how do we do it?
Where to start!
Well, for starters, the girls are young and don't really eat that much, so that will change as they get older, I'm sure!
Also, I buy our pasture raised beef in bulk and I don't take that out of the weekly grocery budget. So, for holidays we will get money gifted to us and I will use that to buy a bulk amount of meat that will last us winter/spring.
We don't eat a ton of meat, so one chicken, one lb of hamburger (maybe two) and one meal of fish is enough for a week.
Out of a chicken we get two meals and a chilli with the broth (and veggies).
I buy organic apples and bananas and then every week, in addition, I buy one fruit based on what's in season and in stock.
We don't buy what we don't need.
I buy in bulk when I can.
I get almond meal in bulk, for example (much cheaper in the long run).
I make a batch of almond/rice/coconut waffles on Monday and we get 3 breakfast meals out of that serving. We don't buy boxed cereals. I make desserts and we don't really eat bread?
I am not an expert as I am JUST getting this figured out now (after all these years) but I can say that buying in bulk on the meats and almond flour are a life saver for us (as those items are expensive on a weekly basis).
I don't buy chips, pre packaged snacks, or sodas.
The girls do drink one container or organic juice mixed with water each week and I drink tea (which I buy in bulk 2x a year).
They drink rice milk also.
We use nut butters, nuts, organic spinach, organic carrots. I do buy 2 packs of frozen organic veggies each week (cause they are easy to cook with). When I need things like Veganaise, or Catsup, I space them out and just get one of those type things each week. Cheese (goat cheese) is something I buy for the girls once a month, usually. I consider it a splurge. We don't eat dairy, and don't rely on it in our diets.
I have some frozen veggies from Grandpa's garden (tomatoes for soups) and squash.
We don't spend money on home / body care on a regular basis. I buy a bulk thing of BiOKleen powder, which lasts forever from here
www.kokogm.com
and I get soaps in trade or make my own stuff (made lip balms this morning as the winter is approaching).
I have a bottle of all purpose pine and orange concentrate that will clean my house a thousand times over so I really don't need to buy cleaning products.
I don't buy alcohol on my budget. I just don't buy anything we don't need.
?
We'll see how long I can keep it up!
Basically, my weekly list has been a couple of bags or bunches of veggies, a couple of bunches of fruits, a Smart Chicken, two cans of Tuna from the health market. One can of coconut milk, 1 bag rice flour, 1 pack noodles, a juice, 7 rice milks, eggs. Those are the staples and then we squeeze in what we need and can't get by without. We make meals stretch (one chicken cooks a meal with 2 veggies, then a stir fry, then the broth makes a chilli with quinoa, tomatoes, left over veggies...we do those three things almost weekly, and then have a hamburger dish and a veggie pasta dish).
Lunches, I buy the girls natural gluten free hot dogs, which they love, and we often have those for lunch with a frozen organic veggie and fresh fruit. I make our snacks or we have fruit/veggie. Or we have nut butter on almond coconut waffle with fresh fruits or left over from the night before...stuff like that.
Breakfast, homemade waffles, pancakes, sometimes eggs and fruit, or hot cereal (we use Bob Red Mills gluten free breakfast cereal of corn, buckwheat, and rice). We use honey as our sweetener in most baking and eating.
I realize if they were older, they would eat more and we'd have to buy more, but as of now, this system is working really well.
