is $70.00 per week (but I shop much less frequently than every week). I feed the two of us, usually between 1 to 3 other adults (usually young hungry men) 7 days a week as well as cooking for my daughter, her husband and bub at least twice a week. Out of this $70.00 I also add to my preps, often cater for family and friends for party weekends and buy some pet food. I spend about the same amount ($70.00) on preserving jars and lids every week though. Half of the $70.00 is spent on milk, butter and cheese as we are not milking at the moment, once the cows calve I expect to cut grocery down another $20.00 or so (not by half as I'll spend a fair bit on cultures and other cheese making stuff). I wouldn't have any trouble cutting down to $21.00 for a few weeks. It doesn't mean a lot though as I have to spend on stock feeds and other farm costs instead of food.


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## seanallen (Nov 13, 2012)

ContinualHarvest said:


> Hardtack, GORP and wild edibles. did it for a week on a camping excursion along the AT. Came in under $20.00. Still hard to eat a peanut sometimes hah!


What is "GORP"?


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## Wellrounded (Sep 25, 2011)

Good old raisins and peanuts. trail mix.


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## CoffeeTastic (Apr 12, 2013)

Impossible, that is less than my daily budget.


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

Good exercise.

This week my budget will be closer to $5, as we will only be getting a couple gallons of milk. The rest will have to come from our storage, as we are paying bigger than usual bills this month. 

Lake is right, everyone is at different stages. We can do this because life has forced us to do it already. It's good to do it, forcing us to lean on (or depend on) our storage - it helps us rotate through stocked items, and helps us see where we're lean and need shoring up.

ETA: Sometimes it helps us get creative, too, in terms of what foods go together.


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## ksmama10 (Sep 17, 2012)

Well gang, I finally started going through the freezer this morning...if I'm not back by Monday, you'll know that either the freezer or the pantry swallowed me whole..only two shelves in, and I'm feeling less inclined to grocery shop for a while.


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

ksmama10 said:


> In the book, and one of the videos, they said it could be done for less than $21.. All depends on what is on hand already.


That list starts from -0-


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

I can remember being single and spending only about $100 a month, including eating out. Back then store brand mac/cheese was 8 boxes for a buck (sometimes 12 when on sale), Ramen were 12 for a buck, Oatmeal is cheap and makes a lot of hot cereal, cheap hot dogs were well under a buck for a pack of 8. ill bet I could still easily do it for $21 by myself, but not the whole family (easily, anyway)


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