I am yet again embarking on a special project, this on dubbed Frugal Nation. The idea for Frugal Nation came from several recent reports on the rising trend of frugality, as well as personal observations of the contradictory nature of these reports.
Some reports state frugality will only make the current economic crisis worse, while other applaud individual efforts to reduce spending and debt. I read articles about declining sales, yet continue to see retail stores full of people. What am I to believe?
You may have seen this commercial for KFC where an adorable family goes to a “big box” style grocery store and attempts to find a family chicken dinner for less than $10. After failing to find all the ingredients for less than $10, mom says “oh well!” and takes said adorable children to KFC.
When I saw this, I felt like the family wasn’t even really trying (of course, that’s the point of the commercial!). Apparently, I wasn’t the only one. Read Colonel of Truth from Kurt Michael Friese on how he beat the KFC challenge, and even had money left over for some vegetables on his plate (something that was startlingly absence from the KFC family chicken dinner).
Well, if he can do it, maybe I can too! In Frugal Nation, I have challenged myself to make tasty, balanced meals for under $10. As the author is quick to point out, this might take a little more time than heading through the drive-thru window after work, but the extra time is well worth the effort.
The economic maelstrom has settled down in the past few weeks, but many of us are still feeling the ramifications. As I embark on this new special project, I invite everyone to join me in my Sweet little piece of Frugal Nation.
February 1st, 2009 at 6:18 pm
[...] searching for ways to create meals for under $10 (to see how I picked this amount, see my post on Bitter/Sweet). The point of this project is not just to save money, though that is one of the key objectives. [...]