Grocery budget help please..

[Michelle-Lea]

I'm cross-posting this on another frugal site as well.. I'm looking for lots of help gals!

This is liable to be a rambling mess, so let me apologize in advance.

The twins (Jake & Luke) are getting bigger and eating like little piggies. Clay and Andy have always had wonderful appetites and are starting to eat more as they get bigger. I'm really starting to feel the pinch in this area. We get $150 a month food stamps and I end up spending another $120 ($60 a week) myself. The foodstamps are usually gone within the first 2 weeks that we get them. That's about $300, for a family of 6 a month, if you add in all the extra trips we throw in. Which comes out to about $50/person. Which really for a month of food I don't consider bad. But, we bring home $1400 and our bills amount to $1100 without hospital bills. So you can see the logistical problems of this.

We eat pretty cheaply, a typical week includes a meatless meal, a breakfast meal, and a soup. The rest of the time it's sale bought meat and veggies. I really need to analyze how I can feed my family well, cheaper.

WIC takes care of (thank God):
6 gallons of milk a week
Cereal
Oatmeal
Peanutbutter
Eggs (2 dozen a week)
Juice (4 bottles a week)



Things I HAVE to buy every week (my staples)..
2- big bunches bananas
2- loaves bread
2- 8pk yogurt
1lb lunchmeat
4 cans tuna
2 blocks of cheddar
3 big cans fruit (peaches, pears, mandarin oranges)
Sugar (we drink lots of kool-aid)
Canned veggies (I use sometimes 3 cans at a time)
3lb bag onions
Various snacks (graham crackers, jello, sometimes chips)

All this is bought before I ever buy what is needed for meals. That's at least $25-30 right there, depending what I can get on sale. Am I being crazy? Do you guys see a cheaper way to do this that's just eluding me?

Should I use the foodstamps for strictly meat? Then buy all the other stuff on my own? I dunno, I starting to get bummed about this. I know there are large families that eat super cheaply.. I just haven't figured it all out yet.

Put on top of this $20 a week in diapers and $10 a week in paper plates and paper towels. I know that's bad and should really go first. But, I just can't keep up with all the dishes and laundry anymore. I don't have a dishwasher and noone else in the family will help me, so for right now the paper plates and towels are staying.

[nuisance26]

~Getting your kids to like water would be a big savings.Do you water down juice? My kids get 2 1/2 cups of milk and 1 cup of watered down juice a day. My kids are very petite for their ages so they need less than average calories. Check dietary guidelines for your kids. Is the lunchmeat for your hubby? For awhile I didn't buy lunchmeat for my hubby because I couldn't find a source $2 lb or less. He ate homemade pepperoni bread, leftover homemade pizza or PBJ sandwiches. Replace the "chips" with cut up carrots/celery/peppers/apples(dipped in lemon juice) in the fridge. Cheaper and healthier. Switch over to whole grains. Adding oatmeal, wheat flour or crushed whole grain cereal to your breads, pancakes, coatings and cookies not only makes them healthier but keeps you feeling full longer. I don't see pasta on your list. 1 lb boxes are often less than .33. Off-brand sauce is often .80 jar. If you wanted you could add 1/4 lb ground beef, frozen spinach or some lentils to the sauce to fill everyone up more. You could even add a loaf of homemade bread and still come in under $4 to feed your family well. How about spanish or fried rice? How about meatless chili? When you want to cut costs think grains, beans and rice. HTH!~

[TheRootedNomad]

Ok here we go.

First I see you live in Kentucky but can't tell where. Hopefully some of the things by me are places you have acccess as well.

Paperplates and towels - Even if you choose not to get rid of these $10 a week seems high. Someplace like Aldi or the dollar store should reduce how much you pay for these. Also, if you don't like doing dishes I still might consider using them some of the time....like when you serve sandwhiches and can just give them a quick rinse/wash. If you're using paper cups too I'd make the kids rinse and use the same one all day. As for papertowels you could cut this down some by using cut up cloth rags or napkins some of the time and throwing them in the wash. Most of the time just cutting down some on things we don't want to give up can still help enough to have an effect.

Bread - I would look for a Hostess or Butternut store/outlet near you. I never pay more than .32 a loaf for a large loaf of bread. Contrary to popular belief the bread in these stores is not outdated. They sell cheaper here because there is no middle man.

Salvage groceries- Here by me we have a small family owned chain of stores (there's 5 of them I think) called B&E salvage. They buy things in odd lots from various places. A lot of thier items are cheaper than what you get at a regular grocery store. You do need to be warey at these types of stores though for multiple reasons.
1) They can and do sell items past thier experation date. However, not all of their items are out of date sometimes they are items the grocery has decided not to carry or the box got a little crushed. On some things, say mouthwash that has some alcohol in it, I'm ok with it being oout of date if its not too out of date. Everyone will have their own level of comfort with this.
2) You have to know your prices. I buy tomatoe paste at .20 (.33 is the cheapest I've seen even a generic at a regular grocery in a while) a can there and canned almond filling for .69 a can (2.29) at Kroger(both always in date). I won't however pay .69 for a pound of pasta even if it's in date. I can get a better deal at any of the groceries when they run a sale.

canned veggies- I would shop fresh veggies that are in season. Most of them can just be boiled in water or eaten raw if cooking isn't your thing. They much healthier and should be cheaper than canned if you buy in season. If you want to stick to canned veggies I'd stock up at sale time or try Aldi.

snacks- things like grahm crackers are cheaper at the dollar store than the regular grocery. I would limit these as it's cheaper and healthier to hand the kid a couple of raw carrots then a half dozen grahm crackers.

milk products- It seems like there is a lot of weekly dairy bought. Dairy is expensive and health wise we can over do a good thing in this area. Unless your pay attention to what you buy it can contain alot of fat, which shouldn't be overconsumed. It can also cause severe constipation in kids who don't even think to say anything to thier parents. I do recognize ther are six of you so in actuality it may not be alot but it is an area you could take a look at (especially if it's one kiddo gobbling through the cheese every week). Cost wise ot may be more beneficial to buy a big container of yogurt rather than the individual ones.....(scratching head) Also I don't see cheese listed on your wic list...I think we use to get cheese...you might want to ask about that.

SEASONAL - One of the biggest helps for my grocery budget is buying seasonally. Things are always priced better when there are lots of that item available. In the fall we're an apple/grape lovin family. Spring seems to bring better ham prices so we eat more ham in spring than in fall. We also only buy berries in spring.....never in winter. Summer brings lots of melons and veggies like squash and tomatoes where fall is more a spinach broccli vegtable staple kind of season.

Everyone's different these are just some things you may want to look at. I'll try to post some inexpensive meal ideas later. I hope some of this was helpful.

[my4littlebuffaloes]

I think cooking from scratch will really help you, however I can understand how you are busy. Having toddler twin boys, I imagine you never get to sit down. I don notice that you have an 8 or 9 year old boy, I have a 9 year old too. There is absolutely no reason that he can't help out with the dishes or laundry. Spending money every week on paper plates and towels is a waste and since you are short on money, this would be the first thing I would try to get rid of. Everyone should be reusing glasses throughout the day. that would help. Cloth napkins and rags take up very little space in the laundry and my kids have the chore of folding them. My 4 year old even folds them for me. No they aren't the prettiest, but it works and he is learning.

The koolaid really needs to go. That is way too much sugar for a kid. They are already downing juice and milk all day, water can fill in the rest. Of course going cold turkey might not work, so start by limiting it to 1 glass a day and then gradually cut it out completely. Koolaid is just so much sugar, that it could very well be contributing to the hyperness of your kids (if that is a problem).

For dinners, pasta is filling, cheap and healthy. Try to purchase whatever meat is on sale that week and then make it stretch. Purchase a whole chicken and use it for most of the meals that week. Aldi has them for around $3. Boil it and then pour the broth into a double broiler with long grain rice. cook that for 1 hour (add salt and pepper if you like). The ratio is 1 cup rice to 2 cups broth. If there is leftover broth save it to make soup with later in the week. While the rice is cooking take all the meat off the bones and divide it up for meals. You should have meat for that night with the rice, probably another meal of this maybe for the whole family, maybe just for a few, chop up chicken for chicken salad sandwiches for lunches and maybe there will be enough left for a potpie later in the week.

Oh and save some for chicken noodle soup. When the bones are picked clean through them back in the pot, cover with water, add a tablespoon of vinegar (leeches the calcium), whatever spices you want and boil for 1-2 hours. This will be the broth for the soup later. Later boil the broth and then add a box of pasta, chopped up chicken and 1/2 bag of frozen corn and you have chicken noodle soup. Make your own corn muffins or bread to go along.

Having leftovers one night will help stretch your meals. And ground turkey can be substituted for ground beef.

Another thing that could help is to stock up on things when they are on sale. So if yogurt is on sale this week get 4 instead of 2. Then you have 2 weeks worth at a cheaper price. Yogurt however is very expensive, so trying to cut back on that could help.

Good luck with everything! I am sure you will get some great ideas here.

[schellie69]

Hello, I understand your problem I have 5 kids myself, I noticed you bought yogurt, have you thought about making it, I posted on freecycle i was looking for a yogurt maker and got one for free, freecycle is an yahoo group you might check and see what there is in your area, it helps finding things you need and getting rid of things you dont' now back to the grocery issue, I have not went meatless, dh would have a fit, but i do streatch my meat, I buy reduced and what is on sale, I make homemade muffins for snacks, i use old bananas, and use half regurlar flour and half whole grain flour, one it makes them more healthy but also more feeling, I make pasta dishes and use those to feel the guys up also, make biscutes or rolls to go with dinner it also feels up the stomache, I got rid of paper plates 3 years ago and it really helps, the kids have a chore chart that they get certain chores each week, like dishes kitchen help, clearing, wipeing down and trash, also dh has chores that he does, with glasses i make each child use one a day, I also buy the pick a size on paper towels, that way they use less, i made a bunch of cloth nampkins and since i have so much laundry it is no big deal just grab a couple of loads a day and get them done. right now i am streatch a $150 a week to feed 8 people this includes food, and non food items, and pet food, just cut different things out here and there and see if they are missed, I cut pop out and the kids really don't miss it, i figured it up here are the drinks that I buy and how much they cost me
Tang (instead of juice) $1.00 a gallon
Gatorade $1.31 a gallon
Koolade- 17 cents a gallon
lemonade-17 cents a gallon
non sugar tea 12 cents a gallon
sugar tea 14 cents a gallon
this is what the kids drink along with water, trying maybe using less then a cup of sugar for each packet of koolade, I only use less then 3/4 of a cup of sugar the kids really don't even notice. they have gotten use to it. look on the computer for some easy cheap snacks to make for the kids this helps also. but buy some pasta and rice to help use to feel up on and try cutting using the plates for one meal and see how it goes, hope you can find somehting that helps.

[Neeley]

Have you looked into the Angel Food Ministries? There are several host sites in your state. Go to Angelfoodministries.com and check it out. It is a great program to help stretch you food dollar and it is not income based. It is open and available for everyone.

[geckoace]

we have alot of pasta here and rice with everything. also we eat alot of stir fry cause i find it stretches the meat and we get lots of veggies. then the next day we wrap the leftovers in tortillas and have them for lunch.

also ground beef is great we make spaghetti and tacos and hamburgers (when things are going well) and we serve leftovers again on rice.

limit packaged foods unless it is something you really cant make on your own and you family really really loves it, then buy it and keep it in the freezer for a special dinner (i.e. you dont feel like cooking).

again serve your soup on rice it makes it more filling and then you can stretch it longer.

[peanut]

Wow! Some great answers! I don't think I can add much, but...

6 gallons of milk isn't a lot of milk. That's 16 cups of milk each week per person...just over 2 cups per day. You might want to cut it back to 1.5 cups a day. My question is what type of milk are you buying? Powdered or liquid? Which is cheapest where you live? Can you mix half and half to get them onto the cheapest form if you aren't already on it? Also, are you buying homo, or what? The little tykes should be on no more than 2%.

Replace cereal with homemade breakfast foods. Cheap easy things to make and freeze include pancakes, waffles, oatmeal, French toast, muffins, etc. Cereal is a big drain on the food budget. I understand WIC pays for this, but can the money be used for something else? I don't know how WIC works, I admit.

I'd be baking my own bread and making my own yogurt. You don't need a yogurt maker to make yogurt. Just heat the milk up on the stove, pour into quart canning jars which have starter and water in them, place the jars in a pan of hot water (with a towel folded below and over top), and let sit till it makes...takes about 8 hours and you have 3 quarts of yogurt.

Likewise, baking bread does not require a bread machine. Learn to make a simple loaf and knead it yourself. It doesn't take long. Sometimes only 5 minutes. And with the quick rising yeasts we now have, the long waits for dough to rise that our mothers and grandmothers knew, is gone. I can go from clean kitchen to bread on the counter in 1.5 hours now.

One of the things we found when we started to do actual comparisons was that luncheon meat was more expensive than buying a cheap roast, cooking it in the crockpot, and slicing it for lunch meat. So we started doing that. The other thing we did was use leftovers for lunch. But you need a microwave in your lunch place to do that. DH does it all the time.

Whenever possible opt for fresh over canned, whether fruit, vegetables or meat. It's healthier...in your area anyway. Buy in season foods and cook those. How will you know what's in season? It will be cheap. Steam vegetables instead of boiling them. They retain more nutrients that way.

Look around to see what your neighbors are growing in their yards. Is there anyone just letting the produce hit the ground? Maybe offer to take some off their hands and process it yourself. Here we can get crabapples for free. I make crabapplesauce, crabapple juice, crabapple pie filling and crabapple jelly. Use what God gives you!

I agree with the others...cut back the Kool-aid. It's not good for the kid's health, including dentally. We had to cut back in increments. We cut back sugar, then switched to cheap frozen fruit punches, then frozen 100% fruit juices, then more fresh fruit, until finally we just totally stopped all flavoured fruit drinks. We drink water, the odd glass of milk, tea, coffee, and maybe a 2 litre bottle of pop a month between 3 of us. Water is healthier. As an adult woman you should be taking in 8 cups of water a day.

Maybe save Koolaid for special treats, like homemade popsicles. Though I know some people who make stunning popsicles from a mixture of yogurt and fruit juice!

Cut out the store bought snacks. You can make huge batches of graham crackers from scratch. Also there are sweet oatcakes that can be made from scratch. Jello mix is cheap, and can be bought in big bags at wholesale stores. Also mix it with whipped topping and fruit and it can be delicious. We often put sliced bananas in our jello and puddings. Pudding mixes are cheap to buy, and can be found in big packages in wholesale stores too. I would not be buying these things pre-mixed. I'd be making them myself.

In fact, if there's one thing I'd recommend, it's that you get some routines set up in your house so you have time and energy to do more cooking from scratch. Having a set routine calms kids and makes life a lot easier. Having a set bedtime routine worked wonders for us. We set a time and spent an hour winding down for the night. We used to clean rooms and lay out clothes before bed. In the morning, it was easy to dress and get a move on. We'd read stories and sing to the kids...all in an effort to slow them down for sleep.

Kids were taught young to pick up after themselves. The toys disappeared for a few days if they were left lying around. If the child didn't notice they were gone, I took that as a sign they had too many toys and just kept that one hidden for awhile.

Having things down at child level so they can help themselves is crucial. You have a 8 and 3 yo according to your blog. The 8 year old can be a big help. If nothing else he can help the 3 yo get dressed and make his bed. All of them should have simple beds to make...though your 19 month olds might not be in beds yet. I set it up so it was a simple sheet and duvet on each bed. The children could pull them up in a couple of seconds and the bed was made.

The 8 year old can also help set table IF the dishes are put down at his level so he can get to them. He can also put dirty laundry in a hamper. You may have to provide one for his room, but he can use it. We bought cheap wicker ones with a fabric bag liner. When it was full we just pulled out the bag and took the clothes downstairs. The kids liked this because they played they were pirates hauling their loot to the basement!

I guess when I hear about moms with no time to do frugal activities, I see time management issues more than financial issues. I used to be like you. Only I only had two very busy little girls, and no time it seemed. Once I set up routines, the girls calmed down and the household ran a lot smoother.

I hope this helps somehow. {{{Hugs}}}

Jean

[schellie69]

I thought of another thing you can do, is buy 2 gallons of whole milk and then divide the milk into a couple of jugs, and add water to make three gallons out of two, i did this for awhile the milk taste like 2 percent, which helps cut the fat out, i just make sure that the milk is the same in the 3 gallons then add water to fill it up it helps to streatch also i use powdered milk for cooking and for cearl the regurlar milk is for the kids to have a glass a day, i find other ways to get them the calicum they need, just another idea hope it helps/

[Little Birdie]

I get a little nervous when anyone suggests cutting milk in half with water, especially if you have kids.

It does cut the fat - good
and the flavor - your choice
but also the nutrition - bad.

Mixing fresh milk with powdered milk would be a more nutritious choice.

But with WIC, I believe the point is moot. I think you get the milk whether you want it or not, no substitutions. No need to stretch it unless vouchers for 6 gallons is not enough.

Michelle-Lea, I have no advice other than what has been given. I'd really consider cutting out the Kool-Aid.

[foxxyroxie]

My suggestions would be:

My first cut would be the paper products... I HATE PAPER PLATES and refuse to eat off them unless it's a picnic or a sandwich and chips. If your 'guys' want to eat, they'll have to learn to help with the dishes!!

Cut the Kool-aid and switch to water. It's better for them than all the sugar anyway.

Search for discount grocers... Aldi's, Save A Lot, etc. Comparison shop and don't assume since they say 'discount' that the prices are cheaper. Canned goods and staple foods are cheaper at Aldi's and Save A Lot. Even if you have to drive a little bit to do a once a month shop might be worth it.

Opt for make your own treats. Store brand "Jello" goes on sale here for 5 boxes/$1 and pudding mixes at Aldi's is 30 cents everyday. Can make a ton of pudding and "Jello" cups for the price of a 4-pk.
Homemade cookies are almost always cheaper and taste 100 times better. Even rice krispie treats are cheap to make.

Ground turkey can be found right around $1 for a 1-lb chub at Aldi's and Save A Lot. Sure beats the $2 price for ground beef around here.

Just a little note about Angel Food... they DO accept food stamps... at least here in Michigan they do. The bad thing is you have to put your order in the month before, pay then and you get the food about 2-3 weeks later.

Hope this helps.

[Mrsokdee]

Hi, I'm a new poster, but long time lurker, and I've finally decided to reply to a post. Stretching my grocery budget is a challenge for me as well. I have 6 kids including a set of twins. I see someone mentioned Angel Food Ministries to you. I encourage you to check this out. The food is good quality and usually has stuff kids will eat in it. I've been getting the boxes for a couple of months now and have yet to find anything that was truly horrible. Other things you can do is write up a menu for a week, two weeks or a month. I try to do a month at a time. Making note of what I have on hand and then try to match as many sale items as I can to my menus. This has been a major help to me. This way I know what we are having for dinner so there is no last minute trips to the store or temptations for fast food. Do you use coupons? Some stores double, unfortunately none here do. I stopped using canned veggies recently and started using frozen. I was noticing the cans had more water and less veggies. With frozen a pound is a pound and I can usually find them for $1.00 or less. Plus frozen veggies keep their nutrients better than canned. I'm sure others on here will have loads more advice. Good luck.

[KrieBabie]

First of all, are you using everything that you get from WIC?
Before I HAD to use it all, I never noticed how much I didn't use.

Buy oatmeal and cream of wheat for the cereal, instead of cold cereal. The cereal from wic isn't the best tasting anyways. If you want to give them the OCCASIONAL treat, go to sav a lot and buy a box of cereal for 1.79.

Are you getting cheese w/wic? lentils? carrots?

Also, the peanut butter...do PB&J, or PB and Bananas in my case, I think my 4 year old is a monkey, apples w/pb, crackers w/pb, etc.

Use up those eggs! They seem to come quicker then most of us can use them, especially if you get cold cereal. It's easier in the morning to pour a bowl of cereal then to scramble or fry up those eggs. Use them and the milk for French toast too. Save a lot and aldi's has bread for around 50 cents a loaf.

Buy, on sale, hamburger and cook this w/an onion chopped up.
Go to save a lot or aldis and buy some elbow macaroni or shells.
Now, instead of buying all fruit juice, through in a can of V8 juice, and mix the hamburger/pasta/v8 juice in a pot and add your favorite spices for goulash. Make w/bread and butter, garlic bread, or grilled cheese.

Also, Take a can of v8 juice, a couple cans of green beans, a couple cans of potaoes, a couple cans of corn, a couple cans of carrots, and some noodles or rice to make a hearty veggie soup that's quick and doesn't require all day's worth of attention. Again, bread and butter, garlic bread, grilled cheese, etc.

The best snacks, according to my 4 year old, is apples and pb, crackers and pb, applesauce and canned fruit from sav a lot, BANANAS, or, if you're overstocked on the cereal that you get from wic...go buy a bag of marshmallows. In a microwavable bowl, throw in a handful of marshmallows, a small pat of butter and zap, watching closely since marshmallows expand when heated. Mix all this together with a spoon and add cereal. If you want it in 'bars' spread this in a baking pan, let cool, and cut up. Us...well, it never makes it that far!

Another great lunch idea for your children, especially when you're pressed for time, is to microwave a bowl of - shoot, can't think of what it's called, but the twirly, twisty pasta, drain MOST of the water out, but leave just a little tiny bit, and use RAGU pasta sauce. This is looking bad on my part, but if you go in my fridge, you'll see cheap cans of pasta sauce for spaghetti and mostaciolli, and a nice jar of Ragu Meat Saucefor this. Anyway, just add sauce, but don't go overboard. It'll taste JUST LIKE the Ragu instant pasta microwave stuff that you get from the store, you know, by the Macaroni singles. Anyways, it's really good. My son LOVES it.


Other cheap snacks - go to save a lot for instant jello. Mega cheap.