Paleo Cooking CHALLENGE

It's officially July...and that means its officially the start of a new challenge! This time, I'm "making over" my cooking and eating habits.

There's been a lot of talk at the gym lately about the "Paleo Diet." A lot of complaints I've been hearing from people are that it's too hard and/or too time-consuming to cook the food. Another complaint that doesn't apply to just the paleo diet, but to any healthy eating in general, is that it's EXPEN$IVE! Trust me, I feel ya. My grocery bill is BARELY below what I pay in rent...but I guess that just goes to show what I value and prioritize in my life: shelter and good food.

But hey, I'm still a graduate student, which means I'm living on a tight budget of both money AND time. So this month, I've decided to do something I've been meaning to do for a long while now: cook good clean food quickly and on a budget. What does this mean logistically?

1. Cut costs. I currently average about $400 per month in groceries. Yes, I know. That's A LOT for a single female. To be honest, I probably throw most of the actual food out (shame on me), and also some of that includes stuff like cleaning agents and paper towels that I share with my roommate. My challenge this month will involve cutting my food bill down to $250 - that's roughly $8 per day on cooked meals. Doable?

2. Cut time. I'm also going to get on a regimen for planning, shopping for, and actually cooking, just to show you (all 5 readers?) how easy it is to cook when crunched for time.

3. Ease of preparation. It wouldn't really be cooking on a budget if I used fancy tools, so I'm only going to use the most basic "college kitchen" utensils in preparing my meals: nonstick skillet, baking dish, baking sheet, cutting board, good knives. I'll cook as if I only had $100 to outfit a tiny kitchen.

The most measurable goal is cutting the food costs down, and if I meet that goal, I'm going to buy myself a nice food dehydrator :)

So follow along for these weekly kitchen adventures!