Help me with food budget?

[lovinmyboys]

For various reasons, money is tighter around here than it has been in a long time, and unfortunately I have lost my frugal skills. And, some things that I would think frugal, actually aren’t. Just from a money perspective, it is cheaper to order Pizza Hut than to make pizza or to buy chips ahoy rather than making chocolate chip cookies (I think the butter alone is more expensive).

We have four boys age 7 (eats very little) and 10, 11, and 13-who eat as much as their ages suggest. Plus, dh and I. We live in a small midwestern city within walking distance to an Aldi, Target, Walmart, and a nice grocery store.

I would like to spend $200 a week for the weeks between now and Thanksgiving. Is this possible? Also, my oldest two are in school and lunch is $2.50. They usually buy because I can’t seem to pack them lunch for that price, but it must be possible? 

My dh works long hours so all the prepping and planning will be up to me. The kids can probably help a little. 

Any suggestions? Especially cheap lunches to pack, after school snack, and cheap dinners. I’m thinking oatmeal and eggs for breakfast. Plus, my older two take snacks to school because they have snack time since they have late lunch. Also, what to buy at Aldi? I went once and was very unimpressed, but I know people love it, so I think I did it wrong. Do you limit your kids times to eat- like breakfast, snack, lunch, after school snack, and dinner-no eating between those times? Sometimes I think if my kids didn’t eat between meals, they would be hungrier at meal time and food wouldn’t be wasted as much. Any websites or blogs that have good ideas?

I feel very overwhelmed. We really need to do a few months of very bare bones spending, but I don’t want to just eat ramen.  And I don’t feel like I have lots of time to devote to preparing food and looking at ads/comparison shopping. I guess I will have to find it somewhere. 

[Ann.without.an.e]

We spend an ungodly amount of money on food.  Because we are gluten free and dairy free mostly and are picky about some things (that's a choice we make) and some of us are vegan. I had to go a completely different route than what is expected.  I started making the 35-45 minute trip to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods because we require special foods that are simply more expensive at the closer grocers. We also do a few things from s&s at amazon.  Making the trip to TJ and WF and avoiding these closer stores has shaved $300 a month off my food budget. My point here is that it is dependent on your circumstance, preferences, etc.

I find that food budget threads here also bring on a lot of judgement 🤣  You will inevitably have someone tell you that they would feel like a millionaire with $200 a week and they can do it for $25 and someone else will say they can't possibly do it for $200 a week.  It just seems to open yourself up to a lot of judgment 🤷‍♀️

I was spending 1700 a month but if I commit to WF and TJ I can get it down to 1400.  Is that a lot of money.  Heck yes, it is.  haha

If we weren't so ridden with food issues, specials diets, etc I might be able to do it for 800-1000.

What were you spending before and is it reasonable to shave off that amount?  Are the lunches included in that budget?

Edited September 10, 2019 by Attolia

[prairiewindmomma]

I think $200/week for food only is possible. I do it in my HCOL.

A few thoughts:

1. Figure out what your actual costs are per meal. Like, seriously break down the prices and figure it out. If you know that you can make pasta with meal sauce for $1/box of pasta, $2/jar of sauce, and $3/lb. of meat and serve it with salad for another $2, then you have a $8/dinner. I realize those quantaties may not work with your kids, but you get the idea....

2. You can totally pack a lunch for 2 people for less than $5. If I paid for my kids' hot lunches, that'd be $9/day for 3 people. Packing lunches is one of our biggest budget savers.  I'd set a challenge for them to pack their own lunches from now to Thanksgiving and give them a budget and help them figure out how they can do it. 

3. Unless you have some tremendous $5 deal at Pizza Hut, it is cheaper to make your own pizza than it is to order it.  We make two pizzas most Friday nights.  I don't make my own sauce (that would be even more frugal) but between sauce + cheese + making my own crust it works out to about $5.  If you add meat, that's about $3/more. If your budget is that tight, don't add meat....or find leftover meat in the fridge.

4. I would stop buying all junk food.  Use your grocery dollars to nourish your body. If it's not doing that, then don't buy it.  A 2# bag of carrots is about $2-3, which is the same price as a bag of cookies on sale. Junk food creates cravings for more junk food....https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/food-cravings-engineered-by-industry-1.1395225  

5. Plan meals that work with the energy you have. I know my energy begins to crash by mid-afternoon so I plan and prep dinner in the morning.  I use an instant pot to cook most of our suppers because if I wait until 5 pm, we're having pb&j for supper, iykwim.

6. We're coming into fall, so I'd bring back soup and bread. Like, have it 2-3 times a week. It's inexpensive, easy, and a good way to stretch ingredients. There are other budget meal threads and ideas here and elsewhere on the net, but potatoes-rice-pasta..... We have Indian food a bit because I can stretch a couple of chicken breasts into a meal by making curry and serving it over rice.

[Clemsondana]

Refried beans are filling, healthy, and cheap - if you have an instapot they're really quick, but you could also crock-pot them to cook the beans.  I buy giant bags of beans, and during busy seasons I make them frequently.  With small tortillas or chips, they make a good snack.  They're also a good way to stretch beef taco meat - use enough meat that you taste it, but beans add the bulk.  I'm thrilled that my sports-playing bottomless pit of a teenage boy loves them.  

Buy whatever meat is on sale, add seasonings or an inexpensive sauce (BBQ, etc) and crock pot until it falls apart and you can shred it.  It's great on sandwiches/buns or with rice or potatoes (whichever you can find cheaper) and you're not stuck with a kid trying to figure out if they want a whole piece of chicken or pork chop (or eating a second when they just want another few bites).  

Frozen fruit is a lot cheaper than fresh unless you're getting something that's very in-season and thus on sale - one of my kids likes mostly-still-frozen berries, the other likes them layered with full-fat yogurt in a parfait, and both like them blended with yogurt into smoothies.  

I often make a huge batch of twice-baked potatoes in the freezer for a filling side or snack.  

Eggs are also another filling thing - we make breakfast burritos (add a can of green chiles for flavor, stretch meat a really long way since it only takes a tiny bit), or add black beans, peppers, and onions.  Pancakes or toast and eggs, with some fruit is a good meal, or let them snack on a tray of fruit or veggies between meals and then don't worry about the fact that the meal itself doesn't have veggies.

Homemade kernels-and-oil in a pot popcorn is very popular here - a dollar will make a week or 2 of snacks.  

My kids can eat whenever they're hungry, but if I think it's a problem I offer mostly leftovers or an apple or carrots instead of special 'snack food'.  If they're hungry, then they'll eat real food...and even if they eat less at mealtime, then I just save that for another meal/snack.  

Edited September 10, 2019 by ClemsonDana

[mommyoffive]

I think if you don't want to run to different stores for their loss leaders, than stick with Aldi.  We do Aldi or Walmart.  Aldi saves us so much every time. At least $50 plus a week. 

We are a family of 7.  All our food and extra stuff ( personal supplies, paper stuff, all household things, dog food...) for $160-$200  a week.  That is all our meals.   We are out every night at dance, so they pack food for that.   Like your lunches at school, I am never really sure if that saves us money vs just buying something.  So as long as it fits in your budget, I would just keep doing that. They all bring so much food.  I do feel like at some places you are better off buying food.  Like from a dollar menu or your pizza idea.  Can you make a hamburger for a buck?  My 4 older kids all eat like adults, and the little one spends most of her waiting time eating.  

We don't limit food to just meals.  

Get your cookies from Aldi.  Cheaper than the 3 something chips ahoy at Walmart.  

I would do a lot of big meals that have sides of things to fill them up.  Chili is always a big meal, I make it the crockpot and it can give 3-4 days worth of food.   I just turn the chili into other things.  Chili, Chili on potatoes, chili on nachos, chili on rice... you get the idea.

Breakfast is always a cheap meal.   Eggs, pancakes, bacon

We do lots of sides with meals to fill people up.  Bread, rice, beans, pasta, veggies.     Then they can always have fruit, yogurt

Edited September 11, 2019 by mommyoffive

[HomeAgain]

I spend roughly $200-$250/week, depending on what I buy.  On lean weeks I can get by for less.  Some of our tricks:
-we keep several different grains in the house: barley, rice (long grain, arborio, jasmine), couscous, khoresan wheat, farro wheat, bulgur wheat, plus pastas.  During lean times, these are our base for 6 nights, with legumes being a base for the seventh.  With that being a large part of the meal, even more than that are the veggies, and a small bit of meat.  The other night I did a stir fry with 2 large bunches of bok choy, peppers, 1lb of green beans, a container of mushrooms, and 1lb of shaved beef, all in a sauce over noodles.  It fed us for two meals.  The big key is to make sure there's enough protein or enough fat.  The barley gets mixed with yogurt, for example, before adding carrots and onions that have been sauteed in olive oil.
-I buy the cheapest cuts of meat possible and stretch them out.  Shaved beef here is half of the price per pound that "stir fry" beef is.  I'm not going to play that.
-I substitute veggies in a meal.  My kids don't like kale or hot spinach, so I throw in collard greens or dandelion greens.  Same effect, cheaper, and they eat it just fine.  If I can't get what I want at a reasonable price I just find something that works instead.

For cheap lunches, use what you have in the house already.  On days my kid takes lunches he has no problem taking rice, cold chicken (sesame chicken is his favorite), cucumbers, fruit, yogurt or cheese, and maybe a small sweet.  Or I'll make a quick dough to use for pocket sandwiches.  When you look at buying the ingredients for a single serving it's expensive, but when you look at buying for a week's worth, it's not.  It's how I do food for dh.  I make up breakfast burritos by the month's worth, stick them in the freezer, and he grabs on on his way out the door to heat at work.  I could buy 8 small ones (2 a day) for the price of making 12 large ones (1 a day).  And it'd definitely worth it if you can maximize sales and loss leaders.  During the summer when cherries and blueberries go way down in price I scoop them up and freeze them at home.  Come winter, I have the priciest ingredients for muffins, pancakes, and pie for next to nothing.  Dessert in August is mangoes, because they're less than $1 each, and when they hit 2/$1 I chop them up, freeze them, and use them for smoothies or fruit kabobs on the grill.

I absolutely limit my kids when they're not going through growth spurts. And I encourage more filling foods when they are.  Normal - kid eats a bowl of oatmeal. Growth spurt - eats oatmeal and an egg, and Greek yogurt with honey on top.  Because I don't buy yogurt individually - I buy the store brand Greek stuff, which is $3 compared to Chobani's $5.75, same ingredients, and portion it out.  But I'm not going to let my kid snack all day and then push meals around the plate.  I'm also the mean mom that insists all food has to be eaten at the table, so a snack can't be eaten mindlessly.


Also, play Chopped in your kitchen. 😄  I have no problem looking at leftovers and giving them a new home in another meal.  Leftover taco meat goes in chili.  Leftover chili goes on hot dogs.  Pork loin gets re-simmered with chilis in adobo sauce and turned into tamales for the freezer.  My kids don't know.  They think I'm actually planning these meals when really I'm just looking at the fridge.

Edited September 10, 2019 by HomeAgain

[mommyoffive]

9 minutes ago, Attolia said:

We spend an ungodly amount of money on food.  Because we are gluten free and dairy free mostly and are picky about some things (that's a choice we make) and some of us are vegan. I had to go a completely different route than what is expected.  I started making the 35-45 minute trip to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods because we require special foods that are simply more expensive at the closer grocers. We also do a few things from s&s at amazon.  Making the trip to TJ and WF and avoiding these closer stores has shaved $300 a month off my food budget. My point here is that it is dependent on your circumstance, preferences, etc.

I find that food budget threads here also bring on a lot of judgement 🤣  You will inevitably have someone tell you that they would feel like a millionaire with $200 a week and they can do it for $25 and someone else will say they can't possibly do it for $200 a week.  It just seems to open yourself up to a lot of judgment 🤷‍♀️

I was spending 1700 a month but if I commit to WF and TJ I can get it down to 1400.  Is that a lot of money.  Heck yes, it is.  haha

If we weren't so ridden with food issues, specials diets, etc I might be able to do it for 800-1000.

What were you spending before and is it reasonable to shave off that amount?  Are the lunches included in that budget?

 

Great point.  We have no food issues or special diets.   If we did our food budget would have to be a lot bigger.  When I look at the prices of gluten free things here, it is so much.

Good tip on going to TJ and WF to save on those items.

[lovinmyboys]

These are some great suggestions! I think my 11yr old especially will like doing his own lunches with a budget.

Before I looked at our credit card statements, I would have said that it would be easy to spend $200 a week on food, but, um, that is not what I have been doing. 

Several years ago, dh would be on duty for the kids starting around 4 or so on Sundays and I would spend that time getting prepped for the week-including making bulk meals. Once that ended, I never got into a good food prepping rhythm.

My kids love soup and chicken fried rice, and I think those are both fairly cheap, so I will plan those every week. 

I like the idea of playing chopped, but I tend to be a recipe person-which can also lead to wasting money because I will buy the one ingredient that I am missing for a recipe, then never use up the rest of the jar.

Edited September 10, 2019 by lovinmyboys

[Soror]

The big things, IMO, is to plan what you are eating, don't waste food, use cheaper staples for the base of meals, don't buy a lot of snacks (including drinks), and shop in cheaper stores. 

We do a lot of the same meals each week to save time and money. As HomeAgain mentioned, we repurpose food from leftovers and we also have one night to finish off leftovers every week (to save money and time).

I primarily shop at Aldi's as they have the overall cheapest prices, if I've got extra time I'll check sales bills and look for loss leaders but that is not happening right now. 

When making the menu for each week I survey the frig and freezer to see if we have anything we need to use up and I also look for what's on sale/in season when planning.

 

Edited September 10, 2019 by soror

[fairfarmhand]

We do have meal and snack times or otherwise my kids would eat all the blessed day. 

Snacks are not super interesting, but filling (popcorn, carrots and dip, peanut butter and apple slices, hard boiled eggs) They also have to have some kind of crunch to them and take some oral effort to eat. My kids will eat a whole sleeve of saltines but only a small bowl of carrots. It takes more time and effort to eat the carrots and the chewing itself is part of the satisfaction of snacks. Also, having these snacks pre-bagged, chopped, etc means that the kids can grab them with little effort. (dip your apple slices in lemon juice to prevent browning)The kids can help pre-bag these at the beginning of the week.

You don't HAVE to have many sweets. So I'd put cookies at the bottom of the list to be bought after you've already purchases the necessities. 

Salads can go before almost every meal and, like carrots, they are satisfying and filling when accompanying your meal. However, make sure that each meal has plenty of fat, protein, and fiber so it will take time to digest. 

The biggest thing I've found for getting more bang for your buck with groceries is to make sure that every meal and snack has fat, protein, and fiber. My kids will eat GOBS of simple carbs if I don't pair them with cheese, sour cream, fatty dips, etc.

Baked potatoes are a good cheap side, and you can top them with cheese and steamed broccoli. I like to add grilled chicken tenders, and a salad for a good filling meal. 

Chili is cheap to make and tacos are a good filling inexpensive meal. I mix 1 lb taco meat with 1 can refried beans to stretch stuff. 

Stir fry is inexpensive and my kids love it. I get the frozen bagged stir fry mixes and make the sauce myself. I use chicken tenders and serve over rice. 

We also eat lots of soups with hearty breads like cornbread or french bread. 

Remember that things that take more time to chew are more satisfying and take longer to digest.(chewy french bread is better than texas toast at my house, steel cut oatmeal (add a couple tablespoons of cream and chopped nuts to make it more satisfying) is better than instant oatmeal packs, whole wheat bread is better than white, etc.)

[cjzimmer1]

14 minutes ago, lovinmyboys said:

 

I like the idea of playing chopped, but I tend to be a recipe person-which can also lead to wasting money because I will buy the one ingredient that I am missing for a recipe, then never use up the rest of the jar.

Try thinking about recipes as a list of suggestions rather than absolute must haves.  There are very few recipes that I've encounter that must be made exactly as written.  Yes the outcome might be different with substitutions but that doesn't equal bad.  Shepherd's pie is a favorite of my kids.  I started making it one day and discovered I was out of potatoes.  So I stirred rice into instead.  My kids now prefer the doctored version to the potato version.

Chili is a wonderful way to use up random meats and veggies.  If you think the kids will object to one of the veggies just puree it before adding.  I also use 1 pound of dry lentils to 2 pounds of hamburger for most recipes that use hamburger.  My kids won't eat beans in any form but will eat lentils. Brown ones work the best with hamburger in our opinion.

I buy a lot of things in bulk.  It's a bigger upfront cost but the per pound price is much better. Oatmeal is about a dollar a pound at the grocery store, it's less than 50 cents a pound when I buy it in 50 pound bags.  But first you have to have space to store and second you have to know you will use it all. For a short term, bulk might not be the way to go but look at your most used items. If there is a cheaper option to buy the large quantities, being even to save a few dollars can start to add up when you look at each item.

[prairiewindmomma]

Another thought---balancing time and budget....go back to prepping some stuff in bulk.  For me, I buy ground beef #10/time...preferably on sale.  If I buy it 1# at a time, I pay $4.65/lb on sale. If I buy 10# when the bulk rolls are on sale, I will portion it out at home into 1# portions and freeze half, cook half. I will only use 1#/meal and then I stretch it out more with beans or lentils or whatever so that it's about 2.5-3#/meal (which is about right for my family of 6). Those kinds of tricks alone save me $$$/year.

I keep buckets of oats, rice, etc. in my living room, tucked behind the couch. I feel kinda awkward about it, but I am SUPER picky about my rice (Royal Basmati) so I buy it in 20# or 50# bags and stretch it out. I'm still paying $1/# for it, but the quality is so much better than the generic stuff at Stuffmart. If you can find an Indian grocery store near you--even if you find one when you make a trip to the Big City--it's worth it to stock up.  I can buy rice, lentils, etc. for way cheaper than I would at WF, TJ, etc.

Our Wal-Mart, when I lived in small town in the Midwest, would special order 25# bags of stuff for me. You may be now able to order online now and ship to store.  If not, find the store manager.  Our store actually started carrying most of the stuff I asked for because other people wanted it too!

[Sherry in OH]

Before making a budget, do some inventorying and introspection

• What do you have in cupboards, pantry, refrigerator, and freezer?  
• What meals does your family typically eat? List the ingredients needed to make those meals, including quantiies.  
• What are your family's snacking habit? 
• Do you need quick meals?  Does your family like leftovers?  Will they be satisfied with vegetarian meals or do they revolt if there is no meat?  Are they open to new recipes?
• If you have saved them: examine grocery receipts, what are you buying that is so expensive?
• What foods are usually inexpensive in your area.  Which of those items will your family eat?
• Does anyone in your family have special dietary considerations?  (Peanut allergy, celiac, ...)

Plan your meals around ingredients you have on hand.  Ideally, shop to replenish your stores rather than for specific meals.  Before buying a special ingredient for a meal, plan a second meal to use the remainder of that ingredient.  Also stop to think whether the ingredient is actually necessary.  For example, a can of cream of ... soup is a shortcut rather than an essential ingredient.  Learn to make your own roux or white sauce.

It is okay to limit access to some foods.  Become familiar with the recommended number of servings per food group and the size of servings for each each age/sex in your family.  Be sure to offer enough protein (usually the most expensive component of a meal) for each person to have their recommended servings, but let them fill up on less expensive sides.   Water should be the default beverage.  If your children are milk drinkers, offer it once or twice a day not at every meal.  

 

[Farrar]

I'm so not an expert on doing this, but when I'm trying to keep costs down for a bit, I tend to force myself to eat out of the pantry/freezer. So the initial outlay of getting pasta, beans, rice, potatoes, frozen veggies, chicken legs and thighs, etc. from Costco is there. But then I force myself to not buy new proteins/staples and just get a couple of things from the store to turn the staples into a meal. That tends to be way less than $200 a week.

[DawnM]

Yup, it is entirely possible.

I used this site a lot:

https://www.grocerybudget101.com/

The above author used to have a "feed your family on $200/month" blog.  At the time she wrote it, she had 2 young kids and I would say it was about 18 years ago.  I used it years later and couldn't ever get it to $200/mo as I didn't want to take the time to do all she recommended.  And she ate mostly beef (she would buy a half a cow every 6 months and pretty much that was her meat).   

I chose to stick to $500/mo, including toiletries.  I had a deep freeze and would stock up on chicken sales.  I shopped the flyers for the grocery store for the week and stocked up that way.  I tried couponing but hated it after a while, so I stopped that.  (The author of the biog didn't coupon!)

We would make meals with a protein, vegetable, and starch.  And just build around that.  Sometimes some grilled chicken, rice, and a salad or grilled broccoli. Simple meals.  Nothing packaged.

And I have this cookbook:

https://www.amazon.com/More-Less-Cookbook-World-Community/dp/083619263X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1MZ0DJUAGKDII&keywords=more+with+less+cookbook&qid=1568146327&s=gateway&sprefix=More+with+less%2Caps%2C149&sr=8-1

I grew up on this cookbook.  The premise is that we need to keep our food costs low so we can limit our impact on the global food supply.  And the ingredients are mostly stuff we all keep on hand.  Again, simple.  Nothing packaged.  

 

Both helped me keep a very low grocery budget for many years.

Edited September 15, 2019 by DawnM

[Tanaqui]

Are there foods your family doesn't like eating? Like, my go-to suggestion is "more beans, more rice" but if you all hate beans that's hardly worth trying.

[vonfirmath]

5 hours ago, lovinmyboys said:

For various reasons, money is tighter around here than it has been in a long time, and unfortunately I have lost my frugal skills. And, some things that I would think frugal, actually aren’t. Just from a money perspective, it is cheaper to order Pizza Hut than to make pizza or to buy chips ahoy rather than making chocolate chip cookies (I think the butter alone is more expensive).

We have four boys age 7 (eats very little) and 10, 11, and 13-who eat as much as their ages suggest. Plus, dh and I. We live in a small midwestern city within walking distance to an Aldi, Target, Walmart, and a nice grocery store.

I would like to spend $200 a week for the weeks between now and Thanksgiving. Is this possible? Also, my oldest two are in school and lunch is $2.50. They usually buy because I can’t seem to pack them lunch for that price, but it must be possible? 

My dh works long hours so all the prepping and planning will be up to me. The kids can probably help a little. 

Any suggestions? Especially cheap lunches to pack, after school snack, and cheap dinners. I’m thinking oatmeal and eggs for breakfast. Plus, my older two take snacks to school because they have snack time since they have late lunch. Also, what to buy at Aldi? I went once and was very unimpressed, but I know people love it, so I think I did it wrong. Do you limit your kids times to eat- like breakfast, snack, lunch, after school snack, and dinner-no eating between those times? Sometimes I think if my kids didn’t eat between meals, they would be hungrier at meal time and food wouldn’t be wasted as much. Any websites or blogs that have good ideas?

I feel very overwhelmed. We really need to do a few months of very bare bones spending, but I don’t want to just eat ramen.  And I don’t feel like I have lots of time to devote to preparing food and looking at ads/comparison shopping. I guess I will have to find it somewhere. 

 

My kids take a sandwich, a piece of fruit or two, a water bottle (Though this could be refillable) and a bag of chips (SOmetimes I make it up from a bigger bag. Sometimes its individually packed) If we were real tight on funds I'd replace the bag of chips with a bag of cereal.  We can also have cheese sticks for my non-lactose intolerant kid to make it more substantial (Thankfully she also eats like a bird)

 

(Kids buying meals is easier than packing so we've chosen to budget for them to eat at school two days a week if they want. Also it gives them some choice of variety versus things we can easily pack in lunches. Every week, at the beginning of the week, they look at the school lunch calendar and choose which two days they are going to buy and then we know when we need to pack for)

 

Edited September 10, 2019 by vonfirmath

[Soror]

3 minutes ago, Tanaqui said:

Are there foods your family doesn't like eating? Like, my go-to suggestion is "more beans, more rice" but if you all hate beans that's hardly worth trying.

When we need to cut back dh and I always semi-jokingly say, "rice and beans, beans and rice," it's from Dave Ramsey and very true. Beans are very healthy for us and most of us don't eat enough, the worlds longest lived peoples all eat some form of legumes. 

[Tanaqui]

Truly, they are a magical fruit.

[Lecka]

It’s worth looking at the school lunch program.  You are a family of 6, and maybe would qualify now. 

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-03-20/pdf/2019-05183.pdf

[Ottakee]

40 minutes ago, Lecka said:

It’s worth looking at the school lunch program.  You are a family of 6, and maybe would qualify now. 

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-03-20/pdf/2019-05183.pdf

I agree.  Worse they can say is no.

[Carrie12345]

I don’t know if this is helpful in the short term, but it’s how I operate.

Right now, we have 2 adults, 2 active teen girls, and 12 and 8yo boys.  I generally spend $200-250/wk (including trash bags, toothpaste, etc.) on my “non-strict” budget. That’s with sale stocking, which then allows me to pick a few times a year of “super-strict” budgeting.  I spent about $60 last week, and $125 this week. I’m hoping to keep it under $100/wk for the rest of the month. (My kids work at a farm. I went nuts on produce earlier this week! Normally I try to avoid going in, lol.)

For me, it’s all about buying whatever they’re slashing in a given week. Whole grain bread is half price in my store nearly every other week. I buy twice as much and toss the extra in the freezer. Ground beef (sometimes even grass fed) goes down to $1.99. I think I got $1.79 once! I won’t buy it when it’s full price.  Store brand quick oats are almost always cheap at my store, but the kids get flavored oatmeal when it’s on sale for $1.49/box. Never, ever, ever $3.79! But then I can get plenty to carry through to the next sale, unless they’ve gone hog wild and then they’e out of luck. 

That’s pretty much how I handle everything.  Flour, sugars, bulk rice, frozen produce (fresh, too, as far as picking what’s on sale, not so much to stock unless I have time to process for storage myself,) block cheeses...  I do pretty much always buy Walmart’s giant 60-case of eggs.

We like breakfast for dinner once every week or two.  Soup and grilled cheese about the same.  There’s a leftovers night at some point every week. I’m trying to make more meals where meat is an “extra” instead of the main component. (Especially with a pescatarian in the house.). My sons will eat anything wrapped in a tortilla (about $4 for a 20-pack here, regular price.) My daughters are on baked potato kicks. Making pizza is generally inexpensive. My store sells pizza dough (white or whole wheat) for $1/ball, pizza sauce for under $2, and mozzarella (enough for 2 pies) for $1.99 on sale. We can do 4 pies for around $16 and throw some leftovers on them if we feel like it.

Having an air popper for popcorn makes for very inexpensive snacking!  If I’m really hankering for sweets, I keep a stash of brownie mixes on hand from when they’re on sale for 79-99 cents. You can’t get much cheaper than that!

Oh, and I do buy really cheap Walmart white bread to make a ton of (unsweetened) French toast for the freezer. The kids will pop some in the toaster for breakfast or if they’re just hungry and, hey, it’s got eggs!

[Susan in TX]

You can save a lot by not buying snack foods and limiting the eating between meals. Kids really won't starve if they are only fed three meals a day. If they really are hungry between meals let them eat bread with peanut butter or carrot sticks. Also do not buy juice or other beverages. Have them drink water.

Where I live Aldi is the store with the lowest prices. I buy all the basics there. In fact a great way to save money is to only make meals that you can buy the ingredients for at Aldi. Aldi doesn't carry everything but they have all the staples and things that most people buy all the time. The only thing I don't usually buy there is fresh produce. Some of it is ok but at my Aldi the quality isn't that good. 

You can pack lunches for less than $2.50. You can make a sandwich such as PB&J, tuna, or even lunchmeat. Add a banana or an apple and you have a decent lunch. 

For dinners pasta based meals are really cheap. You can also make burritos with canned refried beans and flour tortillas. You can add ground beef or not. The other thing I have found is that sometimes it is cheaper to buy the convenience food. For instance a party size frozen lasagna is about $10 at Walmart the last I checked. Sometimes the frozen meals are cheaper than making something from scratch.

Susan in TX

[Farrar]

Another thing, since you say you waste the "extra" bits of ingredients. Have a repeating menu. Do the same meals on a cycle so that you're not wasting anything - that last bit of produce or whatever gets used up the next week when you make it again.

[HomeAgain]

18 hours ago, lovinmyboys said:

I like the idea of playing chopped, but I tend to be a recipe person-which can also lead to wasting money because I will buy the one ingredient that I am missing for a recipe, then never use up the rest of the jar.

You know, I thought I would be the same, but I made a list of recipes that tend to use more delicate/specialized ingredients.  My kids know that Asian food is going to be on the menu the same week as Mexican because I can't stomach paying $1 for a bunch of cilantro, use a tiny bit of it, and throw the rest out.
Yesterday I went to the grocery store and got meals for 2 full days and a few partials: 5 days' breakfast, 5 days lunch, 2 days dinner, snacks for $46.  I only bought 1 dinner meat because the other was at home.  On the list:
Eggs
Cheese
English muffins
Sliced ham
-----------------
Most of that will go to breakfasts: Egg McMuffin sandwiches to go.  I got enough ham and some muenster to make lunch sandwiches as well.
Also:
Milk
Green beans (I had zucchini on my list but it was $1.49/lb.  Green beans were $.99/lb)
Oranges
Bananas
Canned beans
Canned tomatoes
3 chicken breasts (I split each breast into 3 thin slices, giving us nine portions)
(And because we eat these on Halloween and I found them early this year: Count Chocula, Booberry, and Frankenberry.  They are hidden right now in a closet)

I took inventory last night of what we had before I left.  Half a bag of very large sad potatoes, carrots, leftover pico, some older herbs and so on.  There was half a container of creme freche in the fridge that was getting to not needing to be there, too. So dinner last night was:
-pan seared chicken with white onion, garlic, thyme, and sage
-mashed potatoes made with creme freche to replace the butter.
-homemade gravy using the drippings from the chicken pan and two cubes of chicken stock I had frozen.
-sauteed green beans with garlic and crushed red pepper
-steamed carrots

I check out the damaged & dented sections of our grocery store, too.  I don't mind buying half price fruit/veggies that are looking a little sad if I'm going to use them that night.  And they nearly always have bananas on that rack for banana muffins.

Today's meals:
Breakfast: egg McMuffin sandwiches & bananas
Lunch: sandwich or leftovers from last night, oranges, yogurt.
Snack: popcorn
Dinner: chili over rice
After sports snack: cheese, crackers, piece of fruit.

Tomorrow:
Breakfast: same
Lunch: sandwiches or quesadillas, oranges, yogurt
Snack: same
Dinner: chili dogs

 

[vonfirmath]

1 hour ago, HomeAgain said:

You know, I thought I would be the same, but I made a list of recipes that tend to use more delicate/specialized ingredients.  My kids know that Asian food is going to be on the menu the same week as Mexican because I can't stomach paying $1 for a bunch of cilantro, use a tiny bit of it, and throw the rest out.
Yesterday I went to the grocery store and got meals for 2 full days and a few partials: 5 days' breakfast, 5 days lunch, 2 days dinner, snacks for $46.  I only bought 1 dinner meat because the other was at home.  On the list:
Eggs
Cheese
English muffins
Sliced ham
-
 

 

I would LOVE to be able to make Egg McMuffin sandwiches at home. It's too expensive to buy but I sure do love them. And I'm sure my son would eat them for breakfast happily as well. Is there some way to make these ahead and freeze them to warm up? Our morning time is very limited but we could do it on the weekend.

[HomeAgain]

30 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

 

I would LOVE to be able to make Egg McMuffin sandwiches at home. It's too expensive to buy but I sure do love them. And I'm sure my son would eat them for breakfast happily as well. Is there some way to make these ahead and freeze them to warm up? Our morning time is very limited but we could do it on the weekend.

You know, I've never tried to freeze them.  I would say that theoretically it would probably work just fine - we do breakfast burritos filled with eggs, cheese, fried potatoes, and sausage/chorizo.  They freeze and reheat pretty well.  I think for Egg McMuffins you'd want to take them out of the tin foil and wrap in a paper towel if you microwave it.  Can't hurt to try one to see. 🙂

[Carrie12345]

53 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

 

I would LOVE to be able to make Egg McMuffin sandwiches at home. It's too expensive to buy but I sure do love them. And I'm sure my son would eat them for breakfast happily as well. Is there some way to make these ahead and freeze them to warm up? Our morning time is very limited but we could do it on the weekend.

When I do these, I make sure to swirl the yolks so they cook through, otherwise they reheat to a very strange texture.  We haven’t mastered the microwave timing yet, but we keep fooling around with times and power levels, warming them up little by little.  Full time on the highest power turns them hard.

[Emba]

My food expenditures are usually less, but my family is one smaller, so we eat less, too. And we have a freezer full of beef, which I haven’t ever figured into a weekly cost.

 I plan ahead all meals for the week and try to only buy what’s on my list. I try not to shop while I’m hungry. Buying a snack before shopping will totally pay for itself, for me, in grocery savings.

I buy a big bag of apples every week or so, and apples or bananas are the snack most days, sometimes with peanut butter. A couple of bananas sit too long each week and get made into banana muffins, which are breakfast and then the leftover muffins are a snack. A kid who isn’t hungry for an apple, but would eat some other sweeter, less healthy snack, is not really hungry, and can wait till supper if they don’t like the apple I offered.

if I don’t go crazy with toppings, homemade pizza is a lot cheaper than Pizza Hut. I use plain canned tomato sauce (which I buy ahead when they’re on sale) and stir in a bit of sugar and some Italian seasoning. I keep the bag of pepperoni in the freezer, and just take out what I need each time. I mak my dough from scratch. I figured it up once and a pizza costs me less than $5 to make.

I buy rice, pinto beans, and flour in bulk bags. Those are staples I know we’re going to use and have room for, plus they won’t go bad. 

I never, ever buy cookies, except a few boxes of Girl Scout cookies once a year. I buy a few brownie mixes, cake mixes, etc when they’re on sale, otherwise we bake from scratch when we want sweets.

Soda is a very occasional treat, and i don’t buy juice except an occasional can of orange juice concentrate, which is kept in the freezer for mornings we run out of milk. I buy Kool Aid packets for the kids once in awhile. Otherwise they drink milk or water at most meals. 

I allow snacks between meals, like I mentioned before. DH doesn’t really think they’re necessary, and I’ve stopped offering pb&j because it tends to ruin supper, but I’m always hungry between meals myself, and I can’t eat in front of them and then say “no snacks”. 🙂

our school lunches cost the same, and it saves money if we pack leftovers for lunch, plus a piece of fruit and maybe a cookie or something if we’ve got them on hand. Also usually carrot sticks. One will eat hard boiled eggs, so I’ll send those and a few crackers instead of a sandwich. 

 

 

[Emba]

I also buy generic brands for most things, except those which I have by experience discovered are subpar in a way I can’t stand. Like, I have found Shur Fine green beans to have too many woody stems, but generic cheese (as long as it is actually cheese, not some sort of processed cheese food or imitation cheese) is just as good as brand name so far as mild cheddar and cheeses for cooking/sandwiches goes. I buy my own special more expensive sharp cheddar for a treat, but no one else really appreciates it, which is fine by me.

[prairiewindmomma]

I made bulk pizza dough yesterday. A 5lb bag of flour makes 12 crusts and leaves about 1/4-1/2 c. of flour leftover. 🙂  (Don’t worry—that flour got tucked into some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. 🙂 )

I am thinking of making bulk sauce next with canned tomatoes—just zipping a big can in my food processor and adding spices and freezing it.

The only cost I can’t really adjust down is cheese; I already buy it in 5# bags. 

I bought 5# of hatch chiles off a farmer today—going to roast and freeze them. Should save me quite a bit from buying fresh peppers this winter.

[lovinmyboys]

6 hours ago, happysmileylady said:

OP, would you like a weekly grocery and meal planning thread to help keep you on track between now and Thanksgiving?

That would be awesome!

We moved this summer (I have whined about it on here), and it has been hard for me this time in lots of ways. This thread has been so helpful for ideas, but also encouraging that I can do it. It has given me motivation that I have really lacked since moving. So, I think a weekly thread will be helpful!

This week I did pretty well. I bought a bunch of chicken and made chicken fried rice, poppyseed chicken, and chicken noodle soup (even though it still feels like summer outside). My kids brought leftover fried rice for lunches. My little kids and I were out at lunchtime several days this week, and we had sandwich/carrots/apples. I need to look to see how much I spent total. I did splurge on apple cider, but I think that is all.

[KungFuPanda]

One way is to aspire to zero waste and shop your fridge/pantry first. Inventory you kitchen for ingredients, plan meals around that, then just fill in the gaps at the store.  If you throw out a lot of food when you clean your fridge, this system will benefit you a lot. 

If your people aren’t impossible about trying new things, you might want to do a trial run of The Dinner Daily. It plans a menu around sale items at local stores. If you set your store to Aldi you’ll pay even more. Often, I look at their menus and replace some meals with family favorites that use those sale ingredients. I still save. 

If you buy cheese in bulk you can make homemade pizza for less than the $5 little Caesars pies, but it’s a time suck and you’re making the sauce, dough, and everything. If you do it every week it gets easier and doesn’t seem like such a huge deal.  Learning to make Stromboli helps you use those random pieces of cheese and lunch meat before they go bad.

It also helps to be good at fried rice  or burritos so you can pull together a filling meal when you have a half dozen random leftovers. 

Having lots of pork shoulder recipes is nice too. 

Edited September 15, 2019 by KungFuPanda