2011 Grocery Budget Reduction Challenge

**Rhiamon** · 01-01-2011, 10:30 AM

I'm in my goal is 200 a month for DD and me. Today I have to buy milk.

**momof2boys2005** · 01-01-2011, 10:49 AM

Well since my new monthly budget is $300 (less than have of what it was) it’ll be interesting to see if I can complete my grocery list this week with my allotted $75. Admittedly it will be tough this week because I’m lower than usual on fridge and freezer items due to all the visiting and meals invites over the holidays…stockpile bulk items like flour, yeast, canned goods, pasta, rice etc. are good so that’s a bonus!

Off to make this week’s meal plan so I can hit the store tomorrow when it reopens!

**meanbusdriver** · 01-01-2011, 11:41 AM

I calculated the cost of my family of 5 and our soda habit. Oh My Goodness!! We did not have a clue. On average IF I can get the soda on sale it cost us over $1400 per year. I can't believe it. Family meeting revealed this to all and we all decided to cut that down hopefully by half if not more. Vacation savings here we come.

**qsaver704** · 01-01-2011, 11:51 AM

Originally Posted by meanbusdriver

I calculated the cost of my family of 5 and our soda habit. Oh My Goodness!! We did not have a clue. On average IF I can get the soda on sale it cost us over $1400 per year. I can't believe it. Family meeting revealed this to all and we all decided to cut that down hopefully by half if not more. Vacation savings here we come.

Oh, don't I know! My DH drinks a 2 liter of soda about every day and a half. I only buy them when they are $1 or less, but I usually have to buy around 15-20 to get us through to the next week. There is nothing like scraping by on the food only to find out you spend $25 on soda. It makes me so mad, that when I break it down on my spreadsheet, I have a category for sodas only!

**krbshappy71** · 01-01-2011, 11:56 AM

Oh wow. Ya I don't/didn't buy soda for my daughters. That had to come out of their own money, still does. Rare exception was birthdays if we were having a party at the house and then again at their high school graduation.

**alotofgooddeals** · 01-01-2011, 11:58 AM

so i am going to try and give mine up almost completely... i know that if i say completely then I won't be able to do it...so...I will allow myself one 12 pack a month..I am used to drinking probably at least 2 twelve packs a week...so this will save me quite a bit of money...Dh drinks probably two 12 packs a week and i know from experience that trying to get him give this up is almost impossible...he uses the I don't smoke and i don't drink statement so maybe i can get him to give up just one 12 pack a month...an go from there...i'm seriously thinking of taking the money and putting in in an envelope for a couple of months so that he could see how much we would save if he found something more affordable to drink...

**HeatSeeker** · 01-01-2011, 02:15 PM

I'd like to join! I think most of my money goes to food, so reducing it would leave a lot of wiggle room in my budget.

My goal is $40 a week for me and my doggie! (her food is only 20 a month)

**krbshappy71** · 01-01-2011, 02:19 PM

I'm going to work on a sorta-menu plan for the month. I'm really not sure if I can do $150 but we'll see, I want to try.

**peanut** · 01-01-2011, 02:51 PM

For those of you trying to get off soda...maybe try juices from concentrate instead, or increasing fresh fruit in the house. That seemed to help my SIL. Make sure the fruit is cut up and ready to eat so they actually find it easy to snack on it. My sister puts it out on the table first thing when she gets up in the morning. That way as people get up the first edible thing they come across is the plate of fruit on the table.

My daughter used fruit punch concentrate to replace soda. Still not healthy, but cheaper and healthier than soda. It softens the blow while the taste buds adjust.

**mango** · 01-01-2011, 04:26 PM

Lots of great motivational reading here. I'm trying to put off doing a shop until at least tomorrow so we can use up what we have and I can clear the fridge/freezer a bit.

**Luckybustert** · 01-01-2011, 05:16 PM

I'm wondering what others find to be their biggest obstacles toward successfully meeting this challenge? Mine is that I'm trying to reduce the chemical-laden, highly processed foods in our diet. My husband and I both agree that it's ridiculous for organic foods to cost so much more than processed foods....after all, wouldn't you think all that processing ADDS to the cost of foods?

I'm also interested to see how the Food Safety Bill that was just passed will affect our food prices. My guess is that the cost of compliance will be passed onto the consumer.

**peanut** · 01-01-2011, 06:54 PM

I'd say our biggest challenge to our grocery budget is health concerns. I am not supposed to eat anything with white sugar or white flour or bad fats. Kind of rules out a lot of things. I don't follow those guidelines exactly, but I try to keep them in consideration. It does raise the food bill a bit. But I think it's still doable on our budget.

**MNmommy** · 01-01-2011, 10:14 PM

I did real well doing $400 a month last year for groceries. I want to knock it down to $350 this year and that would save us $600 by the end of the year!!

**madhen** · 01-01-2011, 10:20 PM

My biggest challenge is the natural/organic thing, as well. I try to get food that is better for me, and that usually means it is more expensive. One example is yogurt. After reading a number of posts on FV about how much better Greek yogurt is for you than regular yogurt, I decided to try it. The cheapest I found was still over $1/container, vs. Sunnyside yogurt at .50/container.

I do try to grow a lot of my own food, but that is deceptive because I don't factor in the cost of growing it into my grocery budget. The hens, for example, give me all the eggs I want, but if I were to factor in the cost of their food and the heat lamp currently running to keep them warm, I am not sure how much (if any) I am saving over store-bought eggs.

**HappyMama** · 01-01-2011, 10:33 PM

Originally Posted by madhen

My biggest challenge is the natural/organic thing, as well. I try to get food that is better for me, and that usually means it is more expensive. One example is yogurt. After reading a number of posts on FV about how much better Greek yogurt is for you than regular yogurt, I decided to try it. The cheapest I found was still over $1/container, vs. Sunnyside yogurt at .50/container.

Madhen,

I know what you mean about the cost of growing things and sometimes not adding that in. By the way I make organic yogurt in my crock, it turns out fabulous. I make Greek most of the time, add my own fruit sometimes etc. and saves me tons.