BUDGET CHALLENGE: TO EAT FOR A WEEK ON 5 DOLLARS

hello friends welcome back to another video  today i'm doing a video that i've been both   excited about and also kind of dreading a few  weeks back one of my viewers challenged me to   an extreme grocery budget challenge she wants me  to eat for the entire week on five dollars and   25 cents that's 25 cents per meal i've been  excited because i do love a good challenge   as soon as we spoke the wheels in my head started  turning about how i could find a way not just to   survive but to actually make food that i would  enjoy eating i was at the same time dreading   it because i know i'm not going to be able to  eat the kind of fruits and vegetables that i   regularly eat and i may be very hungry by the time  this is over it will be my biggest challenge yet   there's only one store that i can think of that  will help me make this possible and that's winco   ah this feels like going to see an old friend i  can't believe how happy i feel to be coming here   i have missed this place i used to shop here  all the time and i uh remember getting such   amazing deals winco has what's known as the  wall of values when you first enter the store   and it's the very best deals that they have been  able to purchase in bulk and i always find amazing   finds here like this nor chicken bullion is 4.98  and that's a really good deal for anybody looking   to stock up i would definitely if i used the  chicken flavor i would be picking up several of   those i'd like to get at least one potato because  there are quite a few options i can do with   potatoes and these bakers were about 68 cents a  pound so this one would come in at about 73 cents these red potatoes were 58 cents a pound   and they were a little bit smaller but  i think i might really need that extra   10 cents it might be the difference in  being able to purchase something else   um you know like a piece of fruit or vegetable i  saw this bag of potatoes for 1.98 and i'm tempted   to buy the bag but then i'm probably not going to  be able to get much else and then that wouldn't   be very much fun at all because i would just  be eating potatoes all week but i may get this   uh i may set this in my cart and ponder that for  a while they also had these green bell peppers for   38 cents which i thought was an amazing deal  so i'm gonna keep that on my radar as well when i'm looking over these i'm kind of  actually shocked at the price of the produce   i think i've forgotten what a great deal they are  i think i do need to start coming up here a lot   more often at least once a month because they  definitely are less expensive than walmart um   now this is the real reason i'm at winco i  wanted to come up here to see i didn't even   know if they still had the bulk foods or not  if they were allowing people to you know use it   due to covid but looks like it's all open so  i'm just going to scan over what they have and   what the prices are like i can get like i can get  flour for 55 cents a pound which is a great deal i did have to double bag  my flour because the first   bag had a small hole so i'm just going  to get over a little over a pound now i want to get some inexpensive beans and  i'm hoping that my options are good for some   low cost they have this barley at 67 cents a pound which is a really good price lentils are 87 cents i could  definitely do that that's a great value and pinto beans are 85 cents i was hoping  to do something a little more exciting i was looking at these yellow split peas  i can't stand the green peas i've got some   awful childhood memories of being made  to uh being forced to eat those actually   in elementary school so i don't want to  take a chance that i wouldn't like them   so i'm thinking that the lentils  are the option for me to go with okay this is what i have to eat for the week  i picked up a very small amount of pinto beans   i purchased two bags of lentils first  i picked up one and then i decided   that that wasn't going to be enough for  the week so i picked up a second bag i got quite a bit of flour i think i have about  three cups a little more than three cups and   that's gonna help me with quite a few of my meals  i end up going with the red potatoes because they   were 10 cents cheaper and every cent counts and  i picked up some rice i think i have about a cup   i'm not sure how i'm gonna use it but i can't  imagine a week without rice i got two bananas one roma tomato and two jalapeno peppers   i got a small amount of curry  and i'm gonna use that sparingly and i also went back and got some turmeric   and i'm not sure i'm going to use  this but i think it'll be a good spice also i picked up this pack of butter we'll see  how much i end up using for the entire week and   i picked up my eggs at dollar tree because  they were less expensive i also picked up   an onion at wholesome choice because they  were 20 cents looking at all of these foods   laid out here like this does  have me a little bit worried   i'm a concern that this is not going  to be enough to feed me for the week   but i guess we'll see how it goes before we get  started let me just say i will be using a very   limited amount of pantry staples that i already  have on hand i will be using baking soda a small   amount of sugar garlic salt my vegetable bullion  a little bit of oil as well as baking powder   so for my first meal i'm going to cook up some  lentils and i'm going to be using half of these   in a soup i have been really cold lately i live  in this old place with a very old windows and when   it's summertime it's hot and when it's winter time  it's cold so i've really been desiring soup lately   so that's what i'm going to do but i'm adding in  a little bit of the jalapeno pepper for flavor   and i'm also going to add just a tiny amount of  potatoes for a little bit more nutrition and i'm   going to let those boil together i'm adding a  little bit of garlic salt and i'm just gonna   let that simmer i came back and i was shocked  because i was only gone for a couple minutes   and i came back and all the water was already  absorbed it is absolutely tasty uh just with the   the natural lentils and potatoes themselves  but like i said um i'm going to pull out half   about half i'm going to save that for another  recipe and then i'm going to make soup with   the remainder and i'm just going to add in some  some water and a little bit of vegetable bullion and it didn't look like much but this  meal was actually very satisfying   the lentils are filling and  it was tasty and nice and hot okay i decided that i'm going to make biscuits   with the flour however i'm going to be trying to  conserve the flour so i'm only going to be using   one cup i've cut the recipe for biscuits  in a third and i'm going to link it in the   description so that you have all of the correct  measurements if you want to make a regular batch   and i will say in advance that this was one  of my favorite recipes of the video it was   absolutely delicious one of the commenters on this  recipe review so that they tasted just like kfc   biscuits and i have to say i agree they were  absolutely delicious funny fact is uh the guy who   just started kfc actually started it in retirement  to supplement his social security income   so i thought that was a interesting and fun fact  that i learned several years ago actually the   original recipe called for buttermilk as do  many biscuit recipes but obviously we don't   have buttermilk or milk so i'm just going to be  adding water and then i'm going to supplement   with a little bit of additional butter to make up  for the extra fat that would have been in the milk but one of my rules for making biscuits is   you know not to knead them too much or when i  edited this video i didn't cut down this clip   at all so i showed you the full amount of time  that i actually needed the bread another thing too   is i was trying to conserve flour so i wasn't  using very much on my on my sheet of paper just   to try to save as much as i possibly could but i  ended up having to add a little bit more to keep   it from sticking and that was basically all  that i was gonna need or touch the biscuits so so i have to say these egg biscuits turned out  absolutely delicious the biscuits were fluffy   and delicious i hesitated to put any sugar in  the biscuits because i grew up with southern   biscuits and that's the kind i've always made  but i did follow the recipe and i'm really glad   that i did because they were absolutely delicious  and i will definitely be making this recipe again   i made these for another day and i just wrapped  them in this paper and put them in the fridge   and then that way i could pop them in my toaster  oven or a microwave for another breakfast so i've   made sweet breads and banana bread on my channel  but this week i'll be making banana muffins and   i'm only going to be using one and a half of the  bananas normally when i make banana bread i use   three bananas and i usually make sure that they're  exceptionally ripe and these aren't quite as ripe   as i would have liked them but i'm getting hungry  and i think that these are gonna be making me   super happy so i'm just gonna whip these up  i'm gonna bake them at 325 degrees for an   hour and i couldn't help but take a taste of  the banana i'm so hungry for fruit already   and that just tastes delicious to me i also  thought about trying to conserve a little bit   of the flour out of there but i decided at the end  to go ahead and use it all now i will say that i   probably should have added a little bit of water  to make up for the extra banana that i was missing   normally like i say my bananas are quite ripe so  they're a little bit more of liquid but in this   case my banana muffins ended up being kind of a  little bit more dense than normal but the flavor   wasn't lacking at all for having less bananas in  there so if you are trying to conserve on money   this is a great recipe to have like i said you  can either make bread out of it or you can make   muffins and it doesn't require all of the bananas  so one and a half or if you didn't want to add any   bananas if you can't afford the bananas just make  the bread and it's still going to be delicious i am excited about these because i think  that these will go a long way to helping me   stay satisfied this week i think i'll be able to  use a couple for snacks and i'll incorporate a   couple of them into my breakfast as well empanadas  have been on my bucket list for quite some time   now and i thought this week is the time to do  it and for the filling i'm going to be making   a curried lentil filling and i'm just using  the leftover lentils that i had from my soup   earlier in the week and i'm adding this curry  powder from winco and i have to say i absolutely   loved this is my favorite curry powder so far um  it's just a really mild good flavor so i'm gonna   definitely keep getting this and i'm just adding  this in with a little bit of water and getting   that all mixed in and that'll be our filling for  the empanadas and it tastes absolutely delicious okay for the empanadas i'm not going to have  you guys watch me make the actual dough because   obviously watching a complete video of all of  the bread and items that i'm making with the   flower would have been really boring however  i will put the recipe in the description   down below and i just used this top of a  yogurt can that i found that i thought would be   about the right size and i'm going to use that and  then i'm going to use the rest of the dough for   another recipe that i'm going to be making a mini  pot pie so the way i arrange this video is that   i'm showing some of the major recipes up front  and then i'm gonna go ahead and show consecutively   what a for all seven breakfasts all seven lunches  and all seven dinners at towards the end of the   video that way i thought it would be a better  representation of what i actually had for my meals there is definitely room for improvement in  my tortilla making skills but they were very   good regardless and i know it's one of those  skills that the more you do the better you get   and i'm sure that in the future i'll be  making these a lot more often they are   super budget friendly and they  work with a variety of foods okay so for the first day i had this little soup  and it was actually very filling and very tasty   i was happy and satisfied with that and for  the second day i made this homemade empanada i   definitely think i have some skills to be desired  on this but i was happy that i was able to make   it and the filling was absolutely delicious if  anybody out there knows how to make really good   empanadas and empanada dough definitely shoot me  a message in the inbox and let me know the third   day i tried to make this soup with just potatoes  and onions and i really didn't want to add too   much else in terms of flavor because i wanted to  see if i'd be satisfied with the onions and the   potatoes and i was not i ended up adding a little  bit of garlic salt and i actually think that that   just made it worse this is actually a soup i love  to eat along with evaporated milk but i like this   it was just it was pretty bland i should have  added some veg vegetable bullion for day four   this was a bit of a surprise i had started eating  that tortilla that i made and i had this leftover   curry and it was so delicious i was hoping i  would have enough items left over in the menu   to make a curried lentil burrito but i didn't  and this was a surprise it was it was just   super super tasty i think i wouldn't mind  making these again in the future um maybe   making a crisp version of it as well as a  soft version with just regular tortillas   okay then for this i just made some beans and  rice chopped up a little bit of the tomatoes   and i used the jalapeno pepper that was in the  beans and fried up one of the tortillas to make   chips and this was surprisingly delicious  actually it just really wholesome good food   and it was a nice protein balance with vitamins  and minerals with the the beans and rice so i   was happy with that meal so i'm starting to run  out of ingredients i've got a little bit of onion   and potato left my brother gifted me this mandolin  slicer at christmas and so i'm looking forward to   trying it out and i thought i would go ahead and  bake up some potatoes with some very thin slices   and look how thin it made them i could  almost make potato chips with this   which sounds delicious right about now but i'll  go ahead and bake them but i just thought this is   so neat i'm thinking of all the things  that i can maybe use this for in the future   and here is what my dinner looked like this  night i think my favorite way to eat potatoes   is roasted with a little bit of garlic salt  and it's i just think they're so delicious   and i had this gravy left over it was a little  too thick so i thinned it out with some more   vegetable bouillon and water and it was so  delicious over this rice i could have just eaten   and eaten and eaten in it i don't know if it's  because i'm so hungry because i'm not snacking   but yeah it was really good and then i had a half  a banana and i pureed that up and had that it was   a nice treat and i also had a half of a muffin  with a little bit of margarine for a dessert so for the first dinner i just had some beans that  i made in my crock pot and i made those with the   jalapeno pepper so they had a really nice flavor  and i uh put that on my shell with some onions and   some tomatoes and some fresh slices of  jalapeno i have to say a few months back maybe   maybe five or six months i don't know a viewer  had suggested using jalapeno peppers more and   ever since then i've been using them and um you  know what they just added a lot to my meals and i   had them in these egg bites as well and i like  them fresh the best because they had a lot of   crunch to them and it just added some texture  to the meal and they're not so hot that   you know that they give me heartburn or that  they're too spicy or anything like that they're   just perfect and this was a breakfast burrito  with potatoes and the egg bites here is a pot pie   that i made and the inside was so savory and  good i used my bullion to make a gravy i made   a roux first and then a gravy and added potatoes  and onions and made the little crust to it again   for the crust i used the embanada recipe and  here is a crispy burrito with beans and a pico   de gallo with tomatoes onions and jalapeno  and one night i had two biscuits with eggs   and i would have been super happy to eat these  every day because they were that good and here is   the gravy that i made with the flour and bouillon  and i poured it over my rice for another meal my last meal was curry lentils with  a little turmeric and some scalloped   potatoes and then a muffin for dessert and  that was a really really delicious meal   so looking back over the week i almost can't  believe i made 21 meals for five dollars   and i was really trying to make that flower  last so i had very very thin tortillas i think   if i was to do it over again i would  definitely try to get a little bit more flour   and i think for anybody that's trying to save  money on groceries flour is key because as you   can see there are so many things you can do with  flour and i could have done so many more things   that i really wanted to do i have to say i really  did miss all of the fresh fruits and vegetables   and i can't believe what a difference it makes  to have an extra five or ten dollars in your   budget i've done a lot of videos between ten and  fifteen dollars a week and i just can't believe   the difference that it makes for just that extra  five or ten dollars that's it guys i hope you like   my video let me know what you'd like to see  in the next video and i'll see you next week

Channel: Ardent Michelle

Views: 537,602

Keywords: grocery haul on a budget, grocery budget challenge, grocery challenge, frugal meals, budget grocery haul, frugal living, ardent Michelle, food haul on a budget, affordable food, budget grocery challenge, extreme grocery budget challenge, how to save money on groceries without coupons, affordable foods

Id: 9rLaY8ImFFc

Length: 27min 48sec (1668 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 11 2022