The Concept

What would happen if an average family decided to drastically cut their grocery budget and finally eat all of that food that mom has been diligently stockpiling for months? I'm not sure, but am willing to find out.

I got hooked on something called the Grocery Game several months ago and this led to massive stockpiling of non-perishable goods and marathon sessions of coupon cutting. I ended up with some junk food, some healthy food, and a lot of guilt when I didn't have the right coupon with me when I needed it.

Now, I've cancelled my newspaper subscription and my Grocery Game membership and am ready to find out just how long my 'stash' can last and just how creative I can be with 6 cans of Geisha pineapple from Walgreens and $1 a box whole grain pasta from Big Lots.

In order to know if my experiment is a success, I need to make some ground rules. Here they are:

1. My budget is $25 per week for fresh produce, dairy, and breads.
2. I can add other items to my shopping cart, so long as I stay under the $25/week limit.
3. I will post my receipt information and shopping list to keep me honest.
4. I have to try and be as creative as possible when using the existing ingredients in my pantry.

I kept myself to 4 rules to keep it simple. But I also have a goal of sharing one recipe per week so that I can discuss how I creatively used my 'stash.' This should get really interesting after a few weeks when we've used up all of the easy ideas. I predict that it will probably be pretty easy in the beginning, but should toughen up as we run out of items considered staples in our home (like cereal and cookies).