I know what you're thinking... $25 a week for groceries for two adults and one baby... Yea Right!!!
At least that's what I thought when I was first given the challenge. So This week was my first go at it. I ended up spending 29.48 which was a lot less then my usual 100. And a good start I thought. our week menu consists of the following (note we are allowed to use what's in our cupboards so that's a huge help to keeping it within budget right now. Also I don't know if this is just for food or if I'll be able to include cleaning supplies, and sanitary supplies.)
Breakfast options: instant oatmeal (~$.19 per serving), or eggs and hash browns (~$.27 per serving) (finding out you can feed your family a healthy breakfast for under 75 cents ... priceless)
Lunch options: P.B.&J.(~$.22 per serving I'm just counting the bread because that's all I purchased this week(with middle it's ~.37)), home made broccoli soup(?), meat and cheese sandwiches(~.48 per sandwich, again just counting bread and cheese because that's what I bought this week),
Dinner options: Chilly dogs (~.50 per serving, or .75 counting the chilly), fish tacos(?), bean and cheese burritos, spaghetti, baked potato's, chilly potato's, hot dogs. (a lot of these I had supplies already, so I'll have to figure the price out later, as Bab's is waking up)
snack/side options: homemade yogurt (~$.16 per serving), homemade applesauce(?), homemade popcorn (~.40 for a large bowl)
After looking through all the adds, and finding the best deals for what I needed. I ended up going to 5 stores to get everything I needed. (I mentioned that to my sister, where upon she mentioned that I should find out what store price matches, and go there. What a great Idea!!!)
Any way this is what I bought for the week so everything else on my menu I already had around the house:
.44 lbs of carrots-.22
.78 lbs of onions-.34
2 lbs of strawberries -3.00
6 lbs of apples -1.98
1.35 lbs of Broccoli - 1.04
3.63 lbs for a mini whole chicken (for next week) - 3.23
instant oatmeal - 1.50
sour cream - 1.50
turkey hot dogs - 1.50
bag of popcorn - 1.39
cheese (cheddar) - 1.64
cheese (swiss) - 1.64
24 eggs - 1.76
2 bags of bread - 3.76
2 gal of milk - 3.00
I found some great deals this week, and if I can continue to find great deals I think I might be able to make it work. Also I think I need to figure out how to find coupons I can use on everyday items. I think that will help cut costs a lot, and we might be able to eat something besides hot dogs.
Please let me know if you have any good inexpensive food ideas.
idea for a cheap meal that I thought of this week is home made cornbread with home made black bean soup. Mmmm! sounds yummy!!! I just need to price it out. (another big idea was the idea of leftovers! If I can make something last more then one meal I can spend more money to make it!)
Dinner options: Chilly dogs (~.50 per serving, or .75 counting the chilly), fish tacos(?), bean and cheese burritos, spaghetti, baked potato's, chilly potato's, hot dogs. (a lot of these I had supplies already, so I'll have to figure the price out later, as Bab's is waking up)
snack/side options: homemade yogurt (~$.16 per serving), homemade applesauce(?), homemade popcorn (~.40 for a large bowl)
After looking through all the adds, and finding the best deals for what I needed. I ended up going to 5 stores to get everything I needed. (I mentioned that to my sister, where upon she mentioned that I should find out what store price matches, and go there. What a great Idea!!!)
Any way this is what I bought for the week so everything else on my menu I already had around the house:
.44 lbs of carrots-.22
.78 lbs of onions-.34
2 lbs of strawberries -3.00
6 lbs of apples -1.98
1.35 lbs of Broccoli - 1.04
3.63 lbs for a mini whole chicken (for next week) - 3.23
instant oatmeal - 1.50
sour cream - 1.50
turkey hot dogs - 1.50
bag of popcorn - 1.39
cheese (cheddar) - 1.64
cheese (swiss) - 1.64
24 eggs - 1.76
2 bags of bread - 3.76
2 gal of milk - 3.00
I found some great deals this week, and if I can continue to find great deals I think I might be able to make it work. Also I think I need to figure out how to find coupons I can use on everyday items. I think that will help cut costs a lot, and we might be able to eat something besides hot dogs.
Please let me know if you have any good inexpensive food ideas.
idea for a cheap meal that I thought of this week is home made cornbread with home made black bean soup. Mmmm! sounds yummy!!! I just need to price it out. (another big idea was the idea of leftovers! If I can make something last more then one meal I can spend more money to make it!)
2 comments:
Yes, you are crazy. I thought that with your first post but hadn't gotten the chance to comment. But if you insist on being a crazy woman, I'll try not to feel guilty for my food spending (which I refuse to tell you how much it is all on student loans) and tell you some of my favorite cheap meals. Lentils with onions and carrots is soooooo cheap and I make a ton and they last forever. Sometimes I add shredded chicken which you can buy on sale, cook it all in the crockpot shred it and freeze it and then get it out when you need it. The tuna curry recipe I posted on my blog recently is really cheap and easy and yummy. You can substitute reg onions for the green. I think the hardest part of your goal will be not sacrificing health for cheapness, you guys gotta get your nutrition ya know? Promise me you won't eat ramen more than like once a month. Really it should be like once a year or once a decade. Ha ha! I'm so funny, but seriously I care about your long term health and Barbara at this critical growing time. Not that you can't do it cheap and healthy - I believe in you! But just saying that is going to be HARD! I'm sure it's all about organization though too, you know? Working it so you have a variety to eat but still use ingredients on sale and combining them to be healthy like the whole "beans and rice together make a complete protein" thing. And without wasting any of your fresh stuff too. That's my problem, I hate it that I let produce go bad in the fridge out of forgetfulness or b/c I just got sick of it because I bought so much since it was a GREAT DEAL! Anyway, tangent...so my other ideas are mostly on my blog I'm realizing. Like "My momma's Quiche", I put that recipe on the blog I think it's what I made for you when Barbara was born? I love that and it's healthy and cheap. Also, the black bean tomato soup recipe is a real hit around my house, also on the blog. If you got the canned goods on sale it could be really cheap and tons of veggies.
I just got this recipe off a friend's blog and want to try it out.
Black Bean Salad:
1 (15 oz.) can rinsed and drained black beans
1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped celery
2 T fresh lime juice
2 T chopped fresh cilantro
1 T olive oil
Combine ingredients in a medium bowl; toss well to coat.
That's all I can think of for now but I'm sure I'll think of others and email you. Have you tried making your own detergent? Tell me how it goes if you do.
Really, I must admit I'm jealous. Someday (really far from now) I'm going to get serious about being frugal too, I'll come to you and you can give me all your tricks since you'll be way ahead of me.
P.S. Also have you heard of that one famous super cheap family? Maybe checking their book out from the library or their website might be helpful? America's Cheapest Family and HomeEconomiser — Getting You Right On The Money!
oh and I told Davey your goal and he emailed me this. I don't get how you people are so dang organized/motivated/disciplined. Please keep updating me on your crazy budget adventure, I'm fascinated. The incredible $800 (a year) food and sundries budget - Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Thanks Rachel! I tried to look up that book and there were 14 people waiting on it. CRAZY!!! So maybe I'll just buy it. You don't have to worry about us eating unhealthy, I think we'll be cool I mean if you add an egg and some fresh veggies a total of like .20 to do it would make it a bit more healthy and super yummy. :) Not that I'm a huge fan of ramen. We probably will only eat it like once a month, if not less. Other then that I think I'm eating more healthy. The oatmeal, and yogurt, and with everything I'm making at home I think we'll end up eating better. Especially because now we can't eat out, which was a part of our food budget before. I mean when you're going to spend 7-10 dollars on a home made meal, why not just eat out. So now that it's a bigger difference I have more incentive not to. any way I went off on a tangent.
Thanks for all the info! It's great when people help share there ideas!
Post a Comment