Okay. I read through the thread after I came up with comments...but I think that still perhaps...it might be worthwhile to try some of it out.
-Can the fruit snacks. Or, if there is a costco around, you can get them for less in larger quantities there.
-Again, I would buy each child a water bottle and use it. Study after study shows that the water in the bottles isn't any better or safer, only about ONE HUNDRED times more expensive than tap water. We got a reverse osmosis filter and it paid for itself in a year. Now it's just wonderful! We use sigg bottles, but there are less expensive ones, but we ALWAYS have our water bottles with us, each of us has, and is responsible for refilling, our own (obviously that wouldn't work for your tiny one, but our four year old has been doing his own for...oh, six or eight months now...he's tall and can reach the fridge).
-As a PP suggested, I would get large tubs of yogurt and toss the portions in some small tupperware or rubbermaid containers. Yes, more responsiblity for the kids to take care of, but considerably less expensive in the long run.
-I, too, make my own bread. Honestly, the kids got over it quite quickly...and now they don't like the other stuff! Too, I tweaked the recipes until I made it light and soft...you can do that with white whole wheat flour and lots of vital gluten. It can be made just as, uh, gummy, as the cheap store brand stuff, if they like it that way...but my kids don't...and my husband dealt in the beginning and has become accustomed to it as well.
On top of that, homemade English muffins, uh ROCK and are less expensive and are actually better (believe it or not) than the name brand. Not hard to make, either. At all.
Pretzels are easy to make. Really. The seventeen year old could share some kitchen responsiblity...eventually they'll need to move out and know how to cook, so now is better than never!
-Again, gluten free. Make your own mixes. Join a co-op that sells dry goods, buy your ingredients in bulk (for easily half the cost), and make your own flours. We keep a HUGE crock of all purpose garfava-sorghum-tapioca-rice (or potato starch) flour on the counter at all times. We make home made rice bread that is just great...I actually wouldn't mind were I "forced" to eat it (I'm not gluten free, but DH and DS are). HOnestly. The store breads make me wretch just opening the bags, but this is pretty darned good. And the baking mix is AWESOME. We get cakes that act like real wheat cakes, and pizza dough, and pancakes, etc. Almost like normalcy, and it's not breaking our budget. we got really scared when we realized we'd have to go wheat and gluten free on top of all the allergies we already "provide" for...but some leg work really pays off!
-get store brand frozen oj for a TON less than you're paying, and the SAME brand (or close) frozen for still quite a bit less.
-Maxi pads...I bought a diva cup and it is one of the best things I've ever done. I am also a birth worker, so wouldn't be able to do cloth. It's just not okay with me to have to stash a wet bag of my cloth during a birth. *shrug* others may feel differently...but I like the diva cup because I have a LONG time before I need to empty it, so if I take care of it when I get there (on a heavy day), I often don't have to change it till I would have taken a breather anyway. If you are NOT a cup kind of Mama, then I WOULD suggest cloth. It is just such a huge savings. I bought it two years ago, and feel like a freeee woman because I don't have to spend $15 a month on tampons (I bleed quite heavily). But, even $7 a month over the years adds up. It just does.
-Along those lines--cloth diapering. I know you already addressed this...BUT. Even just going to washcloths over wipes (you can get a 20 pk at walmart or a 24 pack at Costco for under ten bucks) will save you huge. And you'll see the savings in the second month.
-The GoodNights...can you contact the manufacturer and ask for coupons? They are expensive, and you can't help it if you wet (we have enuresis in our family). But if you are able to get coupons and shop when they're on sale, you can bring the cost down.
-If the Amish are going to GIVE you the 40 pounds of tomatoes you may as well use them somehow! Toms freeze well, as well. YOu freeze them whole, then when you're ready to cook with them, they honestly just slide right out of their skin. You can also just can them whole or cubed, rather than making the sauce and canning IT. That will give her the chance to use it in making a quick sauce by the can, OR using them in chili, soup, stew,or in meatloaf, or whatever. MOre options.
-Get into a CSA or buy from the Amish MORE of your veggies, at much better prices. Then eat them fresh and blanch and freeze like crazy. I paid pennies a pound for my beans and peas this past year. I paid a dollar a pound for potatoes (they store well in the basemetnt), apples, berries. I got potatoes and apples that "keep well" and berries got frozen. ACtually some of the berries also got made into freezer jam, and I did get a box of apples that I made into apple butter. Much the same end product as your tomatoes...but still stored them, got them dirt cheap (actually got a second bushel for free at the service station across from my kids' homeschool music class--they always go to waste and I just asked them if I could pick them, they said sure!!), and in the end got 10 jars of apple butter for significantly less (quarter? third?) of what I would have paid for apple butter in the store...and I controlled the sugar and the LACK of corn syrup!! But I digress. The berries we use year round, on our pancakes/waffles and in muffins, crepes, on desserts. Frozen berries are expensive. Really a "splurge" item in our house. Now they're really cheap.
-I agree, use less paper products if you can. We use NO paper towels or napkins, all cloth. It saves us. We DON'T use family cloth, I must admit. But I do always only buy TP on sale.
-see if, next year, you are able to buy meat in bulk. I bought organic free range pork and beef this year for easily fifty cents or more less a pound than I would have spent for the conventional stuff at the grocery store. Yes, I bought a whole hog and shared a 1/4 cow. We also bought several chickens, some cut up and some roasters, and three turkeys. Our meat budget was actually cut more than in half for the year, and we have MORE meat than we'll be able to eat, I think, before fall...or we'll come REALLY close! And, because of our food allergies, we eat pretty much all of our meals at home or homemade. And I swear, it tastes so good!!! I ended up taking one doula check to pay for the chickens and turkeys and another to pay for the hog and the cow. And now I'm done for the year...and it's all in the freezer. Yes, we did buy the freezer, and it is large. However. IT is a super energy star, and we got it on clearance, and it paid for itself the first year, in the savings we were able to realize in food.
Hope some of that helps. Have your daughter try a cookbook called "The New Best Recipes." She'll never want to use anything else again (and you might even like it!). It is worth every penny, I swear.
