My hubby and I sat down to reassess our budget to see where we could tighten things up. We decided our new grocery budget goal is $800 per month. This is for our family of 4, and includes all grocery & super store items, diapering needs, toiletries, and dining out. We generally try to buy organic veggies, fruit, dairy, and some meats & snacks. These in general cost a little bit more, but it's still a priorty. Taking into consideration how we normally spend our money, I think this is going to be tough, but it's necessary and I'm confident it can be done.
In order to better ensure success, we're breaking it down into weeks and only buying for one week at a time. We will continue to meal plan and make lists (and stick to these said lists). I was inspired by Our Green Nest to really use what we have and buy for only what we will use this week. (She has some other valuable insight over there as well.)
I don't know how our amount compares to others, if it's extravagant or bottom-basement, but I'm interested how we measure up. If you're comfortable sharing, what's your monthly grocery budget? How do you organize spending in this area. Any tips that work for you?
This week's menu is based on what I had in the pantry & the freezer and some budget friendly recipes I found snooping around on allrecipes. The hubby will not be super-thrilled with this carb intensity of the next seven days, but he is flexible and can opt out of the bread/pasta part if he wants. (I think he'll be secretly excited though.)
Monday & Tuesday
Spaghetti & Meatballs: Similar to this recipe, but I'll add a few more seasonings and some mozzarella.
Salad
Wednesday
out for Granddad's birthday
Thursday
Grilled Chicken
Strawberry/Spinach Salad:
(baby spinach, strawberries, sliced almonds and Brianna's Poppyseed Dressing)
Friday
w/ spinach, tomato, cheese
fruit salad
Saturday
Pulled Pork Sandwiches: Trying this crock pot version
Sunday
leftovers
Have a wonderful day!
14 comments:
That's about what our bill runs too - it's crazy how much more organics can cost (and irritating!) but you have to make it a priority. I've really been trying to do some scrounging myself... and trying to limit the eating out of the weekends.
We are trying to say within a budget too. It is much harder when buying healthy though. Our budget is a bit lower and lately we have been busting.
I am finding that groceries are what I am spending the most on and although I only cook for one I always insist on having large balanced meals. I just started making a lost for the week and it has been so helpful! Also, that salad is just like of my favorites ( dressing and all!)
I love these types of posts because it draws attention to a pretty important issue right now :) We try and budget 100.00 for groceries per week with 50.00 eating out. I buy at the beginning of the week and make sure I have a good set of tupperware for left overs.
It's so hard to stay within a budget...we try about 400 a month (for the two of us) but because we live in a city and love going out..ugh, we usually go over budget :-)
this is a great post!!!! budget-the never ending issue at our house. On my list to actually CREATE this wk...we live unstable bc we are both self employed and never know if we will make 10,000 a month or 300.00 so..... it gets pretty sketchy eating out etc....bc we tend to do it when we have $ then eat beans and rice when we don't. our goal is to pay off debt now soooo budget has to come into play but not quite sure how to make one when we don't know what we make the next month. ugh.... I loved your post though- gets you thinking.
Hey - thanks for the shout out!! :) Glad you liked the post and really hope it will help someone...we're not perfect by any means, but we do the best we can! Have a great week.
This is a super post! It is only my husband and me, but our grocery bills get crazy! We average around 200 a week. It also deepens if there is a sale going on of something we use than we triple up on the stock or the trip to Sam's Club/Costco on top of it. I always say I don't know how families do it. I think you are doing a great job!
It's helpful to know that it's a struggle across the board... Thanks for your comments and for commiserating! I'll let you guys know how we do with our new parameters. Hope you all had a great Monday!
Sounds yummy! Those spag and meatballs look divine.
When we're really careful we can get by on $75-100 per week (there's two of us) but lately we haven't been that careful and I think we're spending more like $175-200 per week. The trouble is that I always make plans and buy for those plans at the beginning of the week, then evenings roll around and I don't feel like eating whatever it is I had planned for that night...
I'm also addicted to fresh fruit, which can really drive the grocery bill up!
Paninis Rock! I always get mad when I forget how easy they are and instead have fretted over some silly complicated meal... bring on the Paninis... any which way!
I told Ruth I would out some on my coupon deals on here for you! Our grocery budget is $550-600 for a month, that is not eating out, just groceries, toiletries, etc. That is for me, my hubby and both kids. I do buy some organic, like milk, but not everything.
I use a great blog to get most of my super-saver ideas and coupons - http://www.moneysavingmom.com/ - she has tons of great ideas. I am not as drastic as her, they only budget $60/week for groceries! But I do use many of her links to coupons and the deals for CVS and Walgreens. I save tons of money at CVS and Walgreens, just this week I got 3 pkgs of foil for free at Walgreens, plus I actually made $.33. The blog has all the details for CVS and Walgreens.
The other big thing I do is watch the weekly grocery ads and match up my coupons to what is on sale. I will buy something that we will use (like cereal & other things that don't spoil) if it is on sale, even if we don't need it, because I know what the lowest price is and I would rather pay that price now, than pay more later.
I hope that helps! I am happy to tell you more, just get my info from Ruth.
I am commenting way late on this but I just found your blog and wanted to add my two cents. We are a family of three (two adults and a one year old) and our grocery budget is $200/month. We are very poor so this is what works for us! That doesn't include anything but food really. We never go out to eat so we don't have to take that into consideration. I feel that we get a lot of "bang for our buck" because I make everything from scratch which is always less expensive. I try to shop the sales and use coupons too. I am very conscious about how much every little thing costs because it adds up really quickly. I don't feel like having such a low budget inhibits us in any way - we eat very healthy, never using things out of boxes, etc. and always have plenty to eat. I guess we are proof that you can eat healthy, be full, and not spend a fortune each month on groceries!
Loved hearing what Kamille had to say. All of these posts make me want to re-examine our budget. Which I am going to do now. Right now we spend about $500 a month on groceries- and probably the same in eating out. And there is only two of us. Off to look at the numbers now...
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