Since I am now a woman of leisure, I have become increasingly more curious about the tasks of other housewives/homemakers, specifically food shopping. I've always been too busy working to really try and stick within a food budget, use coupons, or drive to cheaper supermarkets, but now I find myself fascinated with the prospect of trying to spend as little as possible on food. Its kind of like my own personal game show where I'm given $25 dollars and I need to purchase a weeks worth of food without going over. Sometimes I am victorious, but most of the time I go a little over.
I went to the grocer's today and spent way more than I intended because in my zealousness to save money I've basically had to sacrifice fruits and vegetables. I realized we were in trouble when after church yesterday Adam and I found ourselves wolfing down a vegetable tray that was left over from an RS activity. We finally pulled ourselves away, however when I got caught up talking to someone, Adam wandered off and I found him again at the vegetable tray scarfing all the carrots. It was then that I knew my food games had gone too far. So today I spent a small fortune on groceries and I feel like a total homemaking failure. Is food really more expensive than I think, or am I just a really bad shopper? My question for all of you is, how much should I expect to spend on food each month realistically? I need a pace car, a reality check, a guiding voice of reason, a candle on the water...
2 years ago
6 comments:
I have no answers for you but was intrigued to see what anyone else had written. I think I've done a successful grocery trip when I've planned out my weekly menu and stuck to it. But then I have to have a fill-in grocery trip where I but all the crackers, string cheese, cereals, fruit snacks, etc. that my kids snack on 24/7. I am a horrible grocery shopper and a horrible budgeter, so just know, you are at least better at it than one person.
I think the key is to develop a deep love for cream of mushroom soup.
And to take all your grocery store ads to Walmart and they will match basically any sales.
Angela! You are so funny and I love you to pieces! I can just imagine you and Adam diving into the veggie tray. It's better than what I did this Sunday...me and my friend snuck into the kitchen to stuff our faces with lemon cake left over from the bishop's meeting that morning. I'm not great about a food budget, but my friend is a huge fan of the a blog called http://moneysavingmom.com/. It's all about couponing and cheap grocery bills. Let me know what you think.
Some people have it down to a science, but I don't. Here are a few things that have helped me stick to a reasonable budget, yet continued to eat decent food: Look at the cents per ounce thingy in the corner of the price. Buying stuff in bigger containers isn't always cheaper. Also, I make my list, then divide it up into the different sections there are in the store, for example, all the dairy in one list, all the bread items in another, etc. That keeps me focused so I don't wander off and start buying donuts when I wasn't even supposed to be on that aisle. The store brands are usually just as good, except with mac'n'cheese and frozen juice concentrates. Only clip coupons for stuff you usually buy, or you're just spending extra money. I'm sure you can find awesome coupon deals and stuff, but these are just week-to-week things I've found that help me.
I think the thing you can do that makes the biggest difference is pick the best store to do most of your shopping at. (I like Food 4 Less, and you could look for smaller farmer's market type stores, because they usually have good produce prices.) Also, certain things like rice, white flour, and pasta that last forever you could get at Costco or the cannery or something and then you always have something to go along with meals. And you have food storage, and that makes you a big time homemaker.
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