What I’ve learned from 2010 is how to navigate my new (used) iPhone to better document my life in terms of food and post them to my Cheapfoodhere Project 365 Flickr gallery. I don’t prefer using the subpar iPhone camera, but it’s something I know I’ll have with me at a moment’s notice and not have to download, tweak and then upload to Flickr. So, please forgive the photo quality and know that more importantly, I want to reflect at the end of 2011 on my food journey while sharing the sweet and the terrible about what I ate during those 365 days. I plan to document people, places and things that meant something to me that day and will help my readers see what Cheap Food Here really is, in a more visual way.

I’ll be adding a gallery for reader-contributed photos so feel free to email me a photo (ashley (at) cheapfoodhere (dot) com) to post or comment with a link to the photo with permission to use it on the site. I can’t wait to see how others will journey through 2011 with Cheap Food Here. Enjoy it!

Cheap Food January Photo Gallery

When you vote, click the banner below and when the Project Food Blog header comes up on top, click on the Heart that says “Vote for this entry”. You can log in with your Facebook account in order to cast your vote.

Our post highlights a challenge to ourselves and everyone out there to live off of just $100 per person per month for food. Some people think it’s downright impossible to do and others know it’s possible but think they’ll be eating only rice and beans for the month. We’re out to prove everyone wrong and at the same time enlighten everyone, no matter what country you live in, that with the right planning, menu and shopping, you can significantly cut your food costs, all the way down to $100 per month.

We were inspired by the many people we saw and spoke to daily that spend a ridiculous amount of money on food because they go out to eat too much or just buy things frivolously in the grocery store. Creating a food budget is hugely important when you’re trying to pay down your debt and truly begin building wealth. It’s a major part of your monthly expenses and you don’t have to give up delicious food in order to save money.

Cheap Food Here is providing the menu, tips and support you need in order to cut your spending. We’re passionate about food and more passionate about saving money. So, if you have the time today, please vote for us so we can move on to Week 2 of Project Food Blog and check back here every two weeks for the next entry. Thanks to all of our readers and those enthusiastic about the same things we are.

SOME CELEBRITIES ENDORSE FOR A PRICE PRODUCTS THEY WOULDN’T CONSUME AT ANY PRICE

Perhaps more than at any other time, it is essential for you to exercise good judgment and to use old-fashioned common sense in every decision you make. We live in a world filled with hype and empty promises. Because they are paid a fee for doing so, people you admire sometimes become spokespersons for products they wouldn’t touch themselves, but they have no compunction about attempting to persuade you to buy.

When it comes to what you ingest, make your own decisions about what you eat; do not be influenced by those whose self-interest is served by selling something to you. Food manufacturers are required by law to disclose the contents of their products so that you can determine whether or not you wish to consume them. Become an avid label reader.

Here is the initial part of the post (just to get you hooked):

Not the best response to paying customers. Isn’t the key to having a successful restaurant is by having repeat customers?

I emailed the Ex-Pat owner several times suggesting that I help generate relevant food content for his site in exchange for a link or credit to cheapfoodhere.com. Not an unusual request, since I have worked with several other sites in Costa Rica writing articles, blog posts and information in exchange for either a non-linked credit to my site, or a direct link. And thanks especially to www.costaricapages.com for posting my articles on their homepage.

However, I never heard back after sending an email twice and following up on said emails. (No, I wasn’t a pest about it, the total email count was 3). So, I joined the forum (a sister site to therealcostarica.com) at http://eating.therealcostarica.com and looked around for a relevant place to post information about Don Fernando‘s butcher shop in Escazú and my favorite Chinese restaurant in Sabana Norte, Flor de Loto. I’m no blogging expert, and maybe the forums aren’t the place to post with a link to my site, but the content was relevant to the visitors to therealcostarica.com. However, if I was out of line, the owner of the site and the forum clearly has my information and email address and could have made a suggestion of simply not including a link to cheapfoodhere.com

I’m open to feedback on how I may have broken some code of blogging ethics or if it is just insulting to be ignored and ultimately banned from therealcostarica.com. Thanks for your comments in advance.

Thanks for all the followers and comments on the site. The food blog community ROCKS!

-Ashley
founder of www.cheapfoodhere.com