More homemade food

I am so excited. For dinner I made Spanish rice. My sister in law taught me how recently. My kids love when she makes it for them. I was uncertain how it would go being my first time making it. It was delicious; only a little drier than hers. I also made chicken and salad for dinner. The kids got canned peaches for dessert. I also used the peach juice to sweeten our homemade sun tea.

I also made beer bread and ham stew/soup for lunch tomorrow. I had some left over ham so I made some broth, added a little rice, a can of green beans, a can of peas, and the left over ham. It made a whole pot and I tried it. The soup/stew is good. It taste like pea soup. The beer bread will go great with it tomorrow. I am calling it soup/stew because it is thicker than soup and with not as much broth because it got absorbed into the rice. I am excited that I got a whole meal out of something I would have thrown away.

I also am making a loaf of bread in my bread maker, as we are out of bread. The kids love homemade bread. They will eat it as a snack with butter or peanut butter.

Tomorrow's menu:

breakfast:
homemade pancakes (already made and in fridge)
maple syrup
applesauce
sun tea

lunch:
homemade ham stew/soup
beer bread
maybe canned apricots (how did I get so many of them? lol)
water

dinner:
pot roast
left over Spanish rice
canned green beans
water

snacks:
homemade bread (half white/half wheat)
cheeze-its
cut carrots (fresh) with or without ranch

I hate not having fresh fruit and veggies, but I do want to use up all the canned goods I have as I want to make a switch from canned to all fresh or frozen. But I also don't want to waste what we do have.

I also like that we have only spent about $100 on groceries this month. We didn't get as many fresh fruits and veggies, but we got alot more stuff made at home. I did have to buy eggs again yesterday, as cooking from scratch so much requires lots of eggs.

How much do you usually spend on groceries? How many people does that feed?

I usually spend about $300 a month. That includes my vinegar (I buy about 4 gallons a month), baking soda, borax, washing soda, and my contact stuff. I buy lots of fresh fruits and veggies, and organic milk (for kids, I don't drink milk), organic eggs. I don't usually buy junk food, except about 1 treat each a week. My treat is a bag of tostitoes and salsa (which last me almost all month.) The kids treats are cereal, granola bars, ice cream, goldfish, or cheeze-its. (Don't worry Grandma makes sure they get other junk food.) As far as drinks I don't usually buy anything. We drink water. We make tea (with tea bags) that the kids add a little sugar to sweeten. Occasionally I do buy orange juice, but not too often.

I would like to eliminate sugar from my diet, but realize that will cost more money and am not sure I can increase my food budget. I want to eat healthier and be healthier (so that I am honoring God as my body is supposed to be His temple.) I have even considered a mostly raw food diet, but again am not sure how much that will increase my food budget.

Any advice or tips on eating healthy (sugar free and raw eating especially) without increasing my food budget would be appreciated.

-Becky