I have been doing pretty good with getting my grocery budget under control. $100 a week. Of course, February is a short month so that makes it a little easier. When I was at the store last week, I even splurged on expensive honey crisp apples (2.99/pound yikes) but I knew I was saving a lot of money otherwise and I absolutely love this apple and know none of it will go to waste. But then I get to reading couponing blogs and see how women are getting groceries for free and have a $200/month budget for groceries and I start feeling like I am doing something wrong. I mean, before I was spending $600/month on groceries and so I was thinking I was doing pretty good, saving $200 a month.
Then I read this blog. She said a lot of what I was feeling. When I see these blogs, a lot of what people are getting are snacks, boxed pasta's and potatoes, processed foods. Now I am not saying my family doesn't eat it's share fair of processed foods. We definitely do. But my goal this year is to get away from processed foods. I really want to start making more things from scratch including bread. I haven't started that process yet as I am in this year long class that is sort of taking my thought energy but once it is over in April, I really want to start cooking more and better foods. The other thing is, I don't want to exclude fresh fruits and vegetables from my diet. My saving that money is going to allow us to join a CSA this year and pay cash for it. We did it last summer but I didn't have the money saved up and it was a big chunk of change for us. But it was so worth it. Maybe someday we will have a garden but I just don't have the energy for that yet so this really is the next best thing. The other thing we really want to do is buy 1/2 cow. It is so much better than the stuff you buy in the store.
So I am trying to let my guilt and yes, I will admit, my competive nature go on this one. Be happy with my grocery budget and know I don't have the time or energy to go to multiple stores every day just to get all these "great" deals.
But hey, I will still be excited when I get a good deal. Today I got 2 boxes of granola bars for $1.40. I am happy with that!
Big Family Food and Fun: April 13-19, 2025
4 days ago
2 comments:
If it makes you feel any better, my grocery budget is $200 a week...and that's down from $250!!! Of course my two boys are older and probably eat more than your 3 kids put together but still it is a lot. I spend $30 a week on milk alone because I buy raw milk but now that I have read everything about pasteurized milk I just can't bring myself to buy it! Dilemma!
We got a 1/2 a cow from a local rancher and it was totally worth it. The beef is grass fed and it's delicious. However, I can't figure out if we saved money or not. We paid $4.99 a pound but that for every type of cut from the most expensive cut of steak to hamburger. I'm not sure if that evens out...$4.99 for hamburger is a LOT but not for a rib eye that is dirt cheap....
That does make me feel better. I know that budget will change once my kids start growing and eating more.
Not sure I can get on the raw milk bandwagon but maybe someday.
That seems a little high for the cow but you are in California. I know the lady I recently talked to said they sell theirs for $1.60/pound and then you have to add the cutting and packaging on top of that. I definitely will be doing that.
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