Monthly Grocery Budget Challenge!!

[Tinker'n'Fun]

I updated my grocery list from the rest of last week on page 8. My total so far for the month is $407.73. My goal was to get it to $125 a week, but I'm over. I guess I failed the challenge. DH told me to stop fretting about it. He said he's not going to sacrifice nutrition to save a few bucks. It is what is is, I guess. The good news is we are leaving town tomorrow so no groceries for this week which might keep me close to the above figure for the month. With the kids home all month, it has not been easy.

And about the milk, yes we are a family who drinks lots of milk, but half of it is my DH! Even still, after one meal, 1/3 of a gallon is gone. I do not see how one gallon could last a week if everyone is having 3 cups a day. 3 cups X 4 people = 12 cups a day and there are only 16 cups in a gallon.

Where did you fail... 125.00 per week is your budget. 52 weeks per year = $6,500.00. Divide by 12 months... is $541.66 per month??.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

Tinker'n'Fun, how many salads would you get out of one Romaine lettuce heart? I"m asking because for my family, one of those would make one salad (serving the 3 of us), possibly two if I added a lot of other ingredients. A salad serving is one cup but we often will have two cups because we're aiming for five servings of vegetables a day plus three more of fruits.

Even starting out with nine Romaine hearts, that would last us at most two weeks, if we had just one salad a day.

Teresa

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Tinker'n'Fun, how many salads would you get out of one Romaine lettuce heart? I"m asking because for my family, one of those would make one salad (serving the 3 of us), possibly two if I added a lot of other ingredients. A salad serving is one cup but we often will have two cups because we're aiming for five servings of vegetables a day plus three more of fruits.

Even starting out with nine Romaine hearts, that would last us at most two weeks, if we had just one salad a day.

Teresa

**Disclaimer** If this post sounds defensive, I am sorry. It is by no means intentional. Sometimes when you type, what you want to say and what you do say come off different. I really am just trying to explain....

We do not have salad everyday. 2-3 times per week. I know we should do better but I am gradually working my way to recommened daily allowances. Right now we strive for 5. I buy large hearts, and 1 cut up will be 4 salads. The amount of lettuce alone fills 4 cereal bowls (Corelle). To be totally honest with you I have never actually weighed it to get the actual serving. I would believe it is at least 1/2 cup per each bowl. I use the whole heart, so the only waste is the tiny amount on the bottom. I cut mine, first in half, then in half again, and roll them. Then I cut from top to bottom. I add extra's per each person's tastes... (DD and DS get small amounts of garlic, onion, and shredded carrot). DH and I usually have onion, garlic, carrot, and pepper. I add tomatoes. They all enjoy a little bit of cheese and sometimes croutons. During the summer we will add more goodies like cucumbers and snap peas.

When I have salad with dinner it is more of a side at this point. I hope that eventually it will equal two sides.

Now if I told you what we were eating a year ago, you would realize that we have come a long way. I have finally cleared out most of the boxes of hamburger helper, boxed potatoes, boxed macaroni salads, and boxed stuffings. I only buy fresh potatoes now and make my salads (lettuce, macaroni, and potato) homemade. I control the salt etc... Snacks have been know to "sit" in the cupboard and I could take a picture of DD everyday and she would have an apple in her hand. I am not anywhere near perfect in my shopping or do we eat that way. We still get a few boxes of mac/cheese.... I think DS would run away if we didn't have it once in a while.

 

[poohfriend]

and july will be our vacation time...so it's not a great time for me to jump in... but wow am I impressed. I hate to say I have no idea how much our grocery visits are running each month for our family of 5. I think it's close to 800 including extras (diapers, cleaners, etc)


I'm really going to look at what I'm spening...receipts. And make menus (used to do this, somewher I got off track!)

Thanks for the inspiration!!

hooray.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

are you starting a new thread for July or just continuing this one?
thanks!

I will start a new thread for July on Friday or Saturday of this week....

 

[pigletto]

This thread has been absolutely pivotal for me. In fact this whole board has.
I am implementing so many of these tips and finding ways to take the extra money and pay off debt that used to keep me up at night...
It has been a gradual but total lifestyle change. And the best part is.. IT"S FUN!!
Maybe I sound nuts.. but it has become a hobby of mine to find ways to not throw away money. I love it.
Just wanted to say thank you to all.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

and july will be our vacation time...so it's not a great time for me to jump in... but wow am I impressed. I hate to say I have no idea how much our grocery visits are running each month for our family of 5. I think it's close to 800 including extras (diapers, cleaners, etc)


I'm really going to look at what I'm spening...receipts. And make menus (used to do this, somewher I got off track!)

Thanks for the inspiration!!

hooray.

July's thread will be out at the end of this week.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

Tinker'n'Fun, please don't feel that you need to be defending yourself! It helps me in figuring out my own shopping budget to see what other people are doing and how. I really appreciate you taking the time to write out your shopping lists and your menus - it is a help. We all eat a little differently but there are still lots of ideas and tips we can get from each other.

Let me tell you a bit about how my eating has changed over the years, too. I grew up on a farm where my mother made most things from scratch. We had a huge garden, had neighbours who shared their produce with us, and our meat came from animals we raised ourselves. I got married, moved to the city(well a small town) and had four children. I was a SAHM, and pretty much followed my mother's example, baking my own bread, cooking from scratch, etc.

Then when my oldest child was 12 and my youngest was 5, my marriage broke up. I had to work a lot of hours to support my family, and because I was feeling pretty overwhelmed I started to use more packaged food, more fast food, etc. I think we all suffered from that. We gained weight and had more health problems.

Over the years as I got used to being on my own and felt less overwhelmed, I figured out how to do healthier meals again despite still having to work full time and sometimes more than full time! We decided to be vegetarian and then vegan (although one son still eats meat and eggs) and have noticed that we feel better and healthier.

So I've been through this cycle and I certainly wouldn't criticize anyone else for not eating the same way we do. We're doing what works for us at this point in my life. If you'd suggested this back when I was struggling to cope with being a single parent and going back to work after 12 years at home, I would have said you were crazy - I can't live without McDonalds! But now I haven't been inside a McDonald's for many years (or gone through a drive-through, either!). And I'm still learning and trying to improve.

Teresa

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Tinker'n'Fun, please don't feel that you need to be defending yourself! It helps me in figuring out my own shopping budget to see what other people are doing and how. I really appreciate you taking the time to write out your shopping lists and your menus - it is a help. We all eat a little differently but there are still lots of ideas and tips we can get from each other.

Let me tell you a bit about how my eating has changed over the years, too. I grew up on a farm where my mother made most things from scratch. We had a huge garden, had neighbours who shared their produce with us, and our meat came from animals we raised ourselves. I got married, moved to the city(well a small town) and had four children. I was a SAHM, and pretty much followed my mother's example, baking my own bread, cooking from scratch, etc.

Then when my oldest child was 12 and my youngest was 5, my marriage broke up. I had to work a lot of hours to support my family, and because I was feeling pretty overwhelmed I started to use more packaged food, more fast food, etc. I think we all suffered from that. We gained weight and had more health problems.

Over the years as I got used to being on my own and felt less overwhelmed, I figured out how to do healthier meals again despite still having to work full time and sometimes more than full time! We decided to be vegetarian and then vegan (although one son still eats meat and eggs) and have noticed that we feel better and healthier.

So I've been through this cycle and I certainly wouldn't criticize anyone else for not eating the same way we do. We're doing what works for us at this point in my life. If you'd suggested this back when I was struggling to cope with being a single parent and going back to work after 12 years at home, I would have said you were crazy - I can't live without McDonalds! But now I haven't been inside a McDonald's for many years (or gone through a drive-through, either!). And I'm still learning and trying to improve.

Teresa

Its very great having support. I am grateful also for everyone who helps, and I wasnt feeling defensive (well not much, more of my own insecurities than defensive) just wanted to make sure that I didn't offend you....

 

[lillygator]

This thread has been absolutely pivotal for me. In fact this whole board has.
I am implementing so many of these tips and finding ways to take the extra money and pay off debt that used to keep me up at night...
It has been a gradual but total lifestyle change. And the best part is.. IT"S FUN!!
Maybe I sound nuts.. but it has become a hobby of mine to find ways to not throw away money. I love it.
Just wanted to say thank you to all.

I think so too! I am excited for the July challenge. My weeks run - Friday through Thursday...meaning I shop on Friday for the week. This Friday and week will be my first test week. I can't wait! I think I am going to try and plan $75 for groceries including toiletries and maybe the extra $25 for anything that comes up. My girls get breakfast lunch and two snacks with their daycare tuition so during the week we only need dinners and snacks.

Bring it on!

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

I think so too! I am excited for the July challenge. My weeks run - Friday through Thursday...meaning I shop on Friday for the week. This Friday and week will be my first test week. I can't wait! I think I am going to try and plan $75 for groceries including toiletries and maybe the extra $25 for anything that comes up. My girls get breakfast lunch and two snacks with their daycare tuition so during the week we only need dinners and snacks.

Bring it on!

I will start the thread on Thursday night.... I forget that everyone doesn't shop on Sunday... Well sometime I think they do it's so busy!

 

[stahshee]

I know mine is going to go up big time,school is out.

 

[minnie1928]

I'm in for July. We just moved so I haven't been following a budget this month. We tried to empty our cupboards before the move, and now I've been re-plenishing. My normal $400-450/month budget was shattered by the $780 actual in June!

I signed up for the grocery game last week. So far I'm unsure if I will continue it past the trial period. But I did order some coupons online and that worked out very well.

 

[estherhead]

OK, page 7, I'm done with my month. I went $27.00 over budget but I explain why. I'm pretty sure I can do better in July.

This is my first summer on this new budget & I have to say I've been very pleased with how well we are eating, both delicious-wise and health-wise. You always hear people say that eating cheap means not eating healthy. With Aldi's I haven't found that to be the case. I'm not trying to eat organic nor additive free (like we eat boxed mashed potatoes sometimes.) But for just ordinary food, I feel like we do really well.

Case in point: (This may gross you out) because the fruit was so cheap at Aldi's this week I was able to buy 6 things of berries & my girls have eaten one thing a day so far. My dh asked me what was wrong with the baby's poop & I said, "Did it smell like blueberries?" and he said, "Oh my goodness, that's it!" Ha, ha!

And I found steak on a great sale so we had half tonight with grilled zucchini, red onion, portabella mushrooms, and potatoes. It was a ton of food & we scarfed it down. Tomorrow I'm doing the other half of the steak in fajitas with onions & peppers & fresh salsa & cilantro. I would say that isn't sacrificing taste or health! Why did I think our family couldn't budget?

I even have for next week 4 coupons for whole fruit sorbet & popsicles. In the past I would have felt like that was out of our budget, but now with the money I save elsewhere & the coupon bringing it down to comprable pricing, I can give my kids whole fruit popsicles instead of red dye 40!

Yeah Disney Budget boards!!!

 

[IDoDis]

Where did you fail... 125.00 per week is your budget. 52 weeks per year = $6,500.00. Divide by 12 months... is $541.66 per month??.

I "failed" because we were at WDW at the beginning of the month so I didn't even do my first shopping until June 4th or 5th. Now the last week at the end of this month, we are also out of state visiting friends. So, while the monthly amount looks okay, if you break it down by weeks, I've gone over.

Thanks for explaining the breakdown on your veggies & fruit. I was thinking maybe you had a garden or something because I couldn't see where all the food was coming from for the fruit & salads. Lettuce only lasts me about 10 days max in the fridge -- watermelons only last about 5 days max. After that it is yuck-o. I see that yours lasted a month, so that is where you got yours from. Maybe I need to look into better ways to store the veggies so they stay fresh longer.

As for the carrots, I used to buy the baby carrots but the bags kept getting more and more expensive and only lasted us about 3 or 4 days max after kids having carrots w/ ranch in their lunches, in salads for dinner, and just an open-the-fridge-grab-a-snack item. Now I buy the really large bags at Sam's and cut them up and store in a rubbermaid container until they are gone and then repeat the process. Carrots are the perfect little filler because they are sweet and crunchy.

I read your post on the new thread about your doctor telling you to gain weight. Look at bigger portion sizes of the healthy foods and you'll do great. Keeping my weight down has always been a life-long struggle, but I've managed to stay at a healthy BMI for 4 years now.

Thanks again for your this thread and your new one. You have been very helpful. Even though my spending is still high, I am still learning things along the way and enjoying the menus and ideas for more variety with our meals.

 

[jamesnnick]

I've been really busy, so I'm late posting my end of the month, but I did shop on Sunday.

It was a stock up week because of good sales, and I also had my disabled BIL staying with us for 4 days as well as 3 neices and nephews on separate days. I'm not posting my whole grocery list, but the total came to $187 for the week and brought my total for the month just over $400.


I really appreciate the thread as it helped me to take a good look at what I was spending and what kind of value I was getting for that money.

See you on the July thread!!

 

[figaromeetsmarie]

6 packs of 2lb Hormone & Antibiotic Free Frozen Chicken $7.75 each-On Special $4.99 each

6 Muir Glen products .79each

2 Muir Glen 1.59 each

2 Organic Juice Box Packs $1.79 each

Roast $10.78

-------------------------
Total Out Of Pocket
$25.24

Would have been $52.25 w/sale or $81.31 w/o the sale when I would have bought the chicken for that price

 

[IDoDis]

Got back into town yesterday afternoon and zipped over to Target to get 10 boxes of cereal for the "Buy 5 for $11 and get a free $5 Target gift card" before the deal ended at closing yesterday. I had four $1.00 off coupons so the ten boxes actually cost me $8.00 or $.80 each!

Total cost $8.00

Target is having a similar deal this week on a different variety of cereals (no gift card though). It's 4 boxes for $9.00 and there's a $1.00 off coupon in this Sunday ads for the cereals listed. I have one coupon from our paper and I'm going to get the cereal coupon from my mom again. Then, I'll "hunt" down one more and will stock up on more cereal. I think you have to buy three boxes to get the $1.00 off w/ the coupon. Then we should be set for cereal for a long time which is good because the shelf prices are getting ridiculous! I don't use many of the coupons from the paper for foods (usually stuff like TP, paper goods, toothpaste, etc..), but I do for cereal if there's a good deal. DH and I have fruit smoothies or Kashi Go Lean cereal, but the kids eat cereal a lot during the school year because it's quick.

 

[WDisneyMom]

I would love to join in! Hubby and I are really trying to work on our credit scroes so we can buy a house one day and if I could save on the normal 1,000-1,200 a month we spend on eating out and groceries, I know we can pay our debt faster and save, save, save! We are a family of four, Me-DH-DS6-DS9 and I ventured out today with all intentions of spending ONLY 100.00 for the week...just wait till you see what I really spent!

I will list our sale price (if on sale) next to the regular price.

1.4# Salmon 15.72/14.29
Lipton 2 liter Iced Tea x3 4.47/4.00
Whole Milk 2.49
Simply Orange Juice (my fave) 4.29/3.34
6 pack coke bottles 3.99/2.50
1# Peppered Turkey lunch meat 8.83/6.75
10# Boneless, skinless chicken breast 36.50/17.96
5# chicken thighs, drums 5.68
5 Lean Cuisines 16.00/9.90
Glad Wrap 3.19
Land o'lakes eggs 2.69
Carton eggbeaters 4.59
Angelfood cake 3.49
Tropicana OJ (hubby's fave) 2.99
Raisin bread 3.79/2.50
Cheerios 3.19
1# Monterrey jack cheese 8.07/6.55
Potstickers 9.99
Kraft Mayo 2.75
2 packs Oscar Meyer Hotdogs 6.98/3.49
Kosher spears 3.99
Marshmallow fluff 1.59
8 pack Instant oatmeal 1.99
cottage cheese 1.96
crocl pot liners 2.89
small rubbermaid containers 3.89
cool whip 1.39/.99
half and half 1.59
pound butter 2.39/1.99
cup o'noodle .64/.59
V8 splash 3.19/2.70
frozen fries 2.49
12 pack ramen .91
italian dressing 2.50
stew seasoning 1.49
2 lg jars motts applesause 5.00/3.20
pierogies 3.89
mini frozen pancakes 3.19/2.00
18 pack easy mac 6.99
2.5# ground beef 11.00/5.79
2.5# stew beef 7.00
5 cans light progresso soups 10.00/6.00
2 cans proogresso soup 4.56
can pineapple 1.89/1.25
2 biscuit packs 5.58/2.00
10# russett potatos 4.99/3.88
bag onions 2.29
ketchup 2.18
mustard 2.89
iceberg lettuce 1.19
carrotts 1.32
celery .48
flour 1.99
family pack tuna 4.29
2 cans frosting 4.00/3.00
pudding .99
2 boxed cakes 4.00/2.00
20 yoplait yogurts 11.00/10.00
Kids wonder bread 2.99/2.50
wheat bread 3.29/2.50
mini wheat bagels 3.29
lt philly cream cheese 1.96
2 packs shredded cheese 9.40/5.00
cucumber .99
1/2# mozz cheese 4.31/3.50
hot dog buns 1.59/1.50
flour tortillas 2.19
strawberries 15.96/5.00
spag squash 2.95/1.96
bananas 1.59
avacado 1.99/1.00
roma tomatos .88

Grand Total: 342.00
Grand total after coupons/savings card: 257.28
Total Savings: 85.66

Holy Smokes!! I so went over...it made me feel ill at the register. All I can think of doing now is trying to strech things over the next 2 weeks, but I will have to add at least another 40-60 to do this...bringing my average to 150-160/week...still way over where I wanted to be! Help!!

 

[shortbun]

...
Holy Smokes!! I so went over...it made me feel ill at the register. All I can think of doing now is trying to strech things over the next 2 weeks, but I will have to add at least another 40-60 to do this...bringing my average to 150-160/week...still way over where I wanted to be! Help!!

I think you are on your way! You said you spend $1200 monthly. If you can do it for $700, that's a $500 savings for you. Not bad! Now you just have to stay out of restaurants. Great job!!! Rome wasn't built in a day. As you go along, you'll figure out a few more ways to cut corners. Watching for cereal sales is one way-you can REALLY save by never paying full price. You also have lots of convenience items you could wait to buy until they go on sale - potstickers, yoghurt, instant oatmeal, EasyMac and so forth. I'm taking my courage from you because we're doing the same thing to buy a new truck that we did not plan for right now. geesh! The food budget was my last oasis of convenience. I'm bummed.