What's Working {Food}

There have been some food frustrations around here lately.  We changed how we eat, and it continues to go well.  I'm learning more and more all the time and love being able to cook and bake for our family.  But the frustrating thing is the grocery budget.  I read online about how people are able to cut their grocery budget by couponing or cooking from scratch and I just can't seem to make it work!  Coupons are hard because now we don't buy much processed food or we have to buy a specific brand because of Matthew's allergies.  I've realized that I need to cut myself some slack and not expect our budget to be the same as other people's because some of the things we have to buy are really expensive.  Take milk for example - instead of 1 gallon of milk that is $2.50-$3.00 (we would probably use 2 of these in a week, so $6.00) we are spending almost $12 on rice milk every week!  When I want to buy chocolate chips, instead of $2-3 a bag we buy a dairy-free kind that is almost $4.00.

There are quite a few things like this, and although I'm learning how to work around some of it, I know this is just a part of our life.  The only loaf of bread I had found that was safe for Matthew was almost $3.50 a loaf, so I have started making our bread every week.  I love it!  I never thought I could do this but now that I've done it a few times it is very easy and not that time consuming at all.  I have bread in the oven right now and can't wait for it to be done!  My friend just told me she is making her own tortillas and I am looking forward to trying that, too. I've told myself that I don't have to add making another thing from scratch until I feel like it and that has taken the pressure off from doing it all at once.  Next up after tortillas: hummus!