I am in total shock....

[babygrant]

Our financial situation has gotten worse over the past little wihle. It's kind of a hush hush topic between DH and I because it's so upsetting. So anyways, I printed out a month worth of our account statements and in ONE month....I spent almost a full paycheck (2 weeks) of pay. : We have been eating fairly healthy, a lot more veggies and fruit as well as high fiber foods for my son who has health issues. I almost cried when I saw the number. Produce is so expensive here, and I know we'd spend a lot less if I started buying the foods we ate before (noodle packages, etc). How the heck do you eat healthy on a small budget?

[neetling]

I think it's very very hard.

[beebalmmama]

It is hard, but you can keep some of the cost down. I've found I buy only fruit which is in season or on sale, sometimes frozen. Pretty much the same with veggies, or buy some frozen if the produce is so high where you are. I spend a little more for higher fiber pastas (but by generic brands whole wheat if they have them). I buy a lot of grains in bulk bins, oats, grain cereals. When I was a sahm I made all of our bread and it saved us a lot. I also buy bulk beans and legumes and bought a pressure cooker at a thrift store for quick cooking. We pretty much didn't eat any meat, mainly veg anyway, but couldn't afford it. My splurges are organic milk and yogurt. We had a garden when I was a sahm and I started to do some more canning. We are now in a rental with no garden space and I think we spent quite a bit more on produce this last year. Do you track your spending on groceries to find out where most of it is going? I would review my receipts and make changes or omit stuff where I could....if I could. There were some things though that I just couldn't justify not getting, not where my families health is concerned. Good luck mama.

[Satori]

Originally Posted by neetling

I think it's very very hard.

Its not all that hard.

What kind of budget are we talking about? organics? types of meat?

[babygrant]

Originally Posted by Satori

Its not all that hard.

What kind of budget are we talking about? organics? types of meat?

We don't buy much meat. My DH hunts so we have 1/2 freezer full of deer and elk meat (I don't eat it, kids do). I'm still figuring out numbers so can't give you an amount that we are able to spend on groceries. Oy oy oy. I'm confused.

[CarrieMF]

have been eating fairly healthy, a lot more veggies and fruit

most of which is not in season so it's quite expensive to buy. They have cherries & strawberries here now but no way am I paying the price of them. It'd be $17 for approx 4cups of cherries.

Buying frozen does help. Since you have a freezer, when fruits & veggies go on sale in the store buy extra & freeze the ones that you can. Here until about March-April there are really no fruits in season.

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by Satori

Its not all that hard.

What kind of budget are we talking about? organics? types of meat?

Depends where you live. Produce is affordable where I live; Texas produces a lot of it's own and I'm pretty close to Mexico. Produce and everything else is more expensive in NY, where my family still lives.

[josybear]

we eat seasonally. it's winter, so we have a lot of soups. chili or minestrone or potato soup... they're ubercheap and very healthy. we usually have apples, but we use them sparingly and don't buy much else by way of fruit. if we get fresh veg it's usually broccoli. otherwise it's frozen veg and canned tomatoes and all the produce i froze and canned last winter.
i have a few very affordable recipes on my blog, just click the smilie in my siggy and select 'recipes' from the right-hand menu, partway down the page.

[lolar2]

Where you live, you might be best off sticking with squashes, root vegetables, and frozen vegetables and beans until spring comes. And canned and frozen fruits; plus apples and citrus and bananas are pretty cheap in the winter. (Not perfect environmentally though, if that's a big concern.)

[Sarah8Jane]

Maybe this is terrible but...we've tried to eat more healthfully this fall and winter and I've started paying more attention to the produce section of store flyers. If they have produce on sale, I buy it. If they don't, we eat canned or frozen veggies or meat/beans/rice for the week.

[mnt_mommy]

I agree, sales and frozens.
Right now, 4.5 oz of blueberries are running 88 cents at a small local grocer here! I am stocking up!...except that with dp, they don't stock. He gobbles them.
But that's the point, right???? (I think?)

[slsurface]

Originally Posted by babygrant

Our financial situation has gotten worse over the past little wihle. It's kind of a hush hush topic between DH and I because it's so upsetting. So anyways, I printed out a month worth of our account statements and in ONE month....I spent almost a full paycheck (2 weeks) of pay. : We have been eating fairly healthy, a lot more veggies and fruit as well as high fiber foods for my son who has health issues. I almost cried when I saw the number. Produce is so expensive here, and I know we'd spend a lot less if I started buying the foods we ate before (noodle packages, etc). How the heck do you eat healthy on a small budget?

I feel like I'm missing something here. Just for clarification, you spent an entire paycheck on food for a month? Or an entire paycheck for all living expenses in one month?

[SugarAndSun]

It's definitely hard. My kids eat a lot more fruits and veggies in the summer. While root veggies, etc. are available now... they just don't eat the same quantity of those as they do blueberries. I buy frozen from Trader Joes. Frozen is much better than canned.

[onthemove]

Hi Babygrant! I live in NW B.C. and I have a daycare where I provide the food so...

I've really made an effort to freeze anything I can get my hands on when it's in season to get us through these off season months. I try to buy things like canned pumpkin and cranberries in large amounts at thanksgiving. dh hunts and fishes. We eat alot of peas and beans and carrots...fruit pickings do get slim so we may have orange week or frozen raspberry smoothie week.

We still manage to spend under $200 every 2 weeks! It can be done however by the end of April we are looking forward to fresh food and when we start planting the garden there is much anticipation...

[babygrant]

Originally Posted by slsurface

I feel like I'm missing something here. Just for clarification, you spent an entire paycheck on food for a month? Or an entire paycheck for all living expenses in one month?

Well I added up all of my grocery store transactions (so that's groceries, toiletries, and my son's medication) and I spent almost an entire paycheck in just one month.

[Poddi]

Food is pretty expensive here. We definitely eat less produce in winter. I actually eat more meat, fish and eggs in winter. They give me calories and vitamins, and are not so expensive when you think about how much produce cost (and the shrinkage after cooking). Definitely eat in season as well. Right now we mostly eat apples, bananas and mandarins for fruits. I bought some mangos last week, very expensive and they didn't even taste good because it's not in season.

Which stores do you shop? There are many produce stores here in BC and I find their prices much better. We try to buy meat from butcher and fish from seafood shops, veggies from produce stores...etc. Then we go to Superstore or Save-on-foods to pick up household stuff and other things. I know we don't have many coupons here, but read up on grocery tips anyway. You'd bound to find something useful. My biggest tip is to use a shopping list and stick to it. Impulse purchase can cost so much, and it's usually unhealthy stuff.

[I~love~pie]

it doesnt surprise me. I bring home about $150-$200 a week per check , and I spend about $120-$130 a week for food. we are a family of 5. Alot of people are surprised I only spend that. Considering I have 1 male 16 yr old in my house.
I do try to stock up on sales, and frozen veggies. I do not buy to many fresh in the winter mainly b.c I know how far they have to come to get here.
Yes I could do it for alot cheaper but our health would worse. I work to buy food.

[Jenelle]

I didn't get the "total shock" part either... I am still not sure when you talk about one paycheck, is that paid weekly, bi-weekly, etc.? At any rate, it doesn't matter, because I think I understand now, that you have not been tracking expenses, and so, you had no idea how very much FOOD was costing you each month? It can be surprising to look at the actual numbers of where your money is going.

Someone had a signature on here once -- I loved it. It said something like "You have to tell your money where to go, so you don't end up wondering where it went." I think of this OFTEN. (So thanks to whoever that was!)

I keep track of every penny spent on a spreadsheet, breaking it down into simple categories, so at any given time I can look and tell you exactly how much money we are spending on food. It isn't pretty. In fact, I am embarrassed to even post it here. But the point is, I *know* how much it is, I can budget accordingly, and I am able to see in black and white when that "average" number goes down -- I know we are making progress.

[chiromamma]

It's not hard but you have to be willing to devote time to plan, shop and cook.
I buy 90% organic and we are working hard to decrease our grocery bills.
I am fortunate to live in a town with 5 natural foods stores. They often compete with eachother in their weekly specials. For veggies I buy only what's on sale...this week it's lots of kale, cheap veggies like carrots, bagged apples and clementines. Not a ton of variety but I enjoy cooking and can be quite creative. I've also decreased our meat consumption. Only 2 or three dinners a week...usually in the form of a soup/stew/fried rice type of thing. I give the kids plenty of animal protein in their lunches in the form of tuna, leftovers, sandwhich meat that's on sale.
This week I'm breaking out the old bread machine. Organic whole wheat bread is around $5 a loaf here! Ridiculous.

[Tangled Hill]

For tracking, the envelope system has been the best. thing. ever. for us, hands down. I can't recommend it enough. Here are some of the other ways we cut grocery costs:

• We have a membership to Costco (thanks to a bday present from my parents), and often buy big bags of organic frozen veggies and fruits. That helps a lot.
• We menu plan for a couple of weeks at a time.
• We try to buy seasonal produce, and we've discovered the bulk mixes (veggie burger mix, veggie chili mix, hummus mix, etc.) at our natural grocery stores. They're amazingly cheap and super-yummy.
• I keep abreast of the loss-leader items at the grocery stores that have those sorts of sales (the really cheap things to get you in the door).
• I sign up for freebies on Internet freebie sites. Brands like Kashi and others offer samples, and when they arrive, they almost always include coupons (often great ones). We don't have a subscription to the paper, so these are the only coupons I use.
• I keep an Excel price list for every grocery store we frequent; that way, I know when something's a good deal.
• We stretch some items with other items. As cheap as the burger mix I mentioned above is, it's even cheaper when you stretch it with brown rice (and just as yummy, amazingly enough).
• We drink only water and occasionally tea.
• We're vegan, and this helps cut down on costs a lot, I think (I haven't eaten meat in 20 years, so I'm not sure of the price, but cutting out egg and milk products has definitely made a difference).
• We make a list and stick to it, and we bring a calculator with us.
• We love shopping at the local ethnic markets - Indian food, Asian food, etc. Those markets are usually cheaper than buying the same foods at a regular or natural grocery store.
• We try to eat simple meals as often as possible - dried rice and lentils, soups and stews, that sort of thing. And we use the crock pot often.
• We eat up all the leftovers. Seems a no-brainer, but we used to waste so much food by letting it spoil.

That's all I can think of at the moment. HTH! Good luck!

ETA: We also go as long as possible between grocery trips. That seems to help.