Ouch! Food Budget - Page 2

[WorldsBestMom]

Yes I agree we all have to manage our budget carefully. We definitely need to control our impulse buying, a lot of us have to battle with that.

[Mom2Wilmo]

I have to agree with how hard this is. Lately I have found myself looking in my pantry, writing down as many meals as I can from what I already have and going to the store for a few more dinners/lunches/etc. Then I don't go to the store until all of those meal ideas are used up. Literally the pantry, freezer, and frig are bare. I will buy fresh fruits and veggies as needed though. This saves me money b/c I am truly using everything I have. I do spend quite a lot when I go to stock up (maybe half of our food budget for the month?) when I do go to the store but since I'm not throwing away as much I see this plan as a gain.
We are getting ready to prepurchase a grass finished cow and pastured pig share so my freezer will at least be full of meat! I am hoping this will bring my monthly costs down.

[zebra15]

Last month I was under $150 for DS (9) and myself. We ate alot from the pantry. We ate out too but with coupons and only from my 'slush fund'.
I packed my lunch every day for work, same with breakfast. So I only had to deal with dinner and weekends.

[FeelingBlessed]

For years our grocery budget has been kicking my butt. We aim for $600/mo (family of 4 - parents + 6 yo/3 yo kiddos), but invariably blow through that fairly often. A few things that help a bit:

* decreasing frequency of shopping trips (at my peak, managed to go bi-weekly)
* discovering the kids + I really like eating at our local hospital's beautifully renovated, healthy cafeteria (DH works in the ER, so he doesn't get quite as excited about eating ostensibly at work) - everyone gets what they want, fresh fruit + veggies abound, there are 12 flavors of fresh gelatto, + our entire meal is nearly always under $8 (plus there are 2 enormous fish tanks to watch while eating) - this is a great go-to for times when I really don't want to cook, but also don't want to drop $30+
* taking the creativity out of meal planning - wrote down breakfast/lunch/dinner + snack master list of mostly inexpensive/healthful items - just pick from the list when creating a meal plan: http://wp.me/pp0Q2-2u (keep the list in the front/back clear covers of a binder that contains all recipes)

Hoping the above help us keep Feb. grocery spending under $600 (esp. as Jan. was $1,100 - ack! - included a b-day bash but still...)

Good luck!
Kim