Guest post from Jamerrill of Holy Spirit Led Homeschooling and FreeHomeschoolDeals
When I tell people that I feed my family of 7 for $400 per month, I usually get the crazed-eye look. I know they wonder if we live on hot dogs — no, we don’t!
Here are a few tips from my experience that may help finetune your grocery budget and feed your growing family.
Once-a-Month Grocery Shopping:
I’ve been shopping once-a-month for my family for nearly three years. My grocery costs where literally cut in half by taking this step.
If I’m not in the store then I’m not spending money. I also have a better plan laid out since I must maximize my time and resources on this one trip.
Note: You can see an example of what I buy for my once-a-month shopping trip here. You can also read some answers to Frequently Asked Questions I get about shopping once-a-month here.
Shopping at One Store:
When I shop, I often go to two or three stores, but then again, it’s just one day per month. However, depending on my schedule, I can usually feed my family for the same $400 just by sticking to one store. It may not be bulk amounts, but it’s doable.
Buying in Bulk:
I buy rice and oatmeal in 25-pound bags for a cost of $16.59 per 25-pound bag of brown rice and $15 per 25-pound bag of quick oats. I divide these large bags into gallon storage bags and stretch them to last three months.
Home Cooking:
When I left the outside workforce to stay home full-time, I quickly learned that cooking from scratch was a wonderful money-saving method. Be sure to check out Crystal’s articles on freezer cooking and cooking from scratch.
Meal Planning:
It helps me to lay out a monthly meal plan before I go once-a-month grocery shopping. Make yourself a monthly calendar and save it to reuse the following month.
I usually cook a large meal and serve it various ways over several meals. There are many other ways to meal plan. Some moms even do once-a-month cooking!
Shopping Cabinets and Pantry:
Access everything you have in your pantry before giving in to the urge to run to the store. If you shop your pantry, you should be able to come up with a few extra meals.
Gardening & Canning:
This is the first year that we’ve made a large garden; I plan to teach myself how to can as well. I can’t wait to see the additional savings this gives our family.
I’m sure many of you garden and can fruits, vegetables, and jellies. I’d love to hear your tips and cost savings in the comments.
Coupons:
I’m still learning this one. I wonder how much more I could save by couponing, furthermore how many extras I could stock up on?
As I’m able, I page through the coupon information here on MoneySavingMom.com, slowly learning this skill. At this point, even without couponing my pantry and freezers are full!
What are your best ways to save on your monthly grocery bill?
Jamerrill Stewart‘s passion is to help families afford the homeschool life. She offers free stuff, goodies, and bargains daily for this purpose at FreeHomeschoolDeals.com. Join Jamerrill and her family as they live the life of faith at HolySpiritLedHomeschooling.net
I see on your meal plan that you often have the same meal two nights in a row? Is it a variation the second night? Just wondering if your family might get sick of it?
Everyone has their own gifts and preferences to save. Here are my favorites that work well for my family of 6!
– Use everything! I save peels and ends of veggies as well as bones in the freezer until I have enough for broth. Once strained, the veggie bits go to laying hens.
– Split a cow with friends.
– Buy a pig from farming friends.
– Forage!
– Garden! Especially fruit which is pricey like berries.
– Host seed swap in Spring and preserves swap in Autumn to enjoy friends and add variety to our foods!
I would like to know where she shops. I have not seen 5 pounds of chicken or hamburg for $10.00 since the 70’s. A pound of hamburg costs upwards of $6.00 and chicken is usually about the same. A loaf of bread for $1.00? Come on. Even the worst store brand costs $3.00. A gallon of milk is close to $5.00. I am on Senior fixed living and have just applied for FOOD STAMPS. The allowance for edible items only, is $197.00 a month for one person. Non edible necessities, IE: toilet paper, freezer bags, paper products, cleaning products are non included.
If you have an Aldi in your area you can get a load of bread for a dollar, chicken for less than two dollars a pound, milk is currently 2.29 a gallon, and a dozen eggs are 88 cents. It is a small, clean store.
I live in Centeal PA and those prices are pretty comparable to what we have here. So it is possible. Food costs vary greatly depending where you live and if you’re near a big city or in the middle of farmland. It’s possible that you just live in an area that has a high cost of living.
Great plan, however I looked at a menu plan and there’s no way my family would be happy eating the same thing for Lunch and dinner 2 days in a row.
Great plan, however I looked at a menu plan and there’s no way my family would be happy eating the same thing for Lunch and dinner 2 days in a row.
These are all great ideas however we are a family of 4. 2 grand kids my daughter and myself.. Kids are in school my daughter work long hours at a stressful job and I work 2 jobs and go to school…we do not have the luxury of being able to do everything from scratch and on my one day off I just want to relax.. Any tips for working families???
I am hoping to plant a garden this year though and would love to start doing some canning and freezing
Crock pot freezer meals are awesome for working families. Save on food costs too, left overs can be taken to work for lunch the next day or left home for the sitter to heat quickly and easily for the kiddos for lunch.
Crock pot. Crock pot. Crock pot!!!!!
I use coupons and still have a hard time getting my food bill down..maybe some has to do with living on Long Island and being diabetic…would love tips there are 4 adults in my house
I’ve got my budget down to $25 per person per week and I thought I was doing good…This post and comments are very inspirational. Keep up the good work!
I can’t wait to have a house so I can garden too!
When it comes to gardening and canning I am a huge fan but there are a lot of hidden/start up costs involved with both!
When putting in a garden you have to decide if it’s going in the ground what you are going to do to till the earth – rent? borrow? buy? Or you can go with building raised beds and filling with dirt. Container gardening is probably the cheapest of all 3 – unless you have access to a tiller. Garden fencing is another one – we use a roll of the cheap bright orange deer fencing and are careful to take it up each year so it lasts longer. Are you going to need to buy some dirt? Compost? Will you choose to build a compost bin? Trellises, tomato cages, etc. all add up.
Best advice I have is try and research all of this ahead of time and make the best choices you can. We also take up everything, garden stakes, cages, string and carefully put it away in the shed over the winter to make it last. We use plastic weed barrier in between the rows of our garden to keep the weeds down – it’s fastened into ground with metal pins. Last fall I carefully collected all the pins and rolled up all the rows of fabric to use again this year.
The main canning start up costs are your canners, jars and lids. Garage sales and Craigslist are great resources. Also, friends and family that used to can and just want to get rid of their stuff are ideal – ask around, co-workers, etc. you never know! If getting a pressure canner second hand research the model and if it doesn’t come with a manual see if you can find one online – you’re going to want that for sure!
I would not recommend reusing glass jars from the store for canning – I believe there are several potential dangers – a quick google search found this link:
http://www.healthycanning.com/re-using-bottles-from-store-bought-products/
HOWEVER, you can reuse any larger glass jars you may have access for for making refrigerator pickles from the cucumbers in your garden!
If purchasing canning supplies new, the best deals are to be found at Menards, Rural King and Big Lots typically….
Canning recipes abound online, but for the cautious canner a simple Ball Blue Book (the yearly edition) will get you started for the least amount spent. OR you can check out canning books from the library and photo copy or scan the recipes you want to try.
I spend $100/week or less to feed 5. I shop weekly because we go through a lot of fresh fruits and veggies, and we only have one fridge and no extra freezer. I hit Aldi and Kroger every week, and Sam’s for bulk items (flour, white sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, pinto beans, butter, cheese, cocoa, canola oil, rice) every 6 months. We eat a lot of vegetarian foods that include beans and lentils to help keep costs down.
I have a budget of $320 per month for food and household items for my family of 4. (I’m counting my unborn child as I’m eating more…lol) I use coupons every trip and I go every week to about 3 stores. I meal plan as much as I can but my husband and I are usually on different work schedules so we rarely are able to eat together except weekends. We also have different dietary needs and food preferences so we usually end up batch cooking weekly for ourselves. I do have a few staple freezer meals that I put away that we both enjoy though. That and lack of $ has kept us out of the expensive drive through. It takes me about 3 hours to comb blogs for the best deals and stock up items and match the coupons. What makes it much easier and efficient to coupon is to follow a blogger who covers your favorite store. Mine is http://www.krogerkrazy.com
On gardening and canning tips, depending on where you live, you can plant beets 2-3 times in a season. I plant herbs on my front porch. They are pretty, easy to access and don’t fall prey to herb loving critters. 🙂
I’m wondering the age of the children in this post. I think feeding smaller children costs much less than teens, especially boys. I know…I have 6 and they sure can eat as they get older!!
You may also try canning your own spaghetti sauce to save money. You can use your garden vegetables and buy canned tomato sauce or use your tomatoes from the garden…
Where on Earth do you store all that milk?
All good tips! I use Ibotta & Checkout 51 (coupon/rebate apps), and the HEB app and in-store coupons and meal deals to save roughly 15% off my groceries. Reviewing the apps to meal plan before I go takes less than 10 minutes. $115/week for 3 and we eat mostly organic produce, very little processed foods. We’ve cut back from $650/month easily. 🙂
It is amazing how all of these suggestions work to keep the grocery budget down.
I have recently started working out of the home more and I’ve had less time to cook from scratch. I am watching my grocery spending skyrocket. Cooking from scratch is my #1 tip followed closely by buying in bulk.
Thanks for sharing these excellent suggestions. I can testify from experience that they work well.
Hi where do you find 25 lbs. of rice and oatmeal for 16.59? I love your blog read it often! Keep up the excellent work! =)
Latino/Hispanic stores have the price for rice, look for one close to your house. I buy a bag of 20 lbs in a store called “Compare Foods”, I pay no more than $11, it lasts 2-3 months.
I run all my store bought pickle, relish jars threw the dishwasher, dry good, and put the lid on loose. I use these jars to make canned pickles and jellys. If I give as presents, I don’t lose my good jars. They are reusable only once, but saves on buying jars and lids.
Does your $400 per month include household items, pet care, etc? We have a family of 5, including an Infant that we buy diapers, wipes, formula, and baby food for and we spend about $200.00 per week. This includes any eating away from home we do during the month.
Id go to costco for wipes they have 1160 case for $25 huggies natural care & u can use a wipes coupon if u find one.. Definitely get in to couponing for diapers. Most people do huggies but i cant stand those i get pampers.. Ive gotten jumbo packs & a case for free by rolling rewards at cvs !
Also some places will give you discounts for damaged boxes. My local dollar general saves them just for me. A $25 case for 50% off with a $2 coupon?!?! That’s what I’m talking about!
You could also make your own cloth wipes and spray wipe solution to save money. (I have used cloth wipes with three out of our four children.) Commercial wipes we only place in the diaper bag for church. I also made diaper cream from beeswax, shea butter, and coconut oil. Cloth diapers at home and with baby; commercial diapers at church too. With the formula you could call the 1-800# on the back of your canister to see if they offer coupons. (My sister did that. She used the Target brand and saved about $2 to $5 per container. She just had to call each month to get a coupon.)
I did not use formula. I breastfeed my babies instead. We also made baby food for three out of four of our children. This not only saved us A LOT of money. We’re expecting baby number five and will be doing these same
practices.
I pray you find ways to help you and your family. Many blessings.
I appreciate posts like this very helpful I have family of 7 and only get like 430 I. Food stamps now searching on how to budget or shop better because within 2 weeks the food stamps are it’s struggle so I’m looking new ways to save. Thank you
Dont feel bad! $200 is what we USE also! I appreciate posts like this and read them but I also know quality foods are more expensive and children plus three cats… We even tried cloth diapering and wanted it to work to save money. But was NOT for us! And I find thats all ok. Keep reading and observing other families and do what works best for you.
I have a family of 7 and had 3 kids in diapers at the same time. I bought about $150 worth of kawaii cloth pocket diapers. They are very easy and go on just like disposables. They saved me a TON. They don’t add to the laundry. Just wash a load every other day. They have so many tools to make cloth diapering easier, I wish I would have done it with my first two kids.
We use cloth diapers and wipes with plastic pants (old school). Saves a ton, but it is more work.
I notice that Green Peppers are on your list. These have really come up in price. I plant 8 plants each year along with other peppers. I dice, slice and add to making salsa, pizza sauce, corn relish, spag sauce, and picked peppers. This is one veggie we use a lot. Peppers are also frozen diced, and sliced. Tomatoes are also something we grow I planted 10 plants for my family of 6. We do not have to can salsa every year. We do make stewed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, salsa, pizza sauce, spag sauce. My stewed tomatoes does a double duty it is put into chili, tomatoe soup, and just stewed in mac and cheese. We buy our corn off a farmer who lets us pick what is left over in the fields.
I save by less frequent shopping trips too. I buy frozen vegetables and fruit frozen – in large bags instead of buying cans. It’s easy to measure out what you need, then pop the bag back in the freezer and good for the environment too. I do buy canned tomato products and mushrooms. If you do a google search, you can find recipes for making your own cream soups – mushroom, chicken, and celery. Also, I buy pork and beef meats at a local meat processing plant. The cost is about the same as a grocery but the quality is much better! I buy pasta, but make my own egg noodles – its quite easy and takes an afternoon to make 5 pounds. I plan to have left overs too to use for another meal – either freeze the leftovers or make another dish (ie: beef roast becomes beef stew or BBQ 2 days later). Thanks for the other ideas too!
I notice you buy canned “cream of” soup. 30 Day Gourmet.com has recipes for making your own much healthier, cheaper versions. It’s really just simple white sauce.
This post would have been more helpful with a sample menu plan of what you make. Breakfasts, lunches, dinners, etc. So much of these posts vary on food intolerances, amounts of food your kids eat, etc. Could you post a sample of your week meal plan?
If you click on the links in the post, there are links to articles, sample shopping trips, menu plans, and more.
We were a family of 7 and which included. My daughter was 11, 3 sons 18-24, my husband and I, and my mother. I also babysit and feed an average of an extra 6 kids per day lunches and some breakfasts. A year ago I was determined to lower and watch our grocary cost. I averaged $75.00 per week including our softener salt, paper products, and toiletries.. It took some planning and stocking up when the sales were on, but it was extremely successful and doable.
Crystal, what’s wrong with the reply section? All the comments just get stuck on the end and not under the comment we’re replying to?
It’s a glitch with the new template we installed last week. We’ve been working hard on fixing it, but unfortunately, it’s not fixed yet — hopefully by the end of today!
I figured you were on top of it. I can’t wait. I miss the old format.
What do you eat for lunch?…I have two teenagers and telling them to eat only peanut butter and jelly or ramen noodles wouldnt cut it in our house…
Donna, that wouldn’t work here either.
I don’t know, but i buy at least TWICE that much produce for my family of 6 each WEEK! (and my kids are little still) You did mention a garden…but you said it is “new”. Have you grown a few vegetables in the past or nothing more than what is listed? I see that this plan could fill empty bellies…but it just seems really lean on the vegetable and fruit side!
Thank you for this inspiration. I have been trying to get my monthly food shopping on paper and this simple chart was definitely what I needed. So I worked on my own version today. Mine is a little longer and costlier per person. But we have to work around a dairy allergy, and I like organic for some things. I have access to two coops, Azure and UNFI. And so far I have us at $525 a month for a family of 4 with food allergies, no pets or babies. That includes over $100 in protein shakes and bars needed for my husband’s and my diets right now.
It does take time to tweak and fine tune these goals so I appreciate that realistic advice!
These kinds of posts are always interesting to me. To some they are inspiring, to others they are discouraging.
I read these kinds of posts because I know I am not beyond learning something new and hope to do so, but I always feel badly when moms who are doing the best they can in with the circumstance they are in (location, family make-up, metabolisms, food allergies, what-not) get discouraged because they can’t get their grocery bill as low as others.
Some states regulate the price of milk and therefore some readers will never get milk for less than $xx.00 per gallon. Some moms live where feeding one’s family is just plain more expensive, no matter what they do — cook from scratch, garden (and the weather can really take a toll on those efforts), can, etc.
I’d like to encourage those who are discouraged by reading $ amounts that some are able to spend and not being able to do the same, to instead just read to glean the tips that might be useful for lowering one’s own $ amount.
Some of my friends order Cheese from Lynn Dairy in Wisconsin, during the colder winter months. (It is too hot to ship it during the summer months) A while back when the milk price was “down”, my friends were able to buy FRESH cheese for $1.86/lb. shipped!! It comes in a 40 lb. block, so it can be divided with friends, or cut up & shredded then frozen. You will love the flavor of FRESH!!!
Do you have any info on where to order cheese from Lynn Dairy in Wisconsin. I couldn’t find it being sold in 40 pounds blocks. Thanks for any help.
I have been couponing since last year, and we have saved thousands. My favorite websites to go to are krazycouponlady.com and livingrichwithcoupons.com. They are my life savers! I am more control with my money then I was before. I have set a budget at $250 a month for groceries with my family of 4. So far we either go under or just hit the mark. When something goes on sale very cheap or free with coupons I stock up. And any Catalina’s I receive from a deal I did, I’ll use them on meat, produce or dairy items I don’t have a manufacture coupon for. Now if I can get my other finances like this, that would be wonderful. But this is helping so far, before I was spending $180-200 every other week, mostly impulse buying. I have learned a lot and I keep learning each day. =)
I would love to only shop once a month, but we go through a lot of fresh fruit and veggies. I would HATE to give that up for any part of a month. Bananas are a cheap staple for us. And even if we did the “rotating” produce plan that someone mentioned, that would require MUCH more fridge space than we have. Come to think of it, the whole plan would require much more pantry and fridge space than we have. (The thought of storing 15 gallons of milk amuses me considering that we rarely have room for 2 at once. We have one fridge and no extra freezer.)
Still, this gives me some ideas on how to break up/balance my shopping trips.
Julie,
We do not have a side by side fridge. Though most side by side fridges say they have a larger capacity than our fridge and freezer combo, I can certainly put more in my fridge than my parents.
When we bought our current refrigerator, we wanted a LOT of space for milk. I chose a fridge that I can put 16 gallons in. I can fit 6 gallons alone on the fridge door. I used to buy 16 gallons every 2 weeks, and that was when it was just my husband and me! I LOVE milk!
The farmer’s market prices ppl are commenting on seem pretty average to me. In most places some things might be a little more expensive than the grocery store…def more than Aldi, but the quality is far superior. You’re buying seasonally, reducing your carbon footprint, supporting your local economy and getting to have fun doing it.
The best advice I can give you about shopping your local market is to get to know your farmers and buy when the product is at its peak. Zucchini, potatoes, green onions, onions, peppers, squash, tomatoes and peaches are all cheaper at my famer’s market than the store.
I am always willing to spend more on fresh local than foods that have been in transit for a few days and then sitting a few more. It’s all what you can do though!
You can order bulk grains, ie: rice, wheat, beans, flour, barley, popcorn, etc… from Azure standard http://www.azurestandard.com if there is a delivery area near you. They are from OR & deliver once a month. I order all my grains in bulk from them, it saves me a ton of money. I grind my own wheat too, which saves money. I really need to sit down & figure out what my average grocery budget is each month. But it does vary as I buy multiples of most everything ahead of the game & the only thing I usually buy for the present is fresh produce & dairy. I also order some of my meat in bulk thru http://www.zayconfoods.com we live rural& raise our own beef & chickens & eggs, we also have dairy goats too, so milk will become a purchase of the past next year.
Oops, I was trying to reply to the comment that asked about foods like bananas. Not sure why my comment ended up at the end. 🙂
Unbelievable! Not literally. LOL!!! It’s just that I cannot imagine coming close to $400.00 to feed my family of six. I do coupon and try my best to shop sales – especially in conjunction w/ the sale. I also shop at 2 different stores. Maybe my downfall is just buying items w/out really planning out a menu…??? The cost of living in my area may be a contributor to what I consider an inflated grocery tab.
I looked at a sample of your monthly meal plan and noticed that quite a few of your dishes include meat. How do you manage to spend as little as you do w/out breaking the bank on meat, which of course if very costly?
Do you get your bulk items at Sam’s or another warehouse membership store? I don’t have a membership with any of these places. I have in the past, but it seems that I didn’t go there enough to make it worth the cost of maintaining the membership.
This is just for food, though, right? Not toiletries, cleaning supplies, etc
I was feeling kinda bummed when I read the title because I spend about $400 a month (with avid couponing) for my family of 4. Then I realized that I am including the pets and household costs in that total. Even with coupons I spend about $50-$60 a month on cat litter and the Iams brand pet food we buy. (I find Iams is a good compromise between cost and quality. I sincerely believe that the quality of pet food directly effects the health of your pet.) Laundry Soap. toiletries, dish soap are easily another $20-$40 a month. She is also a stay at home mom so has more time to devote to meal prep than I do. I don’t feel so bad now. 😉
I still see some great ideas . Thanks for the post.
If you live in the upstate of South Carolina check out this produce co-op.
http://www.thenoisyrabbit.com
My daughter is a member and splits her weekly full bushel of produce with a friend. You receive a full bushel every week for $60 a month plus $21 membership fee every 6 months. The co-op was started by a group of homeschool moms and has pickup locations all over the upstate. They also have a Facebook page.
This may be a little late for most to read, but as far as farmer’s markets go, a lot of the extra expense can be attributed to how much the booths cost to rent at the market itself (some can be as much as $1000/month in some cities!!). But a lot of farmers have other stands or programs where you can buy directly from the farm itself, so feel free to chat up the farmers at the market to see. It might require driving out to the farm to pick up a bunch of produce, which would require some time and gas, but you usually get the best prices at that point. We have relationships with two local farmers (one for mostly veggies/eggs, the other for fruit), and for about $30 every 2 weeks, we get a bucketful of amazing produce!
These are great comments. As for canning, the first year is always the most expensive. Try and get your jars for free or near free, this will save a ton. I also try to get my produce for free. I’m in my 3rd year of canning and I’ve finally figured out how much my family will use in a year and two year time frame. Now all I really buy are lids. I buy my Greenbeans from a local farmer. I grew my own this year, but he only charges me $25 for 2 bushels worth. This year I’ve canned apricot vanilla jam, apricots, garlic, cherry pie filling and pesto (I used nuts I had in the freezer) all from free produce or items from my garden. Try getting things from freecycle or craigs list, barter for what you don’t want to pay cash for.
Canning is really worth it, you’ll find recipes you love that you’ll make year after year. We tried a new one this year, pickled English peas. They were delicious on our salads last night!
I raised 5 kids and I used to spend about $450 a month feeding them when they were all teens. It was tight, but I managed.
I didnt throw away anything. If I used half an onion, I chopped the other half up, put it in a freezer bag & put it in the frezer. If I made stuffed peppers, I chopped the tops off & froze them too. I grow all sorts of herbs and freeze them in baggies, no blanching or anything else needed. We certainly werent eating rib-eve steaks, but we werent eating a lot of boxed or bagged industrialized food either. I had a garden too, and still do.
I freeze leftover broths, sauces, & container meals too.
One thing I rarely see anyone on the coupon blogs talk about is dehydrating. If you have a bunch of anything, and you dont know if you can consume it before it goes bad, start dehydrating it. I have an inexpensive dehydrator my step daughter gave me for Christmas and I keep it going a lot. After the initial cost of around $50, there is no cost other than the containers you store your goods in, which in my case is canning jars. I dehydrate as much as I can in case we have power outages, I dont want to lose my produce and hard work.
One other thing I wanted to mention is Tattler reusable canning lids. They can be used over & over. The initial cost is a bit higher than regular canning lids, but you’ll use them for years & years.
Whoa! We feed our family of five on a little less than $400 (our cash grocery budget is $400 but I usually have a little left over) and I thought that was pretty good!
We hope it will go down a bit this year because we joined a community garden! We get two garden plots where we grow tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, squash, and other things – we also have access to the community fruit trees so we get apples, oranges, peaches and it literally is free – we just have to spend about an hour a week tending to it! We eat lots of fresh fruits & veggies, we cook them, and we also have made some into purees & frozen (great for baby food!) We’ve also made lots of applesauce for our big kids (and us!)
today we harvested a HUGE pumpkin – it took two crock pots to cook it all – we made one into pumpkin butter and one into just plain pumpkin puree – we used to buy this for about $2 a can – now we have TONS frozen – we use it to make pumpkin pancakes, bread, muffins, and more.
we are trying to make more salads during the summer (with our ‘free’ lettuce) and smaller portions of meat – we also make soups during the winter – so inexpensive and our family loves soups!
we also cut our meat dishes using beans (and we use dry beans that we cook in the crock pot – SO cheap!)
one other thing – we dont buy soda (even with a coupon) – we generally only buy milk for the kids and coffee for us – no soda, no juice – just a waste of money on empty calories 😉
I thought we were doing good but apparently we have a ways to go! I want to get our budget closer to $300 for the 5 of us – hoping our garden will help that!
Space? We have one refrigerator/freezer and no where to put a second refrigerator/freezer or freezer. We live in a townhome, no garage. I know from some of Crystal’s posts that you can fit an awful lot of meals in just a regular freezer, but gallons of milk take up a lot of space — We are only a family of 4, but I do have a toddler who drinks a lot of whole milk. We probably go through 10 gallons of milk a month; that would take up almost our whole freezer!
That’s true Christy. Space can be an issue. We have 2 refrigerators, a full freezer (that someone gave us – whoop :), and a pantry. Freezing milk does take put space. Here is a post on how I freeze milk http://www.holyspiritledhomeschooling.net/2011/08/how-t-freeze-milk/ For your other items, can you place an extra shelf set somewhere for can goods?
Pantry space is not an issue. We have a good size pantry, big kitchen with lots of cabinets, but no where for another fridge or freezer. No basements where I live and like I said, we have no garage. Pantry is bog, but not walk in size for a fridge.
@ Chisty, we don’t have “room” for a freezer either. But every house we’ve lived in (we move a lot) we have managed to put it somewhere. It is currently on the back porch. It is an extremely small back porch, but it works. At our last house it was in a storage shed. The one before that it was on the front porch. The house before that it was actually in our nursery! I know that seems crazy, but it was the only spot. We just put a lock on it so kiddos (we have 4) couldn’t open it. I would not go without a freezer! The week I don’t have to do any shopping because I stalked up on veggies at our reasonable Farmer’s Market and I always stalk up on meat when It’s a good sale. The key is having a menu. Otherwise I am lost. I forget to set things out to thaw or put them in the crockpot.
Will have to check it out when I’m not on my phone. Link won’t work on phone.
It is very possible to eat inexpensively and still eat very healthy. I never feed my family ramen, or hardly any other processed foods either. We eat hearty, simple home-cooked meals three times a day. My grocery budget is $150/month for a family of 6 (yes, you read that right). Milk in my area is $1.57 a gallon. I get my produce from Bountiful Bakets, my garden, and sometimes for free- we are in an agricultural community and people often share their excess. I buy all my grains, etc. in bulk twice a year from the Honeyville retail store in Chandler, AZ. I bought 50 lb bags of hard white wheat for $13.75 on sale last time. Popcorn and beans are cheapest at Sam’s Club. I make everything we eat from scratch, and can and freeze. I strongly agree with substituting ingredients in recipes and cutting meat portions. Also, if something is expensive, we don’t eat it. Period. There’s plenty of good food choices out there. We also raise our own meat- chicken, pigs, rabbit, beef, and hunt deer and elk. I akmost never pay full price for anything at the store, with the exception of store-brand sugar. I only shop every 3-4 weeks at the store (see coment above). I appreciate people’s suggestions and tips here. Obviously, prices are different due to geographical location and circumstances. Let’s continue to encourage and not judge each other as we each seek God’s will and provision for feeding our families.
Looks like the offensive comment that spurred the last part of mine was removed- thanks!
I already left a comment above on how much we spend. But i wanted to add that I dream of Milk at $1.50… I am in California and we are lucky to find milk under $3. (even if the container says the milk comes from CA!) I find this very frustrating. i live between a couple farms so I am able to get some food (like avocado) very cheep–it really throws me off when I can’t get a slice of avocado at a local restaurant for less than $1 when it’s in season. Done with my rant.
I don’t know what you did with your two year old. But I found that when my kids started eating baby food, I just stuck whatever we were eating in a food processor with some milk and pureed. I only ever bought a couple baby food jars to keep just in case in the diaper bag, then kept the jars to refill with my own baby food for on the go. I froze portions of vegis and fruit so I didn’t have to puree for every meal. But I didn’t think it took too much energy or effort. I didn’t notice any change in my budget until i had to start buying kids meals when we went out. =)
Boy!! I’ll say that prices differ by region: we pay $3.99 for a gallon of milk; the cheapest it is when on a big loss-leader sale is $3.39.
Wow, I am impressed. I wish we could have saving s like you do there. we live in Florida. Milk is $4.00 a gallon. Everything else is expensive I started couponing but we also started to gain weight so I want to come back to fresh organic, cooking from scratch, gardening. Any tips how to do this in Fl?
When my BIL is here (10 months out of the year), my budget is $300/month. That feeds 2 grown men (ages 28 and 18), 1 nursing mommy, and our forever-hungry 2-year-old son. This number includes only food, not inedible consumables. I’m hoping to keep the budget steady as our baby girl transitions to real food.
I have a family of 7 and could not feed them on $400 without making everyone miserable. I do one big menu plan and one big shopping trip per month and that one alone usually costs $400. But then there are the occasional trips for dairy, produce etc that I do once a week. So anyhow I’m just saying if you had to do it you could, but don’t be discouraged if you’re not doing this well. It really depends on your families dietary needs, preferences and appetites. All are different 🙂
I also try to feed my family of 4 for about $250. Some months is as low as $100 when we eat out of the freezer or as high as $350 when we are stocking up on organic meat. But I have only gotten as far as weekly meal planning and having alternative meals in my head in case of .
I have been experimenting with canning and gardening which is a lot of work, but satisfying. I recently canned tomatoes and wrote about it on my blog. I ended up saving about $14 by canning a batch of tomatoes… which honestly isn’t much but it is nice to know that when we use those jars my family won’t be consuming any BPA or can residue.
While trying to eat healthy I have been cooking from scratch which does save Some money, but I don’t think a whole lot since the ingredients I buy has been of higher quality. But buying on sale and with the few coupons that you actually CAN use on healthy items and staples does help. Being able to store items and cook ahead of time. I shop at the farmer’s market to save on organic vegies and fruit. For a weekly organic box it costs $24 for my family, but I only end up spending about $12/week by buying items we will eat direct from the local farm.
The more I learn about buying and cooking healthy, the less coupons I use. I make most of my household items and cleaners to eliminate chemicals. and in the long run this is a lot less money!
My family of 9 eats for $100 a month, plus $100 in tolietries. (Really 8 people eating because youngest is a baby). It’s taken a long time to learn to eat for this little and stock my pantry at the same time, but I am constantly learning and making changes to keep things low. I don’t have an Aldi’s, or a store that doubles coupons. I knew I had to get it lower, so I kept trying new things, changing my menus, finding new sources for food, and working hard to lower things. Instead of saying, oh I can’t do as well as Crystal because I don’t have double coupons, I decided to look for other ways to save.
Here is my summer menu (4 weeks worth of meals and snacks):
http://theprudenthomemaker.com/index.php/menus/summer-menu
Thanks! That’s really encouraging and helpful. It CAN be done with a little planning.
You truly are an inspiration. Your menu looks beautiful and so creative.
Hmm, my comment was supposed to go under The Prudent Homemaker.
Hi! I was wondering if you mean $100/week. I checked out your list and cannot figure out how you could make all of those meals on $100/month. Thank you!!
I loved this post it was organized very well. I shop once a week and am”trying” to stay at $75 for a family of 5, one of which is in diapers. Its tough but clipping coupons and my newest thing meal planning has helped ALOT! I never realized planning meals could save tons of money. I always just stocked up on whatever was on sale and pulled things from my freezer as weeks went on but later found out that wasnt working. I have been planning meals for about 2 months now and it has saved so much time and money. I never forget a key ingredient or have that blank stare of what to make for dinner. Plus making double or triple batches helps you always have a back up plan just in case your day doesnt go as planned. I think we are eating better and I see a $10 – $20 a week saving just by planning my meals.
What do you do about catching things on sale?? About once a month a certain store puts cheese on sale and I’ll buy 10 blocks, but if we run out, then there isn’t anymore cheese until it’s on sale again. Do you watch the sales or just stick with the plan?? I mean $400/month sounds pretty good to me, so maybe watching the sales isn’t so important if you stick with the plan??
Jamie, I don’t focus on catching things on sale. We have a local discount grocery outlet that I mentioned in another comment. It’s called Sharp Shopper in VA & PA. They’re prices are always like sale prices; I’m able to get my bulk items like rice & oatmeal there too. 🙂
If you’re used to fresh produce and drink a lot of milk, shopping once each month means changing the way you eat.
Andrea, we are blessed to live rural and live next to several orchards. We also have a source for fresh cow milk. Although, with OAMS I do still buy some store milk and freeze. Hoping to one day be completely off 😉
We also shop monthly. We do a large trip to Aldi once a month and then fill in with things they don’t carry from Food Lion. Our grocery bill was cut in half too. Not shopping = not spending. We are trying to stay away from processed foods and make things from scratch. We also belong to a CSA and get fresh veggies and fruit weekly. What we cannot use we freeze or can. Just canned 5 jars of pickles today. We utilize what we have and do the pantry shopping thing. I have been trying to do freezer cooking when time permits and it’s been a life saver several times. Budget shopping can be done. Great post. Thanks!
Even though I live in Ohio, our farmer’s markets are crazy expensive, which makes no sense to me. Dozen corn is $5.50-6, pint of blueberries was $5, tomatoes $3 per #, and so forth. I’d go bankrupt if I tried to shop all my produce there!
I feed my family of 4 people & 2 cats (and I’m pregnant with a lot of food aversions and have 2 picky eaters as well), for $75 per week. This includes the purchase of a 1/4 grass-fed organic beef cow once per year (that is all the beef I buy), plus it also includes diapers (I do a mix of disposable and cloth), wipes, cleaning supplies, hygiene and healthcare items.
We eat very simple meals. We also repeat a lot. Our top 10 dinners are:
tacos
pancakes & eggs or sausage
homemade pizza
spaghetti and meatballs (homemade sauce, homemade meatballs)
steak and noodles with a veggie
grilled cheese with a veggie
chili
crockpot chicken
stir fry
fried rice
I’ve found farmers markets are much more expensive than grocery stores. It can help if you can find someone that grows/farms that DOES NOT set up at a farmers market. Our neighbor has 25 chickens he raises and he sells eggs for $2 per dozen. Free range/organic eggs here usually run $5 per dozen. He doesn’t advertise, just word of mouth and I buy from him. Another example is corn. At the farmers market, they want $6 per dozen but we found a lady who grew a patch that will sell for $3 per dozen. Check the classifieds in the paper and ask around first before you choose the farmers market.
We have a family of 7 as well and I probably average about $400 a month as well, sometimes less. One recommendation I have is shop at a grocery salvage store. We have a local bent-and-dent store that saves me SO much money. I about get sticker shock at some of our regular grocery store prices after doing most of my shopping there. I also posted on this somewhat recently:
http://quiverfullofblessings.com/2012/05/14/why-i-shop-at-the-bent-and-dent-store/
I’m sure I could do even better shopping just once a month!
We are a family of 6 w/ kids ages 6-1/2, 5, 3-1/2, 1 yr. My husband insists that every dinner includes meat. I also do a once a month main grocery trip with 2 aldi milk runs. Our monthly budget including toiletries and stockpiling never goes over $350. Normally, we are in the $250-$300 range. Because of stockpiling some months we don’t have to buy anything except for milk ,eggs,cheese and produce.We eat healthy on a budget. Only lean ground turkey, boneless/skinless chicken, and london broil. minimal white flour ( may use 1/2 white-1/2 whole wheat) and very small amounts of sugar. I do not buy juice any more and have weaned our kids off of flavored milk and fruit snacks. That alone has saved us a ton of moolah!! *victory dance* I make almost everything from scratch. We have a small garden that supplies most of the produce we need. I enjoy canning. It is so worth it! I make all my own cleaning supplies and laundry detergent. I cloth diaper and have for almost 7 years now. I also breastfeed, but because I enjoy it. saving money because of it is just a bonus. 🙂 We also home school. Instead of using a pound of meat for a recipe, I use half a pound. This cuts your meat budget in half! We try to eat correct portions also. I use a saucer plate to keep proper portions. I also drink a huge glass of water before dinner. It keeps from over eating and helps in losing these last few baby pounds!! And the main money saver… COUPONS!
I save no less than 50-55% on every shopping trip. I get the meat when it’s B1G1. I use a coupon clipping service out of TN that has the best prices and only $1 for 2 day shipping!
That is a great list! 🙂
I have a family of seven as well and we have no pets. I average closer to $650/month just for food and then add in about another $50/month on average for laundry products, toiletries, paper products. I do all the tips mentioned in the post other than gardening & canning. However, I do shop the farmer’s market or buy only in season fruit and veggies at the stores. I shop in bulk at Sam’s Club(but only certain items that I know I can’t get cheaper elsewhere in bulk), and I shop Aldi’s along with a few other local stores that are within a 7 mile radius from my home. I am able to save between 50-75% on my shopping trips that are anywhere between 2-4 times a month(really depends on the sales!) I try to limit the big shopping trips to twice a month to coincide with hubby’s paycheck and if I do any other shopping during the month it is for loss leader sale items and perishable items, like milk(which averages 4 gallons/week) and produce. Also out of the seven bodies in my home, I have 3 teen boys(16, 13, 11) and a hubby that eats about the same as the teen boys. We don’t have any allergies or special diets just picky eaters.
I also want to caution people and say these are tips to help not absolutes that will guarantee that you will be able to do the same thing that the writer has done. You have to remember that you need to do what is best for your family and your budget and your location. I know that cost of living is higher in some places compared to others and that will mean that food prices will also vary from a little difference to a lot compared to the writer. So my ending thought…don’t stress yourself out if you can match $400/month or lower for groceries for your family, just evaluate tips and then tweak things, if necessary.
Oh and I know they eat a lot of repeating meals, at least based on the meal plans she has on her site.
I have been a long time follower of Jammerill and I can tell you based on reading her site that she buys like 7 or 8 gallons of milk and freezes them, and tons of produce, they just eat the fruits and veggies that spoil fastest, first. Then when that is gone they eat frozen or canned. Also she just had posted not that long ago that she buys bananas like 15 pounds at a time. She has 5 children and is pregnant again so really this makes perfect sense. It would seem like a lot of planning and organizing would be needed, not to mention a very long day with 5 children but doable.
In regards to canning, do not be intimidated! I used to be and then I bought the Ball Canning Discovery Kit. The step by step instructions were so easy. I just filled 2 pots with water and 1 pot with my strawberry jam. I had delicious strawberry lemon marmalade in less than an hour. Here is the link to the recipe.
http://whisktogether.wordpress.com/2011/08/13/strawberry-lemon-marmalade/
What do you do about milk? Three under five…
Abby, we freeze milk. Here’s a post on how I do it: http://www.holyspiritledhomeschooling.net/2011/08/how-t-freeze-milk/
A sample menu would be great
although trying to eat more fresh
foods the once a month shopping would
never work for me sounds beneficial
though as I spend 2X’s that for our family of
4 .
Thanks.
When people say they only shop once every couple weeks or once a month, I’m always curious how they do that. We always need a couple trips a week in order to get more fruits, veggies, and milk. How do you make fresh fruit (bananas, apples, grapes, etc.) and vegetables (spinach/lettuce for salads) last for more than a week?
Apples, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, potatoes can last months if kept cool.
Buy milk that doesn’t expire for 2 weeks.
Eggs are good for 4-6 weeks past their expiration date, according to the American Egg Board.
Romaine can last 2 weeks in the fridge.
Buy more when you shop, and you can go much longer. We’re not shopping at all this month, and we’ll be just fine.
One can also freeze milk. We do that all the time and it tastes great. We usually have one milk that we are drinking and one that is defrosting in the fridge. This helps cut down trips to the grocery for staples.
I only shop in town (a 45-minute drive) every 3-4 weeks. I freeze milk for drinking and use milk from our goats for cooking. A lot of my fresh produce does come from a co-op that brings it right to our tiny town every-other week and from the garden. I have to pick up my baskets, but there’s no other shopping because it’s pre-ordered. (bountifulbaskets.org) I also can and freeze produce.
Amber,
I also live in a tiny town and we do not have that specific coop. The only one we have is too expensive and provides more food than the two of us could possibly use in 3 months. We are retired and there is only the two of us. If we were still raising a family it would be perfect and I only wish I had tried it then.
Same here, I’d love to go to the grocery once a month but I have a hubby and daughter that require a yellow fresh banana mostly every day. I have got it down to once a week for the bananas but I can’t go any longer than that!
Shopping once a month is an interesting idea, but I usually shop a few times a week. I do one planned shopping trip and stop at multiple stores and then do a banana, milk, and additional deals pick up later in the week when I am already out. I use coupons, stockpile, have a very small garden, don’t eat organic (other than my garden), cook several meals from scratch and have no food allergies that interfer with cooking. I was spending about $50 per week for a family of 4 people with pets and children in diapers & Pull-Ups. I am home with them during the summer and upped our budget to $60-$65 – which is doable since we’re not paying daycare. I know that I could shave off quite a lot if I wanted just the basics, but my family is so happy that I have kept them stocked with Popsicles and ice cream this summer thanks to coupons and sales. Every few months, I get a guest pass to Sam’s Club and stock up on bread flour, yeast, etc. My plan to reduce my grocery bill is to expand my garden, get back to monthly menu planning, and possibly purchase additional items in bulk on my next trip to Sam’s Club.
Looking at her list, there is no mention of fresh fruits/veggies, mostly just canned & jarred items. We make-do with a lot of frozen produce, which keeps well and retains all the nutrients of fresh. However, I think the general idea is that when the bananas (or whatever) run out, that’s it – no more until next month. I only shop weekly, but follow the same rules – if the kids eat all of something within a few days, they just have to wait and eat other things until the next weekly trip.
If you’re going to the store weekly and picking up perishable items such as milk, bananas, etc., then you are not shopping just once a month.
I would love to know how the author of this article is shopping once per month and still getting perishable items, and the items last that long. I shop weekly because my family needs perishables; if I were to shop monthly, the bananas would be gone in 2 days and then I’d have some very unhappy kids complaining about not having bananas the other 28 days of the month.
Hi there. As I’ve answered in a few other comments we freeze milk. We also eat bananas heavy the 1st week. After that it’s a lot of oranges, apples, and grapefruit. 🙂
I clicked on the link to the author’s FAQ and it said that they eat different produce/snacks at different times of the month. For example, the first week they eat bananas, but at the end of the month they eat canned fruit. Also, she freezes milk and bread.
if you click on her FAQ about her once a month shopping she answers that question. They eat the perishables first and others that stay good for awhile later. She also freezes her milk and bread.
If you want to can fruits and don’t have fruit trees or bushes at home, check out pick your own farms. They can save you a ton of money on the fruit and it gives your family a chance to have an outing they can talk about for years. My son and I went this morning to pick red raspberries to make Jam as it is his favorite. When I make it from scratch it costs me about a 1/3 of the price at the grocery store.
I love the idea of only shopping once a month, especially since we have a new baby due any day now. But I don’t understand how you provide fresh fruit and produce during the off season? We are vegetarian, and I always need more fruit and a few veggies each week, even with preserved and frozen to supplement. Do you just skip those foods? I don’t know of any way to keep the more delicate fruits/veggies that are in season now for more than maybe a week or two. Info on how to keep these foods for longer would be wonderful. We try to eat organic and preservative free.
I have a friend who does once a month shopping, and I have asked her about how she does it! Her family eats fruits on a rotating basis: berries and banana in week one, oranges and apples in weeks 2-3 and canned and frozen in week 4. Not for me, as I like a variety, but it works for her!
That’s very similar to us. The last week of the month we may be eating pears and pineapple out of the can, lol 😉
I go to the Farmer’s Market and other stores every 1-2 weeks for fruits, veggies and milk…I wish I had a dairy cow and an abundant garden so I wouldnt have to!!
Yes, I was also wondering about fresh fruits and veggies if you only shop once a month?!
Many fruits and veggies will last several weeks. Oranges is one that has a long refrigerator life. Cabbage, potatoes, carrots and celery will last several weeks too. We do fresher fruits and veggies, like bananas and tomatoes, during our 1st week. Also, we do live near orchards. Soon my favorite orchard will start having Tuesday specials of $10 per bushel. We will then start eating lots of apples 😉 We also grow and freeze black berries.
Great post!!! I need to research buying brown rice in bulk…where do you buy it for that price? I am also searching for whole wheat flour for a good price in bulk!! We are currently at $350 a month for 5…I would like to get it lower though…I also meal plan for a month in advance cause we only get paid once a month!!
Sara, buy wheat berries in bulk and grind your own.
Here are some bulk sources for oats, brown rice, wheat, etc. http://theprudenthomemaker.com/index.php/pantry/bulk-foods-and-grains
Thank you!!
If you use a lot of whole wheat flour, I recommend buying a grinder and doing it yourself. Bulk wheat is much cheaper, and grinding your own flour gives a much fresher product. If you have a Latter Day Saints warehouse near you, you can buy wheat for about $8-$9 for 25 pounds. My LDS warehouse lets nonmembers shop there. They also have other bulk products too.
Sara, we have a local discount grocery store called Sharp Shopper. It’s in Virginia and PA. That is where I buy my brown rice and oatmeal in bulk. It is SUCH a blessing. Today I found name brand yogurt there 4/$1…I was a crazed women filling the cart 😉
I’m a big fan of gardening. The food is healthy – no junk food! It’s often fresher and better-tasting than what you can buy. It’s free exercise. It’s mentally and psychologically rewarding. However, I wouldn’t count on saving much money, especially the first year. There are usually some start-up costs. But it’s worth it in the end.
After the first year of start up costs, my backyard garden produced $1500 worth of vegetables—AFTER I subtracted seed and estimated water costs. I don’t use fertilizer since I make a lot of compost, and at work we have a seed exchange every spring, so my costs are pretty minimal. But gardening is well worth the effort—and this is in Alaska, where a lot of things don’t grow.
I enjoy gardening too. There is something very satisfying about growing your own fresh foods. This year I opted not to plant a garden for several reasons, the main one is that I want to compare my water bills with last years water bills. My watering bills were especially high last year and I’m trying to see if it is cost effective to garden anymore. I do have potted herbs on my back patio though:)
Southernsavers.com makes couponing so much easier! She lists the store, every item on sale that week, the coupons that go with that item, and where to get the coupon.
http://www.thekrazycouponlady.com is the BEST website for couponing. There is a beginners section and a book that you should read. You’ll love it.
Curious what the “average” grocery budget is for families… we are a family of 6 (the kids are 7, 5, 3, 16 mos)… we do $400 a month and that includes toiletries (but not protein bars or sodas)… i’m sure we could go less but most months, this is pretty tight. I know I’ll have to increase it as the kids grow-they already eat a lot! I guess it just depends on the family and their overall budget.
I would love to see a sample day’s menu for you if you would be willing to post that (please 🙂 ) I won’t be greedy and ask for a week’s worth plus recipes but boy, that sure would be great! We have 8 children and I have a hard time staying within my $950/mo. We do have 2 in diapers and that includes those plus wipes and toiletries, etc. but I would love ideas for low cost menus that are GF and healthy!
We are a family of 5 with no garden. We spend about $600 a month. I don’t spend a lot in personal care items, but I do include pet food and litter. My kids eat a ton of fruit and veggies. We also limit most things with high fructose syrup and a lot of sugary items because of my 1 son.
I have the same size family with kids 7,5,3,and 1 too. My husband eats a LOT! He has a high metabolism and a very physically-draining job. Unfortunately the kids have Daddy’s metabolism so I can barely squeak by on $700 a month, and that includes using coupons, buying from a produce co-op, eating meatless most of the time, having everyone eat oatmeal 3x a week, buying in bulk and making things from scratch to save money. We try to avoid canned and processed foods but sometimes we just have to eat some because it’s cheaper.
I have the same size family with kids 7,5,3,and 1 too. My husband eats a LOT! He has a high metabolism and a very physically-draining job. Unfortunately the kids have Daddy’s metabolism so I can barely squeak by on $700 a month, and that includes using coupons, buying from a produce co-op, eating meatless most of the time, having everyone eat oatmeal 3x a week, buying in bulk and making things from scratch to save money. We try to avoid canned and processed foods but sometimes we just have to eat some because it’s cheaper.
Oops, the reply button isn’t working, this was in response to a former poster.
I looked at the price break-down and many things the author purchases are 50% of what I typically pay for them. So, I guess if I lived in an area with cheaper groceries, I could do $400 for a family of 6 too. No wonder I was having trouble picturing how all of these people commenting could eat off of $50 per person per month and not be starving!
Lindsey–thanks for pointing out the price break-down. I also pay a lot more for many of the items on the list, especially meat and eggs.
We’re a family of five living in the chicago area, and we spend $600 / month on groceries. I’ve got three boys, and two of them are huge eaters. We also feed their friends when they’re here…which is a lot!
We eat a lot of local, organic produce thanks to our CSA. About a year ago, my husband and I watched Food, Inc. and it changed the way we look at food. At that time, I was spending $400 / month. We purposely started spending more and eating better!
I love to read stories about how other people save at the grocery store! I can learn from everyone…even if it’s just one tip here and there!
I am impressed, we are at $200 for two. So I may need to re-think some areas.
I am $100 for 2 and recently had to cut back to $50 a month. It is possible if you have to! I use coupons, and Aldi’s mainly. Also don’t be afraid to ask your local farmers markets for the produce they may be getting rid of. A little blemish is fine by me when its free!
There is no Aldi’s where I live. Today I went to the local Farmer’s Market for the first time and about fainted. 12 ears of corn $5.50, I bought 6 for 96c at a local store, zuccini was $1.50 lb, I paid 49c lb earlier, and tomatoes were $3.00 lb, I bought local tomatoes at the store for $1.99 lb. So I am not sure what to do.
This is exactly how our market is too. I will only go once to get my box of blueberries to freeze. Otherwise, the grocery store is cheaper fnor our budget.
My husband and I went to a local farmer’s market, too, awhile back and were shocked at the prices! I’m sure it does taste better than store-bought, but it’s just not worth it/possible right now for us.
I agree–I can’t understand how they can charge so much for the things when I can grow them in my garden for much less. I mean $1 for a zucchini when you can grow a bunch of whole plants for that much which get at least 10 of zucchini off of each of them. Just grow your own if you have that option.
This was our experience as well, and we live in Southern California, where you think with our abundance of produce it would be cheaper. The other problem we had was that in 3 different farmer’s markets we had people cheat us by putting molding/bug infested fruit on the bottom of the box and fresh fruit on the top. I was so turned off by it that I just go to the grocery store now.
I have the same problem at the Farmer’s Market vs the regular store. I know the expense comes from the fact that the farmer’s markets have more expenses than the factory farm (even the local factory farm.) I also think it depends on where you live. Here in SoCal, so many of my grocery stores have local produce so that makes it cheaper. I am sure that buying tomatoes in California are more expensive in Iowa than Iowa tomatoes would be.
Jacqui,
I live in Arizona, in the Verde Valley region, the produce I buy at the stores is usually marked Arizona grown and it is very good. Obviously we get a lot of sun! lol I bought a whole Arizona cantaloupe for 97c also. So I feel based on the budget I have I just can’t at this time afford the local Farmers Markets and will stick to the best choices I can find on sale at the local grocery stores.
That’s what I do too, J. Right now, the grocery store makes more sense for me, especially since I know so much of my produce is local.
Some farmers markets are very expensive; others are very reasonable- it depends on your area I think. Consider a produce co-op. We have Bountiful Baskets (bountiful baskets.org) here and are totally hooked on it- a great variety of quality produce at a very good price.
I agree about the varying prices at farmer’s markets. Here in MN the farmer’s markets are usually about half the grocery store for local produce. Corn is slightly more (roughly 5-10cents more per ear) but tastes far better and is much fresher. We also have a CSA. It comes out to $5.77/week for a share for us – I can’t buy that much produce at the store or farmer’s market for that! We pay in one large chunk ($300/yr) but we budget for it all year round so when the time comes, we’re taken care of! I blanch and freeze the extras and we eat those in the winter. Since it’s basically veggies (a few strawberries and raspberries), we only have to buy fruit and a few veggies (if we run out or something doesn’t grow well here).
We have a family of 4 and I have to say that these things help us stay within our average of $40/wk for groceries, toiletries and paper products. When we had 2 in diapers it was $75/wk (we bought diapers by the case at Sam’s).
I know other places have crazy-high farmer’s markets. Take a look at local farmers, pick-your-owns or CSAs in your area and see what you can do! You might be surprised!
Lea
I have found that the farmer’s markets where I live are CRAZY expensive. I want to support local farmer, but I also can’t afford paying triple the cost for something compared to grocery stores.
Oops. That ^ was supposed to be in response to a previous poster 😉
Do you have any space to plant a garden? Tomatoes are pretty easy to grow. It would be a good place to start. My first garden consisted of 6 tomato plants. I now plant tomatoes, beans, beets, carrots, zucchini, watermelon, potatoes, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. This is the first year I’ll be getting peaches from my own peach tree. I freeze or can my extras. Start small – some things can even be grown in containers. There’s a lot of info on the web about it. Good luck.
Great post!
I’m at about the same. I try to spend about $75 a week at the grocery store (I do shop most weeks) and I spend $50ish every other week for Bountiful Baskets.
It is tough though, sometimes. It was a lot easier 3-4 years ago when I had two toddlers and no teens… Two of my five are teen boys now.
I love Anna’s suggestion, and I follow it too. I never make a recipe as written. Well, almost never. I sub what I have available, for one thing. And mostly I double the fillers/sauces and use the original amount of meat. I’ll serve things with potatoes or rice.
I want to know where you find 25# bags of oatmeal though. I also get 25# bags of popcorn, and we air-pop it for snacks. One bag will last us about a year. 25# bags of dried beans are great too.
Ooh! Where do you get 25# bags of popcorn and beans? How about flour and other grains? I don’t buy anything in bulk yet – don’t know where to start or where the best deals are.
We get our bulk popcorn at Sam’s Club. A 50# bag costs $21.98. Sam’s also has 25# bags of white flour and bread flour for around $7.00.
My above comment was meant to be a reply to Jen’s question about buying in bulk, but apparently the “Reply” function isn’t working properly!
Green beans, peas okra and onions are really easy to plant and harvest. A good tip ..most farmers markets are a little pricey however if u can grow some of the easy harvest a lot of times you can trade some out for a different veggie/fruit with some of the vendors at the markets.
I get my 25# bag of popcorn at Sams, I buy my flour at costco. I am not sure about the beans…. ( I only have a membership to Costco, but my parents have one to Sams)
I also want to know where to get the 25 lbs of oats for $15! I bought a 25 lb bag at the co-op here in town and it was double that!
I know this is doable.. I feed my family of 4 on around $200-250 a month and we are gluten, corn and dairy free. We do a lot of grain free meals and organic, too.
I don’t do a lot of coupons.. mostly shopping at specific stores for specific items, grocery outlets, clearance sections at healthy food stores and some Trader Joes (sometimes they can be expensive, but some items like eggs are consistently the cheapest in town I can get).
jenetta
You totally should write a guest post sometime on how you feed your family of four for $250 per month — all while avoiding gluten, corn, and dairy! I’d love to publish something like that!
I agree! I would love to hear how you do that as well! Good job!
I will try to write it up this week 🙂
I would love to hear it too. I am way over $250 for four and would love to hear some pointers.
I would love to see this too!
yes please!!!
lol- I mean, yes please to Crystal’s request for the the gf, df, cf mom who spends $250/mo.
Yes I just had to switch our family to a grain free and dairy free diet for my daughter’s health and would be very interested in reading about your experience Jen!
We have been expanding our vegetable gardening a little bit every year on our small city lot and are just starting to experiment with canning etc. However we have been big fans of freezing for several seasons now – seems to me it is a more hassle-free way to preserve your harvest – but of course won’t give you yummy things like pickles and jellies!
I’d love to read something like that too as we have a corn allergy in our family and struggle to work around it. A lot of times 4 of us eat one thing and my child with the allergy has something totally different.
I would also love to see this, I am doing paleo and trying to slowly move the whole family that direction.
I would love to hear how you do that as well! Good job!
I’m curious about this as well. We are trying to figure out our kids have some food allergies, and an elimination diet feels like it’s eliminating almost everything that enables me to keep our budget down.
Would love to know how you do this as we have a similar allergy set at our house, plus a few more. I am trying to get to your blog, but the link won’t take me there.
for some reason it is putting in an extra http://.. don’t know why??
here is the site
http://www.frugalfreebiesanddeals.com
What a great list! I do most of these things (though my garden isn’t exactly thriving at the moment.)
Another thing that has helped keep our budget low is to *not* follow the recipe exactly. Only rarely do I follow the recipe exactly. I usually add in healthy fillers to make meat stretch, substitue a less expensive ingredient or skip adding in an expensive one altogether. You can rarely notice much of a difference and it keeps cooking a fun adventure!
I’m with you on that one! I’m constantly substituting simpler ingredients for the expensive ones!