Where do I start on a food budget?

[angela1435]

Everything I have read says to save receipts and find out how much you are spending and go from there. I don't want to do that! I want to save money right away. So any tips on starting out on a food budget? How to get the most food out of my money and use the cheapest recipes?

[bumplett]

I just picked an amount I thought was comfortable, and whittled it down from there....

Do you have an idea of what you are spending now?

How big is your family that you are buying for?

[angela1435]

I think I am probably spending around 250-300 every 2 weeks. But we eat out a lot. So I am going to need to buy more than I usually do. Plus that doesn't count the trips to get milk or bread or other things like that.

We are a family of 5.

[joyofsix]

If you know roughly what you are spending cut from there. If not you could look at the USDA food plans to get an idea of $$ to start with.

[MissSeetonFan]

Start making menus for each shopping period. Then make a shopping list for the things you need. Then STICK TO IT! Also, pay in cash! That way you can't go over your limit.

One thing my husband and I have done for years is have a limit, start highish until you have things pegged, and then as you shop, keep track of the prices. We always round up, so $1.27 for something is counted as $2. Then we keep slash marks for the 10s. So once we've added a few things to the cart, he pauses, adds things up (Crossing off prices as he makes it to a $10 amount so he doesn't re-add it later) - and uses that to see how close we are coming to our limit.

I hope that made sense. But keeping track and rounding up, pretty much guarantees you'll stay under budget because you stop buying things once you hit your ceiling. Rounding up makes sure that taxes are taken in to account (depending on where you live).

For our family of 5, (3 kids under 7 and 2 adults), we have a limit of $100/week. We try to aim for $80/week but we have the buffer built in.

When I was single, the rounding up method guaranteed that I could afford a snack or two. It would be the "If I come in under, I'll buy a candy bar or bag of chips" or whatever my treat was. Now, we build snacks in to the budget too, because with a family, snacks can easily get out of hand if you don't plan for them.

As you get better at planning and at seeing how much you are spending, you can start making cuts in places.

[Nishu]

You can use the USDA food cost table to calculate what an average cost of feeding a family of your size would be.

USDA Food Plans: Cost of Food Cost of Food at Home

Most recent figures are for June 2011. "Moderate cost" for my family averaged out to $37 a day.

[Debbie-cat]

I can usually keep it between $300 - $350 a month for 3 adults, 2 cats, 1 dog including all HBA's and cleaning supplies.

[angela1435]

I've read that people make a notebook and have all the usual prices of the things they buy so they know when it's a good deal. Anyone do this? I wouldn't mind doing this but how are you supposed to know what the normal price is? All of this confuses me. Lol. Thanks for all the tips!!!

[craftypam]

First; shop the sales for your meals. Make your price book from the ads. The things I use often I know how much is a good price; but with today's prices rising it's hard to keep track. I bought the old fashioned pocket sized telephone book and put prices alphabetically. This works especially well when going to Costco or Sams club. I know if the price is good or not. The sales at the grocery store are usually better than Costco and Sams.
I wouldn't put the regular price in the price book because I don't buy things that are regular prices. You can save sooooooo much money by buying only what is on sale. This is just for instance; Meijer approx every other Saturday has a Saturday sale. I got miracle whip for $1 a jar and Kraft 16 oz salad dressing for $.69. These are loss leaders; items deeply discounted to get you in the store, but when you go you only buy sale items.

[cdubb]

Saving is good

[greekislandgirl]

Are you willing to cook from scratch, or to learn to do so if you don't know how? If so, you can save huge amounts of money by buying simple ingredients, seasonal produce, spices/herbs, and just making everything yourself.

It may seem like a lot of work initially but once you start eating homemade food, the storebought tortillas or hummus or salad dressing or whatever is going to taste so gross to you that you will wonder how you ever ate it! And you will save a LOT of money.

I use a price book - I have a notebook broken down by category (like dairy, wheat products, vegetables, canned goods, etc) and I keep it updated with recent prices - where, when, how much (unit price), whether it was a sale or a regular price, etc. It helps. I keep it in my purse.

You mentioned making separate trips for bread/milk, etc. Even if you are walking the the store for these, you can save money by buying bread and milk in larger quantities when it's on sale, and freezing it (or making your own bread - remember that homemade bread is much more filling than storebought so you will get more food out of a loaf of the same size that you make yourself). Of course if you are driving a car or paying to use public transportation to get to the store, you are not doing your budget any favors.

Prices vary so much by location that it's really hard to say what you "should" be spending for food. It will depend on your level of skill in the kitchen, your preferences, and your location. As soon as you stop eating out, though, you'll notice an instantaneous and dramatic reduction in your food expenses.

[ladykemma2]

i am single, i spend 170 every two weeks but that includes pet, HBAs and household stuff, and the occasional pair of jeans or shirt at walmart. The line item in the budget is "walmart"

the actual "food" part of that is less than 90 dollars which comes to roughly 45 a week for me. i could get that lower, by shopping whole foods bulk type stores, but i don't have time during the school year.

i go to restaurants twice a month so i cook at home and pack lunch every day for work. restaurants are a separate line item in the budget.

i am not a vegetarian, but used to be. in this house i have meat maybe twice a week. i tend to live the francis moore lappe style of vegetarianism (Diet for a small planet). i like her recipes.

1. i plan meals on paper in detail, with items that are already in the food storage, freezer, or pantry.
for example: deer meat meatloaf with ketchup on top, curry mayo potato salad with onion, and canned green beans
or tabouli with cucumber and tomato, non-garlic hummus with tahini and a nice, chewy, grainy bread from the bakery section.
2. make a list of what i do need.
3. i keep a food store and include any food storage items that may be low, for example, canned peaches need to be replenished soon. i look for sales and will buy 24 cans when i see them on sale.
4. i carry a calculator and keep a running total. yes, i put things back if i go over, or quickly redo the meal plan if i need to. i have been known to sit in the mcdonalds in the walmart and re-do my plan/list non stressfully.
5. i take my time and try to go to walmart at a non stressful time, like early morning. it's quite nice in the early morning.
6. i try to make grocery shopping as spiritual and pleasant an experience as i can, because i can get quite negative abut it. after the divorce i could not shop at the lah-dee-dah store anymore. i sat in the walmart parking lot and cried. i had to turn this into a positive, so i made affirmations for myself like "marvel at all this abundance - god said prosperity and abundance are mine", or "i am taking good care of myself and my finances". " i am happy to shop in this fine store"

this took a year of trial and error so you wou will not be good at it at first. do what works. refine, refine, refine.

i recommend also that you not buy prepackaged foods. does the household really need hamburger helper?
can i do this better? can i do this cheaper? can i do this healthier? can i do this smaller? do i really need this at all?
can i make my own salad dressing? can i make my own mayo? (yum)

personally i can't make bread for myself cheaper than i can buy it, so i buy bread.

edit; and regarding cleaning products, drops of dishwashing liquid in varying amounts of water will clean just about anything. baking soda for scrubbing. "the works" for calcium and hard water deposits. edit: on days where i have the extra dollars i might spring for a bottle of purple fabuloso, as a rare treat.

edit: no going back to the store for anything. freeze the bread and milk. in my experience the frozen milk is only good for a week, tastes funky after that.

[ladykemma2]

i wanted to add: i'm not a couponer, aside from the rare coupon for scott's toilet paper, franks durkee red hot, lee and perrins worcestershire sauce, carnation canned milk, and pace picante sauce.

i wanted to add: i keep a mental price book in my head.

edit: me again. the meat at walmart is gross. i go to the lah dee dah store for meat (loss leaders and clearance meat only)

[angela1435]

Do you guys have a deep freezer? I don't think I can fit milk in my freezer, or bread. Especially because I go through a gallon every 2 days or so. My one year old drinks a lot of milk. But you do make a point about the gas to drive to the store. I can easily walk and it's a way to get in a bit of exercise (which I need!! Lol).

Thanks for all of these tips! I think I may try to take a stab at making my own breads and stuff. We had already gotten away from most prepackaged foods, but we seem to be spending more since doing that!

Can't wait to make my first "frugal" grocery trip. Right now I am trying to be creative with the stuff I have left in the fridge/cabinets. Meat is gonna be gone soon. Do have a few packages of beans. Gonna try to find some yummy recipes for those.

[vm9799]

i spend roughly $80-$100 per week for a family of 4.....myself, dh and 2 older kids.....dd(14) & ds(12). this total includes EVERYTHING....food, toiletries, paper goods, pet food, etc.

i am a major 'foodie' and love to cook/bake. we eat a very very healthy whole foods diet & get our meat from a local butcher. i do coupon, but it's only for heath & beauty items (shampoo/conditioner, etc.) and toilet paper.

i shop the ads, twice a week on monday & friday mornings. i menu plan based on what's on special....and only shop for 3-4 days at a time. this has helped us tremendously in the 'waste' dept as things can pop up unexpectedly for weekend plans, etc and this way i haven't shopped for those days yet.

this amount also includes breakfast & lunches (packed during the school year for dh & kids....i stay home).

our typical dinner meal also includes dessert of some sort (everything from pudding to homemade ice cream to cakes & sweet breads).

one thing i do is to include a soup & salad night every week (in the cooler months) and a baked potato bar w/salad once a week as well. i find this REALLY saves us money.....and also makes it possible to do ribeye's once a week. the secret to our amazing baked potatoes is the herb butter i whip up......to 1 stick butter (softened), i add, chopped fresh parsley, minced shallot, a minced garlic clove & a pinch of salt & pepper. SO good, and takes a plain baked potato to the 'next level'. i also dice up & fry a few slices of bacon, grate some sharp cheddar cheese and put out some sour cream. it's honestly one of my family's favorite 'cheap' meal!

another very easy but cheap meal is homemade pizza. i whip up the pizza dough and buy a few inexpensive ingredients, or use leftover grilled veggies for a veggie pizza and we throw them on the grill! serve w/salad and you've got a whole meal! perfect for summer! and in the winter we just throw them in the oven.

regarding the grilled veggies: whenever we do grilled chicken breasts or even grilled ribeye, the day, before i cut up a variety of veggies (zucchini, yellow squash, sweet onion, broccoli, carrots, red/orange/yellow/green peppers, mushrooms.....whatever i've bought on special that week) and marinate them overnight. when it's time to make dinner they get dumped into a grill basket (father's day gift for my dh) and set on the grill right along with whatever else is cooking. serve with what we call 'the bread' (another recipe i'm happy to share if interested) and you have a complete meal! i always have veggies left over so those get saved & we do pizza the next night. makes for good planning and less money.

ok.....back to the topic at hand. see what happens when i get on the subject of food? dangerous.

i scan the ads and see what produce is on sale (i shop almost exclusively at meijer as they include so much local produce), then create a menu plan around that.

my typical haul from the butcher shop is bacon (from a local farm....thick cut. YUM!), ribeye (our family of 4 splits 2-8oz steaks), maybe a chuck roast (winter time) or pork chops.

i think the reason this works for us is because i'm a bit of a portion control 'nazi'. i buy lots of different things, but portion them so that everyone gets a huge variety.

anyway......hope this helps in some way.