How to feed two adults and fund a home-brewing habit on $75.00 per week:

Step One: Get over yourself.

Organics are awesome, and so are natural food stores, but shopping exclusively at Whole Food's just isn't in the budget. Wal-Mart and Harris Teeter definitely are within budget, though. Especially if 100% organic isn't the goal. Also, the people watching at Wal-Mart is amazing and even better than the website.

Step Two: Learn to love cheap food.

I am a lover of really healthy things like fresh salads, blackberries on top of yogurt and granola, and chicken that came from, well, chickens, that got to live outside and not eat their brethren. I still really, really like all of that stuff, but I've also learned to love things like spaghetti, quesadillas, Top Ramen, and cheap tofu stir-fries. In short, I'm reliving college, only drinking better beer and getting more sleep.   

Step Three: Enlist the help of a trusty side-kick.

I have Barrett, who is way better at sticking to a budget than I am. Shopping together means we can talk each other down when we reach the tempting cliff of Eating Meat More Than Once a Week.

After all three steps, sticking to a budget becomes sort of like a game. Last week we came in at $67.55, and this week we topped out at $79.43, for a grand total of $146.98, still $3.02 under budget. We left the store looking like this:

And silently judging everyone around us.