For those of you who have grocery budgets of less than $200/month.... how exactly do you do it? You must never eat any dairy at all! I understand that it is much cheaper to make things by scratch, but still, there must be other costs that we don't know about.

For example, do you or your s/o hunt? Then how much does it cost to get the hunting license, and then have the kill registered, butchered and packaged?

Do you have a large vegetable garden? How much does it cost you to buy the seeds, fertilize,water, etc?

Do you or your s/o eat out for lunch most days of the week instead of brown-bagging it, so those meals are not a part of your grocery budget?

And what on earth do you eat??? Please do share your recipes and eating habits, because we're all under the impression that you have super powers!

__________________

Trust God. Whatever risk there is in doing so, the risk of not trusting in him is far greater. - Spurgeon

The reason our budget is $80 a month is because we don't have children. It would actually be closer to about $120 a month if I included dog food (5 big dogs).

Here's how we do it:

1) We make almost everything from scratch...desserts, bread, meals, breakfast stuff, almost everything.

2) We did spend $500 for dh to go on a tuna fishing trip so we have a year's supply of prime yellow fin tuna. Retail of what he caught would have cost $1920.

3) We eat leftovers for lunch the next day...we always brown bag. We use reusable lunch bags and plastic containers for our food. We almost never use plastic bags, unless we are reusing them.

4) We use vinegar for almost all of our cleaning so we don't have to buy cleaning products.

5) We do buy dairy. We buy 2 gallons of nonfat milk a month, a quart of whipping cream and a quart of whole milk. The full fat dairy is used to make homemade ice cream. We also buy yogurt for our dogs, but we buy the big tubs instead of the little serving things.

6) I use coupons for everything that I can. But I don't use coupons if I wasn't already going to buy that item.

7) We plant our own tomatoes and peppers and then process and freeze them to be used all year. Total cost there about $20 since we take care of our soil year round and use plast containers.

8) Invested in a food saver which has saved us losing a lot of food to rotting.

9) We wholesale shop for hamburger meat, chicken, peanut butter, butter, fish oil (for dogs), vitamins, and other types of meat (unless I can get it on sale for less at our regular store).

That's all I can think of for now.

For our household of two adults and one pre-schooler, we're under the $200 mark each month.
Some of the things that help with saving:
- CVS. Since I learned how to play the CVS game, we pay next to nothing for most health and beauty products or over the counter meds. I don't think I'll need to buy toothpaste for years.
- Coupons. Yes, there are a lot of coupons for junk foods out there, but I regularly use coupons to buy pasta, cheese, peanut butter, oatmeal and cold cereals, coffee, and other basic food items as well as almost all non-food items. Just this week I used a coupon for eggs which made them .40 cheaper than store brand.
- Stockpile. It took a while, but we've stocked our pantry and our freezer with basic ingredients for our favorite meals.
- Plan. I plan our meals for the week and sketch out possibilities for the next two weeks. Ingredients come from the stockpile and from weekly grocery sales. Having a plan has helped me avoid those times when it's just easier to order out. It also helps me turn leftovers into new meals rather than just re-heats. At least three times a month, we have leftover night, though.
- Know your stores. We're fortunate to have a produce market not far away. Their prices are really low, but their food is really ripe (i.e., it has to be used right away). One of my usual grocery stores discounts meat close to its sell-by date in the morning. Another discounts produce in the evening.

I've learned so much reading the advice on MommySavers -- sometimes even a little tip turns on a light bulb for me.

__________________
~Jeweled

Ours is a little less than $200. We are a family of 4. That doesn't include diapers.

We get free beef from dh's family. They are farmers and raise cattle. They take a cow to the butcher it comes back to us in quarters and then we cut and package it up.

I make most things at home. I have found a fabulous discount Amish run grocery store (no refridgerated items tho). I get a LOT of stuff there! As much as I can. I can afford to cake mixes there b/c they are 60cents.

I do not have a garden but get free sweet corn from our farming family and some free tomatoes etc.

I buy the big tubs of yogurt (not the individual size) for the kids to eat but they don't get it all the time. One tip that I have heard for milk is to buy whole milk and water it down 1/2 and 1/2 to create your own 2%.

We don't hunt. I stock up on sales.

Sarah, one thing that you have to consider is that I live in the midwest where things tend to be less expensive than New England.

I'm in awe of this and I commend all you ladies that do this
I'm setting up a goal (starting next month) to do $300/mo on groceries - we're a family of four, I'm hoping we can!

__________________
*Jai guru deva om*
Are you a "bag" lady? Great! Join our group and let's chat!
http://mommysavers.com/boards/group.php?groupid=33

When money was really tight I was able to do it with the help of Angel Food Ministries. Now that I work weekends I can't use them because you can only pick up on the certain Saturday.

I am in awe also, we currently have no children to feed and I can not get below 200 I linger in the 240 range per month,

I have another question for all of you able to get your bill down:

Are you conserned with quality, for instance I think my problem is I am a food snob, I buy organic milk,chesse, eggs, cereal, yogurt and all natural or hormone free chicken, turkey etc. Maybe that is why I am stuck at 240 and cannot budge.

I guess that I am not willing to sacrafic, i will buy nothing with HFC in it either!!

Anyone else have these guidelines and are still able to get under 200 a month?

I agree that dairy is what takes the biggest chunk of our food bill. I am going to dry making powdered milk for my cereal since it has just as much calcium. But I am afraid that if it does not taste good, I will be wasting money. I always buy organic eggs(one of the few things I will spend the money on) but I can get them usually cheaper if I have coupons. We always buy frozen veggies during the winter(except for bell peppers) and I limit the fruit I buy bc it is so expensive. We did splurge on a turkey a few weeks ago but normally we eat a lot of chicken, pasta or pizza. I make a veg chili and homemade chicken noodle soup. DH and I are pretty picky about meat anyway.

Aside from food, I now go to the Dollar Tree for my bath and body products and I use vinegar for cleaning(with the exception of what I have left from before I made the switch)

We have been getting better about our food bill, menu planning, using coupons and watching prices. However, we still cannot afford for me to stay home which is something I have been having a difficult time with.

We are a family of 5 with 4 eating. Our grocery budget is a paltry $90 per month.

I buy meat on clearance and freeze it whenever I can find it.
We only use powdered milk
We only eat store brand foods
I use coupons, but only if it makes the item cheaper than the generic
I stock up on great deals
When I have extra money, I stock up on staples so they don't drain my budget every trip to the grocery.
We tend to eat lots of pasta, hamburger and ground turkey.
This week, my kids are eating a lot of white meat chicken tenders because I found them on clearance. They think they're in Heaven!

This covers ONLY food, not cleaners, diapers, etc.

__________________

There are more than 40 different types of congenital heart defects. Little is known about the cause of most of them. There is no known prevention or cure for any of them.
http://mommysavers.com/boards/mommys...706-tommy.html

I am in awe... its amazing! I feel like the only one I know personally who buys generic and I still can't keep the grocery bill down (but I include cleaners, health and diapers in my list).

Jeweled - what is the CVS game you mention? I would really like to know because it seems like they are so expensive!