Food Budget Question

**illuminati_2** · 10-31-2010, 08:34 AM

So I decided it is time to chisel our way out of debt.

We have a big hole, but a decent size shovel too, I think it is do-able with the correct budget. Snowballing up debt, and cutting way way back , on a lifestyle that has been above even our means..

The good news is that buried under a pile of CC / Student Loan Debt , is a hefty take home income ...

The bad news is , we are going to need every cent of it to get out .

So my question for you savvy vets are. What is a good food budget for a family of 3 , Me, My Wife, and our 3 y/o son ? How much per month should I put aside for it ? We already overspend on going out and such, So normal frugal / grocery shopping.

Once we get on a good budget , I can figure out how much we have left over to start the snowball rolling I know there will be some , But i want to be realistic. ??

**Mamaof2rugrats** · 10-31-2010, 08:52 AM

I would try for 300ish. You could certainly get it much less but that's a starting point. Shop at aldis!!!!

**mslolsalot** · 10-31-2010, 09:41 AM

Food budget is very reliant on daily habits. Do any of you cook? Do both you and your wife work outside the home? Can you plan/cook ahead?

If you do cook, plan ahead, shop sales, and only buy what you need for the week, a family of 3 can live off of $50-75 per week, but that wouldn't include a lot in the way of prepared, packaged foods, pop, etc.

As far as eating out goes, set a goal to limit it or cut it out all together for a while. Make sure that every day there is a meal either already preapred for reheating or at the very least planned and ingredients purchased for. Then when you get the drive through urge on the way home from a long day you can say "we don't need to stop at Wendy's, we have x in the fridge to warm up". It makes a world of difference over "Ugh, I know there's food in the house, but what am I going to prepare for dinner tonight??"

**sunshine** · 10-31-2010, 09:47 AM

Food budgets are dependent on location, food alergies, health issues, etc.

We have 3 adults (dh, me, 21yo dd) and we budget $60/week. This includes pet foods, H&B, TP, etc. I have some food allergies and dd has celiac like disease.

We live in central IL. . . garden, fish and hunt, to supplement our food.

**illuminati_2** · 10-31-2010, 11:04 AM

No food allergies, we both work outside the home, but we can both take lunches, err non traditional jobs, in Law Enforcement and Pharmacy. I can actually go home for lunch / dinner whatever or bring. She can bring stuff . 300 seems like a decent figure. I was actually thinking like 280. We don't eat a lot of expensive stuff. A typical bi weekly trip to wal mart only costs us about 120 dollars. And we OVERSPEND (food goes to waste). The stuff we buy, oatmeal, cottage cheese, bagels, etc. is not very expensive. The perishable stuff we buy typically 1/3 of it gets tossed (veggies, fruit, and lunch meat).

Were both pretty healthy, even for eating on the go a lot. Very little sugary / junk foods in our diets. The cook / re heat is gonna be a PITA for us. But its definitely do-able.

**HappyMama** · 10-31-2010, 11:50 AM

Well I approach my budget not weekly but the money monthly. If you can cook OAWC ( Once a week cooking , or OAMC , monthly) and make large meals including some great soups, stews, enchiladas, burritos, lasagnas, sauces, chilis, etc on the weekend, then they would be easy to grab for lunch and warm up for dinner. You can make a roast on Sun. have a full roast dinner, mashed potatoes, rolls, salad, and then take left overs for lunch, then make a stir fry, philly steak and cheese, etc with the left over roast making your servings healthy and pennies on the dollar.

On the weekends you can make bulk oatmeal, granola bars, yogurt. For other great on the go fillers.

With your budget buy staples in bulk , use the sales flyer's to stock up saving both time and money. Making soups , stews, and salads you can use those veggies up . Get creative with the food you buy so there is no waste. Stock up your freezer and pantry when things are on sale or you make things in batches and pull them out as needed.

**sunshine** · 10-31-2010, 06:36 PM

Learning to eat/cook at home is a process. . . expect some failures at first, and don't be too hard on yourselves (or each other) at first.

I recommend a crockpot, and a George Foreman type grill. Both make tasty meals in a minimum of time/effort.

**gmarie** · 11-03-2010, 11:29 AM

This link is informative:

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publication...fFoodJun10.pdf

Also, when I asked this question recently, Momto5RN had suggested looking at how much you would get for food stamps in your state. (can find on state website). Since food costs vary by area, I think that is an excellent suggestion!

Our budget was $250 for 2 adults, but we have it down to 215 this month (and that included a restaurant meal!)

**Judi Dial** · 11-03-2010, 12:02 PM

I can feed 2 adults on $100 a week, but when I started the process restaurant food & groceries were around $900 a month! Don't kid yourself that the food at restaurants doesn't count. Add it to what you spend at the grocery store, That's where you're starting. For us, there were 3 easy ways to save a bunch o' $$$ at the beginning: no restaurants/prefab food, no magazines/publications, and cut down the waste. I'd recommend a crockpot too.

OAMC is not the only way you can find menus you can prefab. Jill Bond's Mega cooking is the same thing, different name, amongst others. Also, look for cookbooks for B & B's much of the food in them will be set up the night before and cooked the next day.

IHTH!

Judi

**littleplum** · 11-03-2010, 09:37 PM

It seems like you are overbuying on the produce, so maybe trim back to half what you usually buy, and just make a second quick trip halfway through the week to buy more if you run out. Or eat more canned.

I try to shop only once a week for our groceries, and I'll buy some fresh fruits and veggies (salads mainly) to eat right away, but by the end of the week, we are eating canned or frozen fruits and vegetables.

**Marie78** · 11-04-2010, 02:05 AM

We base our grocery budget on a weekly menu plan. Look around your cupboards and get a feel for ingredients you already have on hand so you can use them up in your recipes to reduce waste.

Every Saturday I go through the fridge/freezer and food pantry and I take a mental inventory of what I have to work with. Then I dig out my recipes (we have like 15 or 20 that we enjoy). Then I start making a list of things I will need to complete these meals. I try to make enough at dinner so that we have leftovers for lunch. We usually get at least one lunch leftover from dinner. Then I will make sure we have lunch meat and bread on hand for when we don't have enough dinner leftover for lunches. I just make sure we have enough breakfast foods and healthy snacks on hand for the week. Fresh fruit will get eaten in our house, but I've started buying more frozen and canned veggies than fresh, because we waste less of these then fresh ones.

I try to shop only once a week, so I make a list of everything we will need for a weeks worth of meals and other household items we might run out of: like t.p., diapers, toothpaste, or sandwich bags.

Once I have my grocery list made I get out my coupon book and match coupons to my grocery items. I am not as great at this as some people on here, but I tend to save on average $10 a week using coupons. I only shop at one store and I will look at their sales flier for anything I haven't added to my list that we might need soon and can save money on that week.

I took an average of my weekly grocery spending and for a family of ( 2 adults (one pregnant one) and a toddler) we spend under $120 a week and that includes food and all our other household needs. Good Luck!