So, rather than search through for the blog post, I shall just post a little updated one about our meal plans and grocery budget!
The facts:
We have two adults and one little mini in the house eating with us. We eat most meals from home, including packing lunches to eat while we work. We eat fairly healthy, and we buy organic or local produce when we can. Our son drinks more milk than humanly possible- I'm talking 4-5 gallons a week, so that adds up! (and yes, I know that can be bad, but our doctor and I am quite happy with his health, and his Uncle Aaron was, and still is, the same way. Thanks for your concern). Our budget is $225 per month. I grocery shop once a month, and then usually send Daniel to the local IGA about once a week for anything fresh we need. I don't coupon for any groceries! There are not good enough sales, because unfortunately stores here don't double or triple coupons (unlike the South)!
The tips:
1. MEAL PLANNING! Truly. Biggest difference- probably cut the budget by a third
only to shop once a month.I started shopping once a month because Daniel only gets paid once a month, and we try to basically live off of his salary and save most of mine. Then, it turns out that I hate wasting time in a grocery store once a week, and I loved the extra savings it provided, so it stuck.
I plan about 15-20 meals a month, knowing we will eat leftovers a few nights and go out and eat with friends or family, etc. I made the meal plans on the computer, in a list form, not calendar form, complete with a grocery list. I do a list instead of a calendar, so it's flexible (I can just look at the list to see what I feel like making that night). I have four months planned, so I just alternate them three times a year. So when it's time to shop, I just print a meal plan/grocery list and go. I also like the list because if we decide to have people over, I just look at the list to see which meal provides the most food, and I make it! It gives us freedom to invite people over whenever we want to.
Shopping once a month means only ONE time for impulse buys/snacks, which end up costing a lot if you're doing that once a week. I usually plan for making two desserts, and I get snacks. But when the snacks are gone, they are gone. That means we end up eating everything in the cabinets the last week instead of continually buying snacks. It keeps us healthy, away from habitually snacking, and keeps our pantry and fridge continually cleaned (rather than the same cake mix being in there since it was on sale four months ago). We aren't big snackers anyways; we mostly just eat chips and salsa if we need a snack. No lie. I probably buy more tortilla chips than anything else in our grocery cart. It's a little embarrassing at times (like this past week when an old man stopped me to ask how many kids I had, and then proceeded to show other random customers in Aldi how much I had in my cart. True story).
The first couple months I did this I had to go back a few times, but now I know exactly how much cereal, tortilla chips, peanut butter, etc. we will go through in a month. It takes me about an hour and a half to do the shopping for the month, and that is usually going to two stores.
Our budget is $225 per month, and I usually spend about $175-190at Aldi. Then we have $25-$45 for the weekly produce, which we usually just grab at the local IGA. It's a lot easier not to overspend when you just run in once a week for a specific list like bananas and lettuce. Freezing also helps for the produce and bread you know you'll use throughout the month.
When I sit and think about it, I realize that almost $40+ of our budget goes to Sawyer's milk. We need a cow.
2. ALDI. Seriously. That store saves us a fortune. Once, I bought one of these same lists at Walmart just because I was already there, and it cost almost twice as much. I can find almost ALL of my groceries at Aldi; usually only three to four items will not be available, and for those I will stop at another grocery store.
3. Not buying meat (besides chicken) monthly helps. We spend about $500 every November for 1/4 a cow, and it is AWESOME! It lasts us exactly 12 months, and we have roasts, ground beef, steaks, etc. It worked out to be $3.30 per lb., which is good for ground beef, and AWESOME for roasts and steaks. We never used to have steak- now it's about twice a month or so. Plus, the beef is SO MUCH better than the grocery store meat. We honestly have a hard time eating beef at restaurants now because it makes us sick. We don't buy organic or grass-fed- just normal beef from a local farmer who treats his animals well. We usually spend $50 at some point to buy a bunch of bacon locally as well. We are looking into buying 1/2 a hog this year too-hopefully that works out. So the $500 in beef cuts us down about $50 per month, and it comes out of savings every November. If we didn't do that, our budget would be around $250-$275.
Those are our quick tips! Hope they help you some! I will include some meal plans as well!
I plan about 15-20 meals a month, knowing we will eat leftovers a few nights and go out and eat with friends or family, etc. I made the meal plans on the computer, in a list form, not calendar form, complete with a grocery list. I do a list instead of a calendar, so it's flexible (I can just look at the list to see what I feel like making that night). I have four months planned, so I just alternate them three times a year. So when it's time to shop, I just print a meal plan/grocery list and go. I also like the list because if we decide to have people over, I just look at the list to see which meal provides the most food, and I make it! It gives us freedom to invite people over whenever we want to.
Shopping once a month means only ONE time for impulse buys/snacks, which end up costing a lot if you're doing that once a week. I usually plan for making two desserts, and I get snacks. But when the snacks are gone, they are gone. That means we end up eating everything in the cabinets the last week instead of continually buying snacks. It keeps us healthy, away from habitually snacking, and keeps our pantry and fridge continually cleaned (rather than the same cake mix being in there since it was on sale four months ago). We aren't big snackers anyways; we mostly just eat chips and salsa if we need a snack. No lie. I probably buy more tortilla chips than anything else in our grocery cart. It's a little embarrassing at times (like this past week when an old man stopped me to ask how many kids I had, and then proceeded to show other random customers in Aldi how much I had in my cart. True story).
The first couple months I did this I had to go back a few times, but now I know exactly how much cereal, tortilla chips, peanut butter, etc. we will go through in a month. It takes me about an hour and a half to do the shopping for the month, and that is usually going to two stores.
Our budget is $225 per month, and I usually spend about $175-190at Aldi. Then we have $25-$45 for the weekly produce, which we usually just grab at the local IGA. It's a lot easier not to overspend when you just run in once a week for a specific list like bananas and lettuce. Freezing also helps for the produce and bread you know you'll use throughout the month.
When I sit and think about it, I realize that almost $40+ of our budget goes to Sawyer's milk. We need a cow.
2. ALDI. Seriously. That store saves us a fortune. Once, I bought one of these same lists at Walmart just because I was already there, and it cost almost twice as much. I can find almost ALL of my groceries at Aldi; usually only three to four items will not be available, and for those I will stop at another grocery store.
3. Not buying meat (besides chicken) monthly helps. We spend about $500 every November for 1/4 a cow, and it is AWESOME! It lasts us exactly 12 months, and we have roasts, ground beef, steaks, etc. It worked out to be $3.30 per lb., which is good for ground beef, and AWESOME for roasts and steaks. We never used to have steak- now it's about twice a month or so. Plus, the beef is SO MUCH better than the grocery store meat. We honestly have a hard time eating beef at restaurants now because it makes us sick. We don't buy organic or grass-fed- just normal beef from a local farmer who treats his animals well. We usually spend $50 at some point to buy a bunch of bacon locally as well. We are looking into buying 1/2 a hog this year too-hopefully that works out. So the $500 in beef cuts us down about $50 per month, and it comes out of savings every November. If we didn't do that, our budget would be around $250-$275.
Those are our quick tips! Hope they help you some! I will include some meal plans as well!
Three Months of Meals/Grocery Lists
(Google Drive didn't save my cute fonts, so it looks a bit wonky, but it works! Enjoy!)
(Google Drive didn't save my cute fonts, so it looks a bit wonky, but it works! Enjoy!)
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