Please help me set a realistic food budget

[Mommy23Princesses]

Hi all! So I had a food budget of 75.00 a week for a family of 5, 3 girls aged 7 5 and 1. This budget did not include diapers or household ad personal items. The new problem I have is that we are now switching to organic, after doing some reading and research we have chose to no longer do conventional foods, especially animal products and bi products. So I was wondering if anyone out there is in the same boat as me?
I am looking to do a realistic food budget based on organic foods. I do print all the available coupons for whole foods and the manufacture coupons that are available. I also am stockpiling meat from Fresh and Easy, ground beef and chicken is $5.00 a pound and I get coupons from them all the time so I am using those. I am hoping to just double the budget to $150 a week for the next month or so till my stockpile is good. Any advice??

 

[Becc1]

I have no advice to help you but I just wanted to bow down to you to be able to do a $75 food budget for a family of 5. We are a family of 6 and I am lucky if I can keep it to $200 for the week

 

[mpls_mm]

Can you start your own garden for some of the fruits and vegetables? Also, there are other options besides buying organic meat at the store. I buy meat from neighbors and local farmers that don't use chemicals or antibiotics, it's not certified organic but I know the source. We get it processed locally. I paid around $2.35lb for half a cow and that includes steaks, roasts and ground beef. There are tons of Amish out there and local farms where you can buy your eggs and produce. local.harvest. org is one of many where you can find local places to buy. Some farms offer farm share where you pay so much to get a share of several farms harvests. I just passed a little tiny sign last week where an amish woman was selling bulk flour she ground herself, I always keep my eyes open.

 

[arthur06]

$75 for a week is pretty cheap. If you can coupon and take advantage of sales, you might be able to do it.

We are a family of 5, but we have 3 boys (10, 4, 2) so they eat much more. And we spend closer to $125 or more, we don't really track it.

 

[justthe6ofus]

Coupon clipping helps for sure - it just stinks that coupons for organic produce are almost non-existent (unless someone can clue me in!).

We are a family of six (parents + kids aged 8, 6, 4, 1) and I am always reevaluating our food budget since we are working on one income and, well - four kids.

The biggest thing that helps my budget is cutting out some of our meat. Because organic/natural meat is so much more expensive, I'm easily spending anywhere from $5-$12 on meat alone per meal. I try to cook a minimum of three vegetarian meals a week. And I try to make them good ones so we don't feel we are settling!

That's our easiest way to cut the budget and still eat well.

 

[Mommy23Princesses]

Can you start your own garden for some of the fruits and vegetables? Also, there are other options besides buying organic meat at the store. I buy meat from neighbors and local farmers that don't use chemicals or antibiotics, it's not certified organic but I know the source. We get it processed locally. I paid around $2.35lb for half a cow and that includes steaks, roasts and ground beef. There are tons of Amish out there and local farms where you can buy your eggs and produce. local.harvest. org is one of many where you can find local places to buy. Some farms offer farm share where you pay so much to get a share of several farms harvests. I just passed a little tiny sign last week where an amish woman was selling bulk flour she ground herself, I always keep my eyes open.

The garden I am really considreing doing. Unfortuantly living in the desert doesnt give us much of a choice for farmers markets and fresh meat since farming is scarce out here. I know of one orchid here but it is limited. I'll definately check out that link, thanks!

 

[21yankees]

With your budget and you wanting to eat/purchase organic food it may be rough to keep it at $75 a week. One thing that would help is meal planning based on the sales you find. Also cutting down the amount of meat you eat a week, and add more meatless meals during the week (pasta, beans, etc).

 

[mpls_mm]

The garden I am really considreing doing. Unfortuantly living in the desert doesnt give us much of a choice for farmers markets and fresh meat since farming is scarce out here. I know of one orchid here but it is limited. I'll definately check out that link, thanks!

There are some chicken breeds that do well in the heat. We are going to get a few layers ourselves. Some breeds do a lot of foraging themselves so feed is minimal. There are also indoor gardens and hydroponic set ups. I own an Ag business and I am selling a lot more things to people starting their own gardens and little homestead farms all over the country, even in the desert! There are some good homesteading websites. As gas goes up and food becomes more scarce, people need long term solutions, and Whole Foods isn't a solution. becoming self sufficient is.

 

[fall08CP]

I live alone so it's hard for me to know about a full family's budge, but your desire to eat healthier and eliminate some animal byproducts piqued my interest.

I am a vegan, so no meat/fish/dairy/eggs/gelatin/honey etc. Not only have I dropped a significant amount of weight (and wasn't overweight to begin with), but my grocery bill has gone down immensely. I eat lots of beans- buy them dry, waaaaay cheaper than canned.. literally pennies for a meal. I do splurge on a few things- only buy bread fresh from a true bakery, soy milk over dairy milk (but I use far less and buy it only every 2-3 weeks), and most of my produce is organic- we have a daily farmer's market and it's way cheaper than in stores. I pretty much skip the refrigerated and frozen sections and just shop the perimeter. But I did a decent shop at the market yesterday and only spent $16 for a full week's organic food!

If you have ANY questions on removing/replacing animals products, PM me. I love talking about, and eating, good food!

 

[disneyofcourse]

Wow, $75 for a week is impressive. I think to move to a healthier diet like your talking about I'm guessing you will easily double your weekly cost. But, if your this good at keeping costs down you'll probably spend less. (Just doing what your doing now with coupons) It's rare I go under $100 a week for myself and I'm a vegetarian. It mostly goes towards soups, pastas, fruits, nuts, milk, cheese,drinks and specialty breads. Check out the farmers market if you have one since it is cheaper for many things. Well, at least cheaper than Whole foods.

 

[prncess674]

I would ask the butcher at your local organic store if there is a day or time that they regularly mark down meat. They will regularly mark down meats that either have a "sell by" date of a day or two away. "Sell buy" is by no means a "good by" date. Go home and throw it in the freeze, then on days when you want to cook it just let it thaw overnight in the fridge and you have good cheap organic meat.

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

Hi all! So I had a food budget of 75.00 a week for a family of 5, 3 girls aged 7 5 and 1. This budget did not include diapers or household ad personal items. The new problem I have is that we are now switching to organic, after doing some reading and research we have chose to no longer do conventional foods, especially animal products and bi products. So I was wondering if anyone out there is in the same boat as me?
I am looking to do a realistic food budget based on organic foods. I do print all the available coupons for whole foods and the manufacture coupons that are available. I also am stockpiling meat from Fresh and Easy, ground beef and chicken is $5.00 a pound and I get coupons from them all the time so I am using those. I am hoping to just double the budget to $150 a week for the next month or so till my stockpile is good. Any advice??

75 a week for all your meals...breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks? You packed school lunches and you and your husband always ate meals from home and not out at work? 75 is really low if you are factoring in everything. Did you eat Ramen noodles and cereal alot? I am truly curious.

We shop at whole foods and trader joes mostly. you can get coupons and sales at whole foods. trader's does not do sales or coupons but has pretty low prices on many items.

 

[Mommy23Princesses]

75 a week for all your meals...breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks? You packed school lunches and you and your husband always ate meals from home and not out at work? 75 is really low if you are factoring in everything. Did you eat Ramen noodles and cereal alot? I am truly curious.

We shop at whole foods and trader joes mostly. you can get coupons and sales at whole foods. trader's does not do sales or coupons but has pretty low prices on many items.

No we don't live off of ramen and cerel. I make a lot of our food from scratch, like pancakes, deserts, cookies and such so we save there. I have a tremndous food storage that I have built through sales and coupons so I really don't need to buy any boxed items. (have more than enough pasta, cereal, rice and juice for a year) We don't do frozen premade meals, so my weekly budget would be based on our meals for the week, so mostly produce, dairy and meat. We also eat proper sized portions so our meat portion is not larger than a deck of cards, so I can easily make a meal from 2 chicken breasts. I only work 2 days a week , PT, so no I don't eat at work. My DH does eat lunch at work but that is budgeted seperately as well as if we eat out. (eating out comes out of entertaiment) I do pack lunches, only have 1 DD that eats lunch as school and her lunch is different from other kids. She loves tofu and fruit and cheese, not so big on sandwiches and such, so we get creative on what she wants to bring for lunch. I also buy what I can that is a good deal at Costco.