Well, I managed to do about the worst thing I could possibly do in a challenge like this. While I don't keep a coupon binder like most people who coupon (because I don't clip, sort and organize my coupons). I do have a coupon envelope where I store my most valuable coupons. It usually contains about 50 or so coupons for free products (Kraft Deli Meat, Libby's Vegetables, the free Ben & Jerry's ice-cream, etc), coupons where I can sometimes get free products (for example, Kraft Deli Creations often go on clearance for $0.99, so I have 20 $1.00 off 1 coupons so I could take advantage of this when I came across it) and other coupons that I often use. They are the best of the best coupons I have so I always want them with me when I shop. Like a complete idiot, I lost my coupon envelope.

I knew something was wrong when the coupon envelope wasn't in its usual place when I checked as I got ready to leave on my latest house sitting gig. I thought I might have left it in the car, so I did a thorough check and nothing came up. Then I started to think about my last shopping trip and remember putting it on the shelf by the Toasted Wheat Thins and realized I must have left it there. I immediately went back to the store to see if anyone had turned it in – no such luck. When it became clear it truly was lost, it almost brought me to tears (it really is a sad day in my life when losing coupons can nearly bring me to tears…).

If I had done something like this in the first couple of weeks of this challenge, I would have quit right then and there. Even though it is devastating, I have managed to create a cushion which should help me survive even with their loss. While I am obviously disappointed about the food I thought I had (I swear, I am jinxed when it comes to Ben & Jerry's ice-cream), I am even more disappointed in the food I could have received for free that would have gone to local food banks. I just hope that whomever found my coupon envelope realized what they found and took full advantage of all the great coupons I had collected. It would kill me to learn that the person simply threw it all away…

That left me in the unenviable position of being in a new place where I am unfamiliar without any coupons and in desperate need of restocking my food supply. I had to go in search of local grocery stores and only managed to find a P&W Markets — a grocery store with which I am not familiar at all.

I was really lucky in one aspect – bananas. P&W had discounted all of their browning bananas (which are perfect for me because I use them in my morning smoothies). I ended up buying 26 bananas for $1.98 and I'm seriously considering going back and buying more. In addition to the bananas, I purchased some chicken breasts and eggs. The prices on these two products weren't great, but they weren't terrible either. In the end I came home with 26 bananas, a dozen eggs and 4 chicken breasts for $6.66:

day 69 shopping

pw markets receipt

Once home, I pealed and cut up most of the bananas to freeze them (I had to look up on the Internet how to do this)

freeze bananas

I need to make another trip tomorrow to see if I can find some more grocery stores in this area since I will be here a few weeks. I need to begin to plan my shopping strategy and it will be important to know which grocery stores I'll be able to use for deals.

This is the current list of food I still have
This is the current list of what I have purchased:

Goal: 100 days eating on $1 a day
Current Money Spent: $47.19
Money Left to Spend: $52.81 ($5.54 must be spent at CVS)
Retail Value of Everything Purchased: $1268.64

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The Beginning ::: Day 69: Eating Squirrel Leftovers

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