Comments on: Betting on Love, Leveling Up and Leaving Atlanta (Part V)

By: Cindy C

Cindy C — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 04:16:14 +0000

Oh my goodness I wish I found this site sooner! I too, am saving up to move out of Atlanta :) I’m aiming for San Fran though my boyfriend lives in NY. I read through your whole betting on love, leveling up, and leaving Atl series and I feel like I’ve met a kindred spirit!! Moving somewhere new and not knowing anyone is a really scary thought but I plan to be moved out after Marchish of this year. I have similar plans and goals as you :) I hope to read more of your posts as I cheer you on!

By: Bonnie St. Clair

Bonnie St. Clair — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 02:47:35 +0000

@Amanda T Ooh, a group Tumblr sounds cool – I don’t actually know that much about Tumblr, so I hadn’t thought of that as a possibility. If you end up feeling like trying that out and it seems like it would work well, I’d be down for switching to that. But yeah, I’m looking forward to seeing how/if this starts shaping up!

By: Amanda T

Amanda T — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 02:34:43 +0000

@Bonnie St. Clair Just saw this! Thanks for going ahead with it, I was all aflutter with ideas about making some sort of a group tumblr but that would probably be waaay too much work. I’ll definitely contribute to the Google group as I plan out grocery trips and my weekly menus! I’m excited to see what (and if) people post…

By: Bonnie St. Clair

Bonnie St. Clair — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 01:58:03 +0000

@Emma Peel @Amanda T @anyone else who wants to join:
I created a Google meal-planning group to get something started; if something better gets set up, we could just migrate anything that’s posted to there (or maybe I should say, *if* something is posted, ha; hopefully this group will get some activity):
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/the-billfold-meal-planning-group

Come share recipes or talk about food or money or whatever – I’m excited!

By: Bonnie St. Clair

Bonnie St. Clair — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 01:52:31 +0000

@Emma Peel Cool, and thanks for sharing your ideas! I aspire to having meals written down ahead of time, ha. And that’s a really good idea about Evernote; I’ve heard of it but never used it and wouldn’t have thought of it for meal-planning!

By: orejitasmiamor

orejitasmiamor — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 03:22:33 +0000

@Emma Peel I love love love YDFM! The spices cost very little for the amount and quality. The produce is pretty good, and they have a lot of variety.

If you need cheap food go there or to one of the Asian marts ( H mart, Great Wall) that are North. I’m new to the area and can’t quite remember where they are, one is in Duluth I think?

By: Fig. 1

Fig. 1 — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 22:05:03 +0000

@RocketSurgeon +1 for the Cook’s Illustrated, I have the New Best Recipe and Best Vegetable cookbooks and I love love love them. Follow the instructions, it turns out. Period. Plus hot tips on how and why to do certain things. Have not opened the Nigella book in five years.

By: Emma Peel

Emma Peel — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 19:04:00 +0000

@Bonnie St. Clair I LOVE the idea of a Google group to share delicious, healthy-ish, budget-ish recipes!

As for meal planning, I agree that so many sites and apps are disappointing and not geared toward people who are cooking for one or two. I make a three-column spreadsheet for nine days or so in Google Docs, and put every meal in it. Then off in another column I write whatever I’m going to need to buy at the grocery store. Usually the recipes I make will create a couple of days of leftovers, so really I only cook something for dinner 2-3 times per week.

For lunch, I either bring in frozen soup/stew and a grain, or grab sandwich ingredients and assemble them at the office.

I also use Evernote to organize recipes from the Internet (and sometimes, if I’m really good, take photos of recipes from cookbooks) and tag them with any ingredient that isn’t something I usually have in my pantry. So if I have leftover leeks, say, I find another recipe that will use them right away. This helps a lot when you like farmers’ markets but are only cooking for one.

By: Trilby

Trilby — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 14:28:16 +0000

That’s great that you are getting a handle on your food budget and making good food at home! I am also trying to reign in expenses so I’m trying something new– Starting with my paycheck on Friday, I’m going to put $200 cash in an envelope and use only that money for my food shopping for the next two weeks. I have a well-stocked pantry and mad skillz, so it shouldn’t be hard, even though I have one other person to feed at my house.

By: Bonnie St. Clair

Bonnie St. Clair — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 04:24:50 +0000

@This is my new user name Thanks! I’ve tried out a few Budget Bytes recipes and definitely want to try more. I wish I liked spicy food as much as she does, because the spicier recipes always sound good, but I get heartburn easily, boo. Anyway, of the stuff I’ve tried, I especially like her baked oatmeal recipes.