Can you stand ANOTHER grocery budget thread?

[Jenn_M]

I need help getting our grocery budget under control. First a little about our family... It's me, DH, and 2 girls (5.5 and 1.5 years). I WOH 4-5 days per week at a daycare that both my DDs attend (older DD before and after school, younger DD all day). Our meals are provided at daycare. All 3 of us eat breakfast there and DD2 and I eat lunch and snacks also. My DH eats 2-3 meals at home per day (1-2 at home and will usually eat leftovers, takes 1 to work).

So, that leaves for home...
2-3 breakfasts
2-3 lunches
3-4 lunches for DD to take to school, DH to take to work
4-6 snacks
7 dinners

per week.

We don't have any food allergies/intolerances. We do eat meat DH would be willing to have a few meatless meals per week. We will be growing a lot of stuff this summer and I shop the farmer's market a lot.

Given all that, if it were your family how much (little) do you think you could spend? I'm trying for formulate a realistic budget and meal plan.

[kalisis]

I fed 4 of us, 2 adults and 2 children (4 and nearly 2) on $100/week. I was also WOH, but had to provide lunches for both kids and both adults brought lunch to work. And we all ate breakfast (except for 1 adult who doesn't eat bkfst) at home. So, I was doing more meals than you on that amount.

FWIW, we were veg and included a $10 pizza/week in that budget. It was my one treat that on Friday night we'd eat out (in actually, but it was take out (and sometimes I'd go to walmart and pick up two of those huge take and bake pizzas for $12).

I made a lot of things from scratch, granola and yogurt (I would splurge for organic milk, but a gallon would make enough yogurt for a week and we'd have enough milk left over for the kids to drink, if they wanted) for breakfast, quick breads, etc. Lunch was always, always leftovers. I invested in good glass containers that were leak-proof so anything could be reheated (and DS had no microwave at his school, so he had a thermos). I usually tried to make double for dinner, b/c then there was guaranteed extra for lunches and usually I could feed the freezer too. One of my life-saving cookbooks was a betty crocker one called "Cook Once, Eat Twice."

I found shopping at my local Korean mkt to be one of the biggest money saving tips. The produce wasn't organic, but it was cheap and there was a great turnover, so it was always fresh. And I could find tofu on sale every week for less than $1 lb, which was great for bulking up a meal and making it stretch a little further.

There are lots of grocery threads here, if you search, you'll probably get a lot of ideas.

What is your current budget? What kinds of meals are you making?