Okay, it's time for the biggest budget buster in most households...the food bill! I know I have been promising this post for quite a while, so I'm excited to finally have it up for you. If you are new to this series, please make sure you read the first post to understand the focus behind this series. It is so very easy to overspend on food. Just go to the grocery store with your debit card and no plan, and you will easily spend at least $100...often times, when you get home, you find that you didn't even buy the ingredients to create any meals! Getting control of the food budget takes the most work, but in the end, with hard work and a lot of prayer, it will save you the most money.
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| Picture from Cozy Home Chronicles |
Some tips on getting your food bill down include:
2. Eat at home! This one is a no brainer, eating out is much more expensive and much more unhealthy. Even most restaurants (unless it is a locally owned, or a restaurant known for actually cooking their cuisine like The Cotton Patch), just open up packages and reheat their food. My friend worked at Chili's, and she told me very few of their items are made on site. Now I'm not down on Chili's, I actually really like Chili's a lot, but I do like to limit my families consumption of preservatives and chemicals. I actually wrote a post on the topic of how to avoid restaurants on Sundays, and this post contains some great quick meal ideas for those crazy Wednesday nights and other times you are in a hurry.
3. Shop the sale ads, go to several stores, use coupons, and price match! Shopping for food can be much like shopping for clothing...you need to find the best deal. Shopping at one store, buying everything you want when you want it, and not worrying about getting the best deal was something you did when you were working (and some working women even do this). Now that you are staying home or on your way to staying home, you need to get the best bang for your buck. Use the sale ads and price match at Wal-Mart. No one likes going to a billion stores, and I already have to go to at least 2 every time I go shopping, sometimes 3 or 4. After I hit Target, United, Sams, and Wal-Mart, the LAST thing I want to do is run to Aldi or Albertson's to get an awesome deal (and their deals are awesome). My friend Amber reminded me that Wal-Mart does price matching, so utilize this service to save yourself some hassle. Aldi milk this week is $1.99 a gallon...Wal-Mart milk is $3.88 a gallon...that's a BIG difference! Some ladies are masters with coupons....look them up online and see how they coupon their way to practically free items every week. Since I buy organic or generic (I've always been the type that's if it's not good quality, it better be as cheap as possible LOL), I don't coupon too much. I only buy my organic produce, meat, butter, and a couple of other specialty items at United Market Street. I get everything else at Wal-Mart, they are so much cheaper.
4. Cook from scratch. This is a big money saver, and so good for your body. If you are able to buy flour and sugar in bulk, you will save money like crazy. Unfortunately without a good health food store, the flour and sugar I use is not available to buy in bulk in this area. I've been meaning to research online and see how much it would save to buy it and have it shipped. I know you can buy really good olive oil on amazon in bulk, and it is much cheaper. When you are at home, you have much more time to make your own spaghetti sauce or cookie dough. It's so much better for you (no preservatives) and tastes better too! I've always been one for making my own baked goods (except for cakes, I cannot seem to make a moist cake from scratch, I'll get a good recipe one day), pie crust, and sauces. Since I've gotten my bread machine (and you can make bread without one too), I've been making my own bread, pizza dough, and dinner rolls using the flour I want (not bromated and unbleached). So nice to know that one less toxin is floating around in my house.
5. Shop from a list and shop with cash. Once you have a detailed menu plan, make weekly, biweekly, or monthly lists according to how you like to do your shopping. Shop with cash to make sure you don't go over your limit. Some ladies even take a calculator to make sure they stay within their budget. Keep a list of staples you like to have on hand (milk, bread, cheese, etc), and each time you make your list, see if you are out of anything. I also like to keep a list on the refrigerator so that when I run of an item (like chili powder) that I don't buy every week, I can get that on my list as well.
For a more practical application of these principals, I am going to share with you my menu plan and shopping list for the week. This list also includes a cake for the cake walk at Abigail's school and some cookie ingredients for a church function, and I also purchased a squash for some soup I'm making next week. I also have some items in this week's meal plan already on hand that did not have to be purchased. Right now, my shopping day is Tuesday, so my meals go from Tuesday to Monday of the next week. Also, please remember that food shopping for me is one of my "luxury" items, I buy a lot of organic food, and my bill would be much lower if I bought regular food. Even so, I do a lot of substitutes to bring my bill down (like hormone free milk instead of organic, and grain fed, antibiotic free chicken instead of organic)...I also have a post on organic substitutes if you are interested.
Tuesday: Eat at Church for FPU (however, I have a PTA event to attend this evening, so we will probably get takeout instead...Billy's not sure about taking the kids to eat by himself :D)
Wednesday: Taco Soup and Salad (making a double batch)
Thursday: Leftover Soup
Friday: Family Fun Night at Ben Milam
Saturday: Birthday Party
Sunday: Roast Chicken with Gravy, Carrots & Potatoes, Yeast Rolls (crockpot meal)
Monday: Chicken Pot Pie & Salad
Dessert: Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting
Saturday Breakfast: Waffles
Snack: Pumpkin Cranberry Bread
Items purchased from United Market Street:
Organic Butter $4.99
Organic Unsalted Butter $4.99
2 Pounds Organic Grassfed Beef $15.98
Organic Whole Garlic $2.99
Fresh Rosemary $1.99
Organic Apples $1.95
Organic Pears $1.86
Organic Lemons $1.58
Organic Butternut Squash $1.41
Organic Carrots $1.29
Total: $39.03
Items purchased from Wal-Mart:
Honey Bunches of Oats $3.18
Multigrain Cheerios $3.50
Harvestland Frozen Chicken Breasts $9.48
Iceberg Lettuce $1.18
Bananas $1.75
Yellow Cake Mix $1.25
Sprinkle Cake Mix $1.25
Harvestland Whole Chicken $7.28
McCormick Taco Seasoning $0.52 (2 packs)
Stephen's Candycane Hot Chocolate $0.62 (2 packs)
Great Value Dried Cranberries $1.48
Organic Sugar $2.28
Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips $1.88
King Arthur Bread Flour $3.47
Great Value Oatmeal $1.64
Pam Organic Olive Oil Spray $2.94
Ranch Style Beans $0.74 (2 cans)
Libby Pumpkin Puree $1.68
Yeast $3.92
Organic Minced Garlic $1.84
Rotel $0.88 (2 cans)
Muir Glen Organic Diced Tomatoes $1.38 (2 cans)
Libby Natural Corn $0.75 (2 cans)
Bush's Pinto Beans $0.92 (2 cans)
Stoneyfield Organic Yogurt $3.34
Bounty Paper Towels $2.12
Organic Apple Juice Boxes $1.58
Sprinkles $0.75
Suave Bodywash $1.93
Woolite $3.97
Tic Tacs $1.04 (2 packs)
Suave Kids Conditioner $1.88
Secret Deodorant $2.34
Cellophane Bags $2.00
Ivory Soap, 3 pack $1.24
Christmas Light Replacement Bulbs $0.98 (6 packs)
Birthday Gift $5.00
Birthday Card $0.97
Disposable Cake Pan $0.97
Cool Ranch Doritos $2.58
Great Value Milk $1.99 (2 Gallons, Aldi Price Match)
Tax $2.31
Total $106.54
Grand Total Spent: $145.57
My budget for the week was $150, so I did good! Unfortunately for me, I didn't check my staples as good as I should of, and I need to run tonight and get organic eggs and vegetable oil for all my baking. But I think $5 should be enough to cover that!
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