I run a
very tight ship when it comes to grocery shopping and meal preparation. By most people's standards we have a
miniscule amount of money budgeted for food.
Some people would find it nearly impossible to feed a family of three
for so little but we manage to do it and do it quite well.
I have
a formula. I spend $33 per person plus
an additional $25 per adult (or teen 16 and over) to stock up on sales items.
3 people X $33 = $99 rounded up to $100 (it's just
easier that way) + $25
$125 per
month
A few
years ago I bumped the budget up to $150 per month because it seemed the cost
of groceries had gone up so much and I felt that after ten years I should
probably make an adjustment. Last year I
ended up putting it back because I was overstocking the house with food.
When we
were getting ready to move out of our house I actually had to put a moratorium
on grocery shopping. We ate from our
pantry and freezer for three months in a row supplementing only with fresh
produce and dairy purchases. When it
came time to move we still had so much food I ended up giving a trunk load of
food to several of my friends and the food bank. It was crazy how much food I had
stockpiled. Good, but crazy.
Now
that we live full time in an RV there simply isn't the space to stockpile a lot
of food so our $125 a month budget is perfect.
So how do I manage to feed my family three meals a day on such a small
amount of money?
·
I
shop the sales. I try my best not to buy anything that isn't already on sale.
·
I
carefully use coupons and match them to sales items as often as possible.
·
I
use a pantry list. As long as the items
on the list are in the house I can make just about anything.
·
I
meal plan on a weekly or monthly basis depending on what is already in my
pantry. This is crucial to my
success. I plan my meals around things I
already have on hand.
·
I
incorporate one or two meatless meals per week.
·
I
usually serve a soup meal once a week.
·
We
eat our leftovers. I use leftovers a lot
for lunches the next day.
·
I
make a big Sunday dinner complete with dessert.
I often plan to make a new meal from the leftovers. For example if I make a pot roast I will also
plan to make something like stew, soup, French dip sandwiches or shredded beef
tacos with the leftover roast.
·
We
don't eat a lot of meat. I use a variety
of other proteins like eggs, legumes and cheese.
·
We
are big time water drinkers. As a rule I
rarely buy soda and we drink juice in moderation. We enjoy milk with our breakfast and in the
foods I prepare. I also put it in the
girl's drink bottles for their school lunches.
·
I
cut whole milk 50/50 with water. We much
prefer it to skim milk, which we used to drink, and it tastes a whole lot
better than powdered milk, which I can't stand.
It also helps considerably with our storage issues.
·
I do
not include sales tax in our grocery budget.
Sales tax is not edible.
·
I
keep a separate non-food budget of
$25 for our non-food purchases - cat food and litter, toiletries, cleaning
supplies, etc.
·
I
have a separate entertainment budget
for non-essentials like dining out, food purchases in lieu of dining out,
alcohol, candy and gum, movie tickets or rentals, etc.
·
Most
food purchased specifically to make gifts comes out of my gift budget, however sometimes I do use food items from our pantry
if I have extra.
·
Any budget
amounts leftover at the end of the month are carried over to use in subsequent
months. This includes any negative
balances as well.
·
I
track my spending on a spreadsheet. This
is crucial so I always know where I stand.
We eat
relatively simple meals. That being said
I don't ever feel like we go without anything or that we are eating tasteless
boring food. We enjoy roasts, chops, steaks,
fish and gourmet style meals on a regular basis.
Do you
have a set grocery budget? How are some
ways you manage your grocery budget?
