35 Day No-Buy Recap!

So my 35 day no-buy for groceries was officially over on Friday, but I didn’t go grab groceries until Sunday so here I am now, giving a bit of a recap on how 35 days of not buying groceries went.

It went surprisingly well. In retrospect, I don’t know that I could have chosen an easier month to have a no-buy on, because there was both of my parent’s birthdays, Father’s Day, a family dinner in Red Deer, and a family dinner with friends that took care of five dinners, plus loads of opportunities to visit my parents, and my mum is the best and always feeds me. So there’s a bit of cheating there but it doesn’t entirely wipe out the significance of not buying any groceries from May 25th to July 3rd.

So did I buy any groceries?

Yes and no. I bought shrimp on sale with one week to go in the no-buy period, but haven’t eaten any. It was just a really good sale on frozen shrimp, which I actually love! My mum also bought me a clamshell of strawberries after seeing me practically drool over them in the store.

But other than that? No grocery shopping. So what did I eat?

Overnight Oatmeal (post coming soon!)

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins (post coming soon!)

Hard Boiled Eggs

Everything Bagel with Laughing Cow Cheese

Carrots, Cucumbers and Hummus

Banana “Ice Cream”

Tortilla Chips and Salsa

Paella (post coming soon!)

Crab and Asparagus Risotto (post coming soon!)

Crab and Asparagus Alfredo (post coming soon!)

Burst Tomato and Basil Penne (post coming soon!)

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Pesto-Bolognese sauce

So as you can see, there was quite a bit of variety and fun even though I wasn’t buying “new” groceries, just reworking pantry staples. About three weeks in I started craving green things like lettuce and sauteed spinach, but all in all it was an easy challenge to keep. By the end of the 35 days, all I had run out of were fresh staple vegetables.

All in all, this was a good experience. I had thought about going through July as a no-buy as well, but I think  it will be “Less-Buy July” because all of the great produce is starting to come out. I would definitely do this again, any time I’m looking to save a bit of money, really, because each option mentioned for a snack or meal is incredibly affordable and easy to put together.