Groceries - Food Budget and Grocery Store Purchases

Comparing your food budget to someone else's budget is not always a good idea. Carla had mentioned in a comment how expensive everything is where she is at.

Here was my response to her comment (you might need to read the whole post/comment section for it to make sense):

You hit the nail on the head - most people cannot compare their grocery budgets. They can compare their shopping strategies and see how they can save money. For example, the asparagus. Broccoli is only $1.00/lb vs. $2.00/lb for the asparagus. I believe I compared the nutrients of the two veggies before and found them comparable (haven't done that for a year so I can't remember for sure). I can choose the broccoli or choose the asparagus. After eating the asparagus I think I'll still choose it - YUMMY!!!

Last year when I got serious about lowering our food budget (again), I started reading Money Saving Mom and Grocery Cart Challenge. I could have easily given up on trying to save money. We don't get coupons here like Crystal does and the prices Gayle posts are amazing. However, by following their strategies, I was able to lower our food budget to $260.

Today my food budget is $400. This includes vitamins, but not shampoo. It includes breakfast and dinners for us. However sometimes we go out to eat and that comes from our entertainment money. If I were to pick something up instead of make dinner then whatever I bought would come out of our food money. My husband often times has free lunch at work, but sometimes I have to send something for him. My kids lunch would cost $10 a month if I sent lunch to school with them, but we're trying something new with them and those costs are not in my $400.  Any gardening costs don't come out of my food budget...since I spend WAY more than I could ever save that would be the first thing that would go if I were trying to save money.

It gets a bit complicated. If you were to compare your budget with mine, you would be comparing apples to oranges.

However, you can take the strategies that I use and see if they work for you and your family.

• Food Budget Goals or Priorities
• Kinda/Sorta Menu Planning
• Batch Cooking
• Pantry Principle
• Wants Vs Needs
• CASH
• Have a Plan

Do you find yourself comparing yourself to others? If so, trying looking at the person's strategy and see if you could implement that in your own life. If it doesn't work, that is okay too!

Grocery Shopping:

Not much shopping has been done this week. I'm planning on picking up 2 dozen eggs today.

• wine $4 - making some burgandy? steak or something for my husband's birthday. Not sure of a recipe yet - it'll be merlot though since they didn't have cheap burgandy
• bananas $1.07
• brown sugar $1.72
• ketchup $2.18
• Garlic $.49
• Total about $10 with tax

This post has been linked to:
Grocery Cart Challenge
Money Saving Mom