October 2011: Started a new blog called WeeklyGroceryShopping writing about grocery budgeting, ways to save money on groceries and how to grocery shop on a budget.
I no longer write on my other blog, but there is some helpful information over there: Groceries101.blogspot.com
August 2011: Back to the Basics! Follow along with me as I find ways to manage my grocery budget better.
May 2010: increased the food budget to $400
We are choosing to support local businesses by buying our beef, pork and chicken locally. I've also found locally raised eggs and honey. Not only are we supporting local businesses, the products are better for us.
Current Goals:
- Stay within $400 monthly budget
- Buy Meat/Protein Locally
- Buy a LOT of veggies (if budget allows, Locally)
- Fats - buy good fats that will help with hypoglycemic issues
- Read Labels - buy items without a bunch of junk (sour cream, whipping cream)
- Occasionally we go out to eat, which comes out of the entertainment budget. If we don’t have money in that envelope then we don’t go out to eat.
- My gardening supplies do not come out of here. Right now it’s a hobby for me. Hopefully some day I’ll save money or at least break even!
- Dog food comes out of the dog budget.
- Any alcohol we buy comes out of the entertainment budget.
- My husband usually gets to eat lunch at work, I eat leftovers and the kids are having school lunch right now (different budget category!)
- I use very few coupons
- Use the pantry principle
- Kinda/sorta menu planning
- Batch Cooking
- Evaluate wants vs needs
- CASH!
- shop loss leaders
- I rarely buy what I really want to eat…I cook/eat whatever is on sale.
Grocery Buying History
Sept 2009 - April 2010 - finally got my budget down
Sept 2007 - Oct 2009 spreadsheet says $500 food and supplies (can't really say for sure what we were spending on food because we went out to eat as well). We were pretty happy to have an income again and probably spent more than we normally would have.
August 2005-August 2007 is a complete blur. We moved from Montana to Arizona so my husband could attend Physician Assistant school. My husband started a new job in South Dakota in September.
2001-2005 Realized my dream! I became a stay at home. If I didn't manage our money well then I knew I'd have to go and get a job. I'm not sure, but I think I used to spend $250 for 2 adults and 2 small kids who didn't eat very much. I was still learning how to cook and how to save money at the store.
??? - 2001 I remember that I used to spend $600-$1,000 per month on groceries for two adults, a two year old and a baby. I'm almost embarrassed to write that, but you can see how far I've come!
This is all old information - not sure it's useful, but I'm leaving it in here for now.
November 2008?
After reading Gayle's website GroceryCartChallenge where she spends $60/week CASH to feed a family of six, I was inspired to try this for our own family. I started out with $75 per week and was absolutely sure I wouldn’t be able to pull it off. I was completely amazed at how little I could spend! I found that I could go as low as $40/week. I MADE myself go to two stores every Wednesday and spend $40 on food for the week for our family and $20 stocking up on items needed for my pantry.
I love having a well stocked pantry... I owe my understanding of the pantry principle to the wonderful people that post on the forums on Frugal Families! In August 2009 I decided to join Sam’s Club and buy some bulk items. I don’t believe we are saving money by going to Sam’s, but I do have peace of mind by having a lot more food in the house. My goal is to get our monthly total down to $216/month or $50/week.
March 2010 update: This is no longer my goal. I'm very comfortable spending $260/month or $60/week on groceries. I want to start buying a bit more meat for my husband and kiddos.
For my reference:
$40/week = $173/month
$50/week = $216/month
$60/week = $260/month
$69/week = $300/month
Loss leader – items on the front page (sometimes the back page) of a store’s ad that is cheap and used to entice you to shop at their store instead of somewhere else.
Price book – write down items you buy often so you know when a sale is really a good deal. For example, a whole chicken normally cost $1.49/lb at our store but on sale that price goes down to $.99/lb. It is at this time you buy enough chicken to get you through until the next sale (often times every 6 - 8 weeks).
