- I have a freezer full of beef and pork from local ranchers
- I buy local honey and chickens when I can
- I buy farm fresh eggs from the local Lock Shop
- I get apples, butter and frozen blueberries from Azure Standard
- I pick up frozen veggies, peanuts, canned tomatoes and other items from Sam's club monthly
- I changed the focus of our diet from grains, but put too much emphasis on meat instead of veggies
I started with $75 per week and eventually went down to $60 per week. I was able to buy all of our needs and a lot of our wants. I don't want to go back to weekly shopping because I don't want to give up supporting our local ranchers and farmers or my monthly shopping trips.
Breakdown the Budget
$400 per month is about $13.00 per day
Breakfast $3.00 per day (we eat sausage almost every day for breakfast, but I've been serving too much - one small patty is enough protein when served with yogurt or an egg)
Lunch $2.00 per day (I'm finding ways to lower this!)
Dinner $7.00 per day
Misc $1.00 per day (coffee, tea, peanuts, etc)
This week I've been adding up the cost of my meals to see where I'm off balance. I've been serving too much meat! We all need protein to live, but not nearly as much as I have been serving. We need meat in the morning, but we don't need as much protein in the evening.
Where to Start?
I'm starting with supper/dinner/the evening meal.
$7.00 per day is a lot of money. If I can get that down to $6.00 per day for half of the month then I can save about $15 per month or $180 per year.
Homemade chicken and veggie soup anyone??? How about Egg Drop Soup???
This post is linked to:
Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom
Homemaker Monday at 11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven.
Super Saturday Savings at Money Saving Mom
I'm wondering, do you include such things in this budget as paper towels, feminine products, soap, non-food items that you might buy somewhere other than a grocery store? Those things really seem to add up for me.
ReplyDeleteonereddaisy@gmail.com
We've recently had to cut back drastically on our food budget. I find that meat is often what causes the meals to be so expensive, too! My son also has special dietary issues which mean we can't eat just rice or pasta too often, making it a real challenge! I think a veggie based diet works best for us when trying to save. Since my family lives in Guatemala, vegetables are relatively cheap and abundant, making it easy to include a variety.
ReplyDeleteI go along these same steps sometimes what I do to cut down is to cook one meal and reuse it again in the second
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't include any "supply" type items. Those add up quick! I budget $50 for those type of things and I always struggle to keep it under that amount. We have extremely hard water here so quality dishwashing detergent and laundry soap eat that up really quick.
ReplyDeleteApril - I wish veggies were cheap and plentiful here! Sometimes I wonder how many nutrients are left by the time I buy them and cook them.
ReplyDeleteshopannies - I too re-use. Last night I made taco meat using a roast. Tomorrow night we'll be having that meat along with black beans to stretch it even more.
We're a family of five on a $280 a month grocery budget (just got bumped from $240), and that does include non-food items like hba/toiletries/paper goods. I'm also in the process of switching us over to a healthier eating life style so it's definitely a challenge to make it work! I'm really excited that I just found a local egg source so no I'm getting 'happy chicken' eggs for just .50 more per dozen then I was paying before :) Small steps!
ReplyDelete