Wow! I take my hat off to the ladies with really low grocery bills. Great job!!!! I haven't been able to get ours that low, though. We budget $140 a week for groceries, but that includes all infant supplies, goat's milk (at $14 a gallon) for DS and organic milk for DD (per ped's recommendation). That also includes Goodnites for DD. She has renal reflux, so we're not pushing her regarding night potty training. That also includes all HBA, household cleaners, laundry, etc. But, because we live in a high cost of living area, I'm actually okay with our grocery budget where it is. I'd like to get it down more, but we don't have the ability to buy a half a cow or pig, get venison, etc. Because we spend $30 a week just in milk, I would have a really hard time going a whole lot lower right now.

I wouldn't worry too much about the bee allergy. I am allergic and have to carry an Eppi Pen. My DH raises honey bees. We keep the hives about an acre away from the house. Honey bees are very docile away from the hive. We have had them for 5 years noe and I have NEVER been stung (knock on wood! LOL). I would go for it. And eating local honey helps with seasonal allergies! Good Luck.


I hope you'll remember today that
God is there, giving you
His love and care.
He's lending you His strength,
sending many blessings your way,
and giving you the gift of
a bright new day.

I have spent $325 so far this year (3 months) for groceries! That is the lowest I ever spent! It is just me and my two kids. I also do daycare but this year so far I only have 5 part timers so alot of my lunches are leftovers, or simple lunches. I buy 3 gallons of milk a week and that takes up alot of my budget it seems. Then the fresh fruit and veggies then the meat.

I am not a huge meat eater. I buy ground turkey and one package of that can last 3-4 new meals. for example..Tacos, spaghetti, meatloaf muffins, and chili. I buy a ham, that can last all month. I cut in forths and freeze until I need. Use it to make casserole, thinly sliced for sandwichs, cut up in cubes to throw on top of salad, and then add to soup at end of week. I do not throw food away. If I have a bunch of different things left over I throw in pot for soup, and that is another meal. Add leftover veggies from week, leftover meat or sauce, and a little chicken stock. Add some rice or noodles with that and it can make big pot.

We dont eat alot of cereal ( that can get costly) I will buy a big bag or two a month for easy mornings. And maybe a big box of cheapo poptarts for month for treats. Usually waffles, pancakes, french toast, eggs, hashbrowns, fruit for breakfast.

My own kids are gone 3 nights a week for dinner at their dads house, and on those nights I sometimes go grab a sub, I think this helps grocery bill as well.

If I get back to 8 fulltime kids, and 1/2 of them are school aged in summer my bill will be up there, but for now I am enjoying it!

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Amber

I am very impressed and inspired by all of the ladies that have their grocery bills down so low! We are currently spending an average of $555 a month for a family of 5, plus a part-time eater (FIL who lives with us and has 1-2 meals with us a week). This includes some paper products, but no cleaners. I've been going to school full time (18 credits this semester) and feel like I'm spending just about all of my "free" time on homework or projects.

We spend about $70 a month on milk, which is about 3 1/2 gallons a week, delivered. We were spending $90-100/month with another dairy, but this new one is very local, organic and cheaper.

I do plan on doing square foot gardening this summer, which should help with our veggie costs. I've started cutting down the amount of meat we eat, like mixing in lentils and rice into our taco meat, so we only use 1/3-1/2 lb, instead of a whole lb. We are trying to make more meals from scratch. I love Hillbilly Housewife for great recipes and another of my favs is The Family Homestead. She has great recipes to feed large amounts of people for cheap...she has 8 kids!!

I'm going to make a goal of getting down to $400/month, and then retackle it at that point.

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Frugal is being wise with your money and resources and cheap is forcing everyone else to.

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I just stumbled on this thread again, and I don't think I posted before, but you ladies are amazing with the low grocery bills! I spend a little under $300 each month for two people and two large dogs - this includes cleaners, bathroom supplies, personal products, etc. Are you including all of that stuff in your averages? I'm just wondering - I want to see where I stack up and how much better I can do....

Yes, we spend $160-$200 per month on groceries and that includes everything for the 2 of us. I like the Dollar Store for personal stuff like deodorant, shaving cream, bar soap, toothbrushes, hand lotion. Those health beauty aids(HBA) are just about the highest markup at the grocery stores.

I made a haul today at the grocery store. I hit it as they put out the marked down produce. I bought almost 10 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetable at 49 cents a pound. Tomatoes, broccoli, apples, sweet potato, radishes, lettuce. And a family pack of pork chops at 99 cents a pound. A large boneless sirloin steak marked down to $2.40 a pound. That was my splurge, I generally don't buy any meat over $2 a pound.

Cathleen

I am not sure we are still under $200 a month with the recent rise in food prices, but we are close...and that's with a 17 year old girl and 22 year old boy living at home. The biggest savings for us is that the kids have been vegetarians for many years, so I cook vegetarian all week and then my husband and I may have chicken or beef when we eat out on the weekend. Even if you use meat, cooking recipes from cultures that don't base their menus on meat is a great way to save money and enhance your nutrition. We belong to a food co-op too, which saves us money because food bought in bulk is generally cheaper...especially if you get things like oatmeal, brown rice, and lentils, which can be kept for a long time. I use old big pickle jars and those big popcorn cans to store food. I have a few cans for various types of pasta, a couple for baking supplies bought on sale (freeze flour for a day before putting unopened bags in the big cans; transfer to kitchen canister when you need a new bag there), and also for packages of things like nature's burger mix, dried refried bean mix, aseptic pack tofu, etc. I got my popcorn cans at yard sales. You could use the big lego containers instead. In the pickle jars, I put things like dried beans, macaroni, popcorn, bulgar,brown rice, etc. I spray painted the tops of the jars to match my kitchen so they look pretty good. You may be able to get jars from a grocery store deli or a restaurant or catering place, although it seems like they are using plastic a lot nowadays. You could provide pickles for a church or club picnic..... We also slice up some of the whole pickles to have a jar of pickle slices, and chop some fine for pickle relish, so we manage to eat quite a few pickles, which are much cheaper when bought in the big jars anyway. (Like,about $3 for a 2.5 or 3 quart jar, here, which would only buy 3 small jars.)
We haven't had much success with growing enough to freeze from our garden, but several times I have been given a huge amount of sweet potatoes, which I cook, peel, partially mash, and freeze. We love sweet potato biscuits and pies! We have apple trees, so I peel, cut up, partially cook, and freeze apples for use all year. It takes 5 minutes to zap a few pounds in the microwave, and then serve in chunks with cinnamon, or mashed for applesauce.
If you have an Aldi store near you, they have good prices on most basic items and they don't tempt you with too many processed foods. I've also been to "salvage" grocery stores in some areas and they are terrific...it's all good food that has been discontinued by grocery chains, is close to going out of date, or has a dented can. Unfortunatly there are none near me!
If you live in a rural area you may be able to get free-range eggs or garden produce for less than at a store...and fresher. Pick your own berry places are also good deals if you have a freezer. Bakery outlet stores have decent bread prices and are worth a bit of a drive if you can freeze several weeks worth of stuff. Of course you can bake your own, especially rolls and buns, though bread that slices well enough for peanut butter sandwiches has always eluded me. Gail

We can only budget $150/ month for a family of 4 and a cat. That includes cleaning supplies, personal supplies, and diapers. It is extremely hard! I have no idea how we are able to do it! I don't buy packaged snacks. We eat cereal, toast, apples or bananas for snacks. We don't buy pop. I cook a lot from scratch. My husband takes leftovers for lunch and that is what the kids and I eat for lunch too. We have breakfast for supper a lot. I only buy name brand if it on sale for less than generic or if the coupon makes it cheaper. I LOVE ALDI! We buy the PAren'ts Coice diapers. We eat a lot of pasta. We don't eat a lot of meat, but we do eat a lot of Peanut Butter. I'm sure it isn't the healthiest way, but if it means that I can stay at home w/ my children- then I am all for it. We did splurge 2 weeks ago and spent $50 over our budget and we thought we were in heaven. But I was able to stock up on a lot of things. We don't use paper plates or napkins. i make cookies from scratch too for an occasional snack. My husband will have a raise on his next check, so maybe we can do an extra $25/ month. I am sure one day we will look back and wonder how we did it.

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Loving wife to Matthew 6/26/04
SAHM to Jacob Matthew 4/19/03, Evelyn Grace 2/15/06 & Aiden Jackson 03/09/09

A few ways to keep my grocery bill way low:

Angelfoodministries.org has an amazing program. $30 buys food for a family of four for a whole week, or feeds a single person for almost a month. They also sell meat boxes for great prices and the food is really good. I don't go through them every month, but I do when I particularly like the menu for that month. It saves a ton, and adds to our meat stockpile!

Buy a freezer! Buy meat when you find it cheap, and buy a stockpile of it, so you can freeze it. Meat is the biggest expense in our house as far as groceries go. We're meat-eaters and have it at least once per day. The freezer saved us a ton.

Keep your kitchen clean. That is the most important tip I've ever gotten. If your kitchen is clean, you're more likely to cook, and if you're cooking, you're probably saving money.

Wal-Mart price matches the other grocery stores' ads. Combine that with coupons for savings. Also, take advantage of double/triple coupon days. It takes time to clip and all that, but it's worth it.

I don't grow my own veggies or anything and our budget is about $160 for a family of four.

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Happy Mommy of Two! Cheyenne (2-2-04) & Natalie (2-16-07)!

Do you include the price of the co-op food in your overall grocery budget? We may buy a half cow soon, and I'm afraid that I'll continue to spend $300/month even though I'd have spent a couple hundred dollars for a year's worth of beef. I will have to consciously put away the difference into a savings acct for the next year's meat.

I love the idea of a co-op. I just need to decide if it'll save us a lot of money. The only one I know of around here is breadbeckers. How did you find yours? I would love to buy pasta and oats in bulk! Where do you store yours? That would be another issue for us since we don't have a basement or a large pantry. Hmm...the bedroom closet? lol.

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Michele

Mommy to Jack (06/01/06) &
^Bernadette^ (entered heaven at 37 wks on 10/17/07)

http://myobaby.blogspot.com