Food Budgeting

Have you considered buying a grass fed 1/4 cow? It has saved us a ton of money. My neighbor grew up on a farm & her parents are still neighbors with the people that sell the beef.

I hear ya.

Whole Foods has to be approached very carefully, but it's doable to spend less than obscene amounts.

The main trick is to limit trips to the grocery (our main problem) because every time you go, you pick up items that you weren't planning on getting. Which leads to: always shop with a list.

Another thing is to buy whole foods and make them last. Buy in the bulk bins - rice, grains etc. Get creative.

Money saving takes time and commitment, but I SO want to be there. It also takes commitment from the spouse/family members. My husband is THE WORST at going to the store and buying lots of stuff.

Anyway, I did recently find this really informative and motivational blog by a woman who has a great system. Explore her site for recipes and useful "frugal" tips: http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/

Good luck!!

I agree with Jo W. most of the meat on the market is more then one serving. We buy alot of boneless frozen chicken breast and one breast can feed both my hubby and myself. We don't buy beef (I can't stand the smell of raw beef so I am not cooking it!) As for salmon you can get a large bag of frozen wild salmon fillets for $13 a bag at krogers (it has about 10 servings I think) Don't waste your money on fresh fish, unless there is a lake or ocean right behind the grocery store that "fresh fish" has been frozen at some point anyway. Only buy produce fresh that you are going to eat raw, other wise frozen is just as good. Were alot of people spend money of food is with making meat the main thing on their plate. Protien should only account for 1/4 of your plate. 1/2 of the plate should be veggies, and then half a starch. Try going vegatarian several nights a week. Beans are a great protien and really cheap. We also buy a lot of corn meal. Only three tablespoons makes a one cup serving of polenta, and you can do alot with it. Add cheese, top with spegetti sauce. I like topping it with beans, corn, onions, peppers (all frozen veggies that have been sauteed) tomatoes and a little cheese. real cheap and real good.

Meat and dairy are expensive so plan your week so that 1/2 your meals are vegetarian and/or don't use much dairy. I also 2nd the idea of figuring out your food budget dollars for the week then only take cash to the grocery store. Having cash keeps me from picking up spontaneous purchases.
I find that very few coupons help when you mostly buy fresh/nonprocessed ingredients so try to get the shopping circulars ahead of time and plan your menus around the sale items rather than around coupons. Buy organic where it really counts (i.e. the dirty dozen fruit/vegies, meat) and buy nonorganic for everything else.

One thing I do is I don't cook for the family I cook to the specific needs of the family. What I mean is I don't pick out four steaks because I am feeding four, I look at the size and what we are all capable of eating. People, and I used to do this, tend to pick one for without concern for the fact that one may eat half one may eat half and the others a whole. Well then you only need three. Especially when you have a family like mine who doesn't like leftovers.

Invest in some good storage containers. Then you don't feel like you must cook all of whatever.

Yeah I am kind of obsessed with no leftovers. Truth is I purposely create leftovers but only on items that can be easily reheated. We do that on the weekends and then use the leftovers for lunches during the week because it is crazy expensive to eat out for lunch all week. Well that and we cook better than most restaurants around our offices.

I don't have any websites, that is just my personal experience.

Costco happens to sell Bison, which is much leaner than beef and Bison, by their nature, only eat grass. :) we have purchased both the steaks and ground Bison.. gotta tell ya, it was quite good.. Especially the steaks.. We grilled them.. adding only salt/pepper and a little olive oil... they don't take much time to cook either..

Additionally, believe it or not, WF does have sales.... usually at an odd hour, but I have been able to catch a few things on sale with them and it made all the difference. I do find their Olive Oil (compared to other brands) is reasonably priced.

Additionally and you probably already know this.. we buy things that are in season... and local..

I went down to using mostly one package of meat per meal. Whether that was one package of chicken breasts or one pacakage of hamburger/turkey. I went to the store today and spent $40 over my budget. I give myself $350 every two weeks. That buys me enough to stock. I didn't even have to do in the last two weeks except for some fruits and veggies and milk. So that was nice! Today was a re-stock day so it was a little more.

There are 5 of us, and I got 5 packages of chicken, 5 packages of hamburger, and 1 pork shoulder (making pork bbq on Sunday or Monday). This will add to what we still had left and easily get us through two weeks. I also do the staples of sides (rice, beans, potatoes, etc) and probably at least $50 is fruits and veggies, if not closer to $100 because we go through those things like water.

The best thing I do is to have the extra refrigerator for one. Also, having a LIST. Today I didn't have it so now we have two backup peanut butters, 10 boxes of mac and cheese, and a few other too many things. But they are all non-perishable so it's okay.

I recommend cutting out a few of these scheduled meals out. Your money can go SO much farther on groceries than just one meal out. So even if you miss a few meals out, you'll be freeing up quite a bit of money. You know what you're doing wrong. You just need the willpower to stop.

Dave Ramsey recommends eMeals. A quick google search can find the website and show you how it works. I'm really considering signing up now that I've lost the motivation to make my own monthly menu. Plus, I can pick a menu that is healthy for us as my hubby wants to lose weight, I want to stay healthy during pregnancy and healthy options for our 1 year old. We have friends in the Minneapolis who said their dinners through eMeals cost them as little as $35 a week since the plan figures out that you used celery in one meal on Monday and will use it again on Friday. Your choice of organic foods will raise that total but if you truly want an organic lifestyle you'll have to make sacrifices in other areas. Also, Dave Ramsey recommends a cash system. If you walk into the grocery store with $100 cash what are your chances of spending more, vs having the debit card with more than $100 available? Dave Ramsey is my hero :P

wow we sound like we do the exact same thing here. We keep saying we need to do some budgeting thing, but it never happens. I keep hearing about emeals, when I listen to Dave Ramsey. I have never checked on it but it helps you plan healthy meals and provides grocery lists and helps you keep a budget, from what I understand. It is hard not to go to the store at least every other day to buy fresh produce so I know what you mean. I love Whole Foods and Trader Joes.

As the summer is coming up, don't forget Farmers' Markets!! You can get fresh, locally produced food at these venues. Also, just a thought, could your family consider having a garden? Great experience for the kids and, who knows, you might save some money, too. Whole Foods is really expensive and you could find organic food elsewhere. I agree with the other responses: buy in bulk when possible, shop at the local supermarket for organic foods(which are getting more and more common), and try to limit meals out(or at least consider going places like Champps where coupons are easily available).

All I can suggest is that you plan your meals for the week or month and buy what is needed. If you like spaghetti, chili, or soups make a large batch and freeze for a second meal in the month. If you stay home some leftovers can be lunch the next day.

Food prices have gone up since I did this and my menu was for the month with an extra week just in case I needed to change up the menus. Whole chickens were purchased and I cut them up myself or roasted them whole. Homemade bread was made twice a week and any other desserts for dinner or snack.

When I went shopping it was on the days that the produce was delivered for the weekend (Wed or Thurs). Our milk and bread were delivered to the house.

Cut down the number of times you go out to half.

I hope his helps some.

The other S.

I don't know because I'm in the same freaking boat and it's sinking fast. Thanks for asking the question.

For awhile we were doing really well . . . what seemed to help was paying CASH at the grocery store. It's funny how when you get down to that last $40 you start looking for those coupons you spotted in the Sunday paper. And gosh darn, generic, non-organic is still better than eating out. At least those were my thoughts and I was handing over the quickly diminishing greenbacks.

Good luck and I need to get focused on this again myself.

If you have a big freezer it really does help. You can get bulk on sale and keep your freezer supplied. Makes ya feel good to know there's a ton of stuff in the freezer and it's great if you have a meat market that offers "butcher baskets", you get lots of assortment of cuts of meat. Many of your fresh veggies can be blanched and then frozen to use later.

I just replied to someone else about something similar a few days ago (maybe you can search for it through my name somehow?)

We buy meat via Wallace Farms in Naperville. You don't have to buy part of a cow, you can order a la carte and choose the pieces you want. They have pork, chicken, and seafood too.

We shop some at Trader Joe's, Dominick's, and Village Marketplace for organics, and only have a couple of items that *have* to come from Whole Foods.

Cheese I can get from the farmer's market or bulk through Azure Standard (There are lots of drops in our area now- check online or call them for more info. I am the contact person for the Wheaton drop.) Eggs also from the farmer's market (there are winter markets too, don't forget!) not necessarily cheaper, but fresher and better quality, and if you're a regular customer you sometimes get a free dozen or other perks.

I just heard about Country Life Natural Foods, and the pickup for that one is in Montgomery, not sure if there are others, but I bet you could call.

I also order spices and a few other things through Frontier-- LOVE them. I can buy a one pound bag of organic spice for what a little jar costs at Whole Foods- sometimes less!

I love this site for meal planning: http://www.plantoeat.com/ref/ge7o8gh6tw and have used it for two years now. If you use that link, I get a free month, and your first month is free trial regardless.

Make your own shakes or give them up- TOO expensive. OR search online and see if you can get a bulk discount (amazon, etc.)

M.

If you have a Sprout's they have incredibly cheap prices for organic foods. I live there practically!