I live in Canada (near Toronto) and I have been budgeting $600 a month for our groceries which includes food, toiletries and cleaning supplies. We moved from British Columbia in the summer so we had nothing in the way of stored food when we moved into this house at the end of July.
However, we have been stocking up on sale items for several months now and currently have a three to six month supply of food stashed between the fridge, fridge freezer, deep freeze and pantry. My goal is to increase this to a year's supply of shelf stable food and to fill our 7 cubic foot freezer to the bursting point.
Last week, DH and I decided to get a freezer pack from a nearby butcher shop and for $150 we got 2 lbs of bacon, 10 lbs of lean ground beef, 13 chicken legs (not sure of the weight) , 8 x 8oz pork schnitzels, 8 x 8 oz center cut pork chops, 8 x 8 oz eye of round steaks, 6 large pork souvlakis, a 5 lb sirloin tip roast, and a rack of pork back ribs. All of this is high quality, local, organically-fed meat.
We will probably do this every three or four months, so going forward, I feel like I can spend only $500 a month and then the full $600 on the months where we get this freezer filler.
I go where the sales are, but primarily stick to No Frills and
Walmart for my weekly shopping trips.
I dunno how far my menu plan went when I last updated but here is what I have in the works:
Tonight: homemade broccoli cheddar soup (campbell's cream of mushroom for the fusspots!) and grilled cheese sammies with veggies and dip
Friday: lasagna and salad
Saturday: ribs, mashed potatoes and green beans
Sun: leftovers
Mon: beef tacos or taco salad
Tues: buffalo chicken wraps, carrot and celery sticks
Wed: meatballs in gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans
Thurs: pasta alfredo, spaghetti squash
Fri: pizza and salad
Sat: chicken nuggets and tator tots with salad