We are a smaller family (two adults, a toddler, a breastfeeding babe) so some of this wont apply but... we spend around 200-250 a month on food and general products. The amount varies depending on whether or not we run out of a big ticket item (like laundry soap, or molasses, or what have you). We're trying to get that number lower though...I'd like to be under 200 every month. My current goal is 160 a month but that may take a while!
What worked for us was eating as close to a whole food diet as we could, eating seasonally, and buying staples in bulk...so a lot of brown rice, lentils, black beans, pasta, bulk slow cook oatmeal, potatoes, and "mega packs" of chicken breasts.
We eat meat only as a small portion of a meal (we don't eat red meat, just the chicken) and then only 2-3 times a week. We eat a lot of stew, chili, beans and rice, burritos, omlettes/quiche/scrambled eggs/fritata, chicken and rice, homemade waffles (we add shredded zucchini or bits of fruit we get from the "too ripe discount" shelf at the store), oatmeal (I put it in the crock pot before bed and in the morning we have yummy oatmeal, usually with enough to stick the leftover in the fridge for use in making oatmeal bread later in the week), and home made bean burgers (mash black beans and rice, add a little egg to help hold it together, throw in some hot pepper and/or lime for fun, make into patties and cook). Pasta dishes happen a lot too. Basically anything we can make in a large portion size so we can freeze some for later.
And we eat seasonally which helps keep the costs down too...we're not paying for inferior produce grown in a greenhouse or shipped halfway cross the planet. Instead we're eating squash and apples in the fall, root veg and beans/rice in the winter, fresh greens in the spring, as much fruit/berries in the summer as we can hold. It's actually sort of fun to get in tune with the growing cycles of your region.
For personal care and cleaning products...we use baking soda and vinegar and plain old soap for a lot of house cleaning needs. Personal cleaning products like soap and shampoo we buy in bulk (usually we have two or three different soaps or shampoos and we rotate them instead of using the entire bulk purchase until it's gone) and use natural alternatives (like a homemade sugar scrub or honey mask, oatmeal in the bath, olive oil for dry skin/hair) when we want a "treat". We do buy nice toilet paper though...some things I just can't economize!
If you're cooking from scratch then maybe use the crock pot or rice cooker more? Fill out the meal with beans or rice or oatmeal or other inexpensive food and "highlight" with some lime grilled chicken or stir fried veggie or more "expensive" item. A salad with chopped veggies topped with black beans and corn (or sliced chicken) is great. You can feed two adults on a single chicken breast by filling out the salad with other things (the lettuce, tomato, random veggies like zucchini, etc). Or shred that chicken breast into rice and fill tortillas with the chicken rice mix and some cheese, tomato, and lime to make yummy burritos.
Instead of serving "whole items" (like a whole apple, a whole chicken, a whole potato) try chopping or slicing things. Sliced apples drizzled with honey and thrown in the toaster oven for a few minutes makes a yummy dessert and you only need a few apples to serve the whole family. Slicing sausage into little rounds and making dumpings (just wrap the slices in dough) can create a soup that feeds a family but uses only one or two sausages instead of everyone getting their own sausage. And I love to make oven bake potato fries... put a whole pile of these baked fries on a plate, layer a few slices of chicken or a scoop of bean chilie on top of the pile, and then top with shredded cheese or a cheese sauce and you've got a fun/healthy really low cost meal that appeals fo older kiddos as well as to adults.
Basically the slices slow people down and let them realize when they are full, as well as allowing the more expensive item to accent the healthy but less showy food.
hth...I can't wait to see everyone's tricks! As I said...I really really want to trim our budget down. I'll be staying home now that we've got two little ones and we need to find some savings.
: I cook from scratch as much as possible and don't buy organic everything, but do buy organic animal products. How can I get this amount down?
TIA!
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