SO: If you spend less than $500 a month for food... - Page 7

[SoulCakes]

1.) How many people are eating? 3
2.) Are you in a low/mid/high COL area? Very high.
3.) Do you recieve WIC to supplement it? No.
4.) Do you garden or get free produce from others? I wish! I plan on growing some peppers, tomatoes, and herbs soon.
5.) Do you can/dry/freeze/preserve food? No.
6.) Do you shop with coupons? No. Not available here.
7.) Do you have your own meat animals/hunt or get some from family or friends? No.
8.) Do you eat some of your meals at school or work? My husband does for lunch, maybe three or four times a week.
9.) Are you on a special "diet" (Veg, allergies, lowcarb, TF, etc...) No.
10.) Are your family members big eaters or "eat like birds"? My husband can eat, but my daughter and I are pretty skimpy on the food.
11.) Do you "ration" food or portions? Not allows 2nd's and third's? No way! Unless, like the other night, when I forgot to stock up on rice so we were limited in how much we eat received. But that was just circumstantial.
12.) When you post your $$$ spent on food, do you divide up any sides of meat or CSA's or co-ops you buy into monthly amounts? Or do you post a $$$ and then say "Oh and that does not inculde XYZ"? We just buy straight from the grocery store. The amount spent does not include any meals eaten out, obviously.

What does a typical week of eating look like for you? What did you eat yesterday?

We eat out about once a week. I always make soup on Sundays, served with crusty bread. Yesterday we had leftover gumbo for lunch and pork chops with rice and sauteed carrots for dinner. Night before we had gumbo (obviously); night before that we ordered in Thai. Night before *that* I made lemon chicken breasts with green beans and angel hair pasta with homemade alfredo sauce (yum!). That was also the day I made cinnamon rolls from scratch for breakfast because DD was home sick.

So almost every meal is homemade. Other than dried pasta, I don't use any pre-made foods, which I guess is why we save a ton of money on groceries.

[jess_paez]

1.) How many people are eating?
1 man and one pregnant chic.

2.) Are you in a low/mid/high COL area?
Low? Low-mid?

3.) Do you recieve WIC to supplement it?
No.

4.) Do you garden or get free produce from others?
Nope, although I wish we could...we;re in an apartment.

5.) Do you can/dry/freeze/preserve food?
We buy meat and freeze it, that's about it.

6.) Do you shop with coupons?
Nah, I find coupons aren't helpful for the things we buy...meat, produce, fruits. The coupons I see are for junk cereal, cinnamon rolls, stuff from the freezer section, ect.

7.) Do you have your own meat animals/hunt or get some from family or friends?
No.

8.) Do you eat some of your meals at school or work?
DH drives to work (and stays in a hotel) 3 days a week, I cook him food ahead of time and he eats that, it's helpful that there's a fridge in there!.

9.) Are you on a special "diet" (Veg, allergies, lowcarb, TF, etc...)
No.

10.) Are your family members big eaters or "eat like birds"?
My dh is a big eater I guess you could say. I am medium.

11.) Do you "ration" food or portions? Not allows 2nd's and third's?
No, we eat whenever we're hungry.

12.) When you post your $$$ spent on food, do you divide up any sides of meat or CSA's or co-ops you buy into monthly amounts? Or do you post a $$$ and then say "Oh and that does not inculde XYZ"?
It includes food/drinks only. We spend 50-60 bucks a week on food, and then we get whatever necessities (laundry soap, soap, toothpaste, shampoo, dish soap, ect) when we need it. And that doesn't amount to much...we share the same soaps, shampoos, ect. We also never eat out anymore. Haven't for almost a month and a half.

What does a typical week of eating look like for you? What did you eat yesterday? Yesterday we went over to friends so we had pizza, but a typical day (today) will go something like this:
breakast...2 eggs, toast, bacon
lunch....white chicken chili
snack...fruit/yogurt or banana or a couple oreos (we do buy someee snacks).
dinner....we're planning on pork ribs (that we got from sams club cheap), noodles, and corn.
snack...a small ice cream cone (we always have a few treats in the house).

[JamieCatheryn]

1.) How many people are eating? 3

2.) Are you in a low/mid/high COL area? Pretty low

3.) Do you recieve WIC to supplement it? No

4.) Do you garden or get free produce from others? A little in summer

5.) Do you can/dry/freeze/preserve food? I freeze berries and some leftovers

6.) Do you shop with coupons? Only if they come super convenient

7.) Do you have your own meat animals/hunt or get some from family or friends? No

8.) Do you eat some of your meals at school or work? Dh does, and brings convenient things

9.) Are you on a special "diet" (Veg, allergies, lowcarb, TF, etc...) Low carb at dinner

10.) Are your family members big eaters or "eat like birds"? Somewhat big eaters, DH is cutting down though for health

11.) Do you "ration" food or portions? Not allows 2nd's and third's? We eat all we need, but get it on the plate the first time around

12.) When you post your $$$ spent on food, do you divide up any sides of meat or CSA's or co-ops you buy into monthly amounts? Or do you post a $$$ and then say "Oh and that does not inculde XYZ"? No, the $450 monthly is all food and household goods

What does a typical week of eating look like for you? What did you eat yesterday?
Yesterday we had eggs and toast, chicken and bean soup and grilled cheese, apples and peanut butter, chicken enchiladas and salad, choc chip cookies.

[echospiritwarrior]

1.) How many people are eating? 4 (two adults a 4.5 yo & a 2.5 yo)


2.) Are you in a low/mid/high COL area? Low to mid I'd say


3.) Do you recieve WIC to supplement it? no


4.) Do you garden or get free produce from others? we have a plot at the community garden but given the weather lately it's mostly buying produce from our local farmer's market- the food is of phenomenally higher quality than the organics selection of our grocery store and much cheaper too. Said farmers are also our friends and so in exchange for picking their daughter up from school a couple of days a week we frequently are given extras (like lettuce that had slight frost damage etc)


5.) Do you can/dry/freeze/preserve food?not a lot, but I make a LOT from scratch


6.) Do you shop with coupons? nope, I tried that a while but all the coupon food is what I consider to be junk, I do watch sales on the food that I normally buy though


7.) Do you have your own meat animals/hunt or get some from family or friends? once in a while we are given meat from friends who have animals, not enough to count on


8.) Do you eat some of your meals at school or work?no- wait a minute I lied... I wash dishes for my friends restaurant once a week, I get one meal per shift and usually take half home and it's a snack for the next day


9.) Are you on a special "diet" (Veg, allergies, lowcarb, TF, etc...)we strongly lean traditional


10.) Are your family members big eaters or "eat like birds"?it really depends... sometimes more birdlike sometimes more big- weather, activity level, where in my cycle I am etc play into all that


11.) Do you "ration" food or portions? Not allows 2nd's and third's? not at all. I do serve small portions because I notice my children eat much better that way, they are welcome to eat as much a they like/need to


12.) When you post your $$$ spent on food, do you divide up any sides of meat or CSA's or co-ops you buy into monthly amounts? Or do you post a $$$ and then say "Oh and that does not inculde XYZ"? no


What does a typical week of eating look like for you? What did you eat yesterday?

Oatmeal or cold cereal (purchased in bulk) with bananas cut up into it
made a big pot of creamy potato leek soup with shiitake 'shrooms and dipped in homemade leftover rye bread into that
tacos - tortillas handmade, beans from dried beans re-fried by us
steamed greens
snacks -carrots with peanut butter, cheese, strawberries, kiwi
I had half of a veggie pasta dish and a small salad from work
I'm probably forgetting something, but that looks close