View Full Version : Trying a new strategy - food spending
I have had failure after failure with keeping my food budget in line. Basically the strategy was to see our monthly totals, berate ourselves for spending too much, promise to cut back, occasionally have success but more often have a repeat of the month before.
For two weeks DH and I have been doing the envelope/jar method. Basically we give ourselves $125 for the week for groceries and dining out...when its gone, its gone. The first week it was gone by Tuesday night (grocery shopping, then sushi with friends = food budget gone). I haven't been able to buy everything I "want" at the grocery store, we haven't been able to eat out as much as we would have "liked" to, and we've had to be pretty thoughtful with meal planning. So far we have survived two weeks, no starving!
Part of me is a bit disheartened that it took this level of regiment to get our food spending in line. We are not big spenders in other areas, so I am a bit sad we didn't have the self restraint naturally without going to such lengths. On the other hand, we are actually sticking to a reasonable limit for food! So, I am really excited about that, since it has been the thorn in the side of our spending for a while.
What do you all think? Will it get easier over time?
chanterelle
2-6-12, 1:13pm
Jennipurrr, give your self a break. It has nothing at all to do with natural self restraint or any sort of personal failure!
This is an experiential, learned skill and people learn in different ways....it looks like you have found the beginning of the way for you.
No doubt. you will adjust and refine the process as you go along and your life adjusts. Give yourself room to reevaluate and change things without self recrimination.
I started doing all the family grocery shopping and cooking when I was nearly 13. At 60 I can attest to the fact that it was a long and sometimes rocky learning curve. I'm a whiz at it now, but I was no prodigy believe me!
The problem I've found with food budgets is that food is going up all the time, quite a bit lately. So, I may buy the exact same things in two weeks as this week but it just costs more. I'm a pretty good cook and can do a lot with a little, but there are just some areas where I won't compromise, and food is one of them. I will get good ingredients, and won't fall into the prepackaged/fast food trap. Soups and stews and beans and casseroles are all pretty forgiving and inexpensive dishes. You can use what you have on hand, but if I need something to make it as good as I want, I will get that ingredient. Maybe rethink your recipes and just plan on having a really cheap dish or two throughout the week, like a pot of beans and cornbread.
Also, do you buy your lunches or pack them? You can really save a ton by packing your lunch, plus a snack for mid morning/afternoon. It is surprising how much you can save. And, well, sushi IS expensive!
When I was tracking my spending closely, I categorized eating out as entertainment, rather than food. I'm an introvert, and have to make a concerted effort to get out there, and set aside a certain portion of the budget to do that. This wouldn't work as well if I went out to dinner several times a week, of course. I wanted to be able to go out and not feel guilty about it. Had I lumped it with food, I would have tried to minimize the spending and would constantly feel guilty for the once or twice a month indulgence.
militaryman
2-6-12, 2:40pm
I put a higher value on somethings than others in my budget and suggest that what might seem "reasonable" to one person might be a punishment that degrades the quality of life one experiences greatly as compared to other "line items"
For instance, I can do without a clothing budget almost entirely and still dress presentably and comfortably without feeling at all depressed about doing so, whereas shorting a clothing budget for someone else might be a "life event"
Another one that comes to mind is utilities (heating/cooling) -- Some folks just cannot stand to be cold and that line item in their budget is higher so they can maintain a warmth that keeps their mood from hibernating --- However, many can just throw on a sweater and their good to go.
So I guess I am trying to give you "an out" to consider prioritizing your budget items and find the ones that you really place alot of value in ( they proportionally increase your quality of life ) and realize that when you trim those areas too much you risk making life much less happy than if you focused your thrifty ways on the other areas.
Good luck !
I have always kept a monthly log of grocery totals and the amount creeps up every year in spite of cutbacks. I think food prices are just going up across the board.
I make pet expenses and eating out separate categories. Currently, for two adults we are at $350 mo for groceries/sundries and $80 mo for eating out. I have found that cutting way back on meat has made it go down but adding back lots of organic produce is making it go back up. We are going to have one night that is eat out of the pantry night because it seems like there is a lot of "back stock" that needs to be used first, ie pasta, beans.
Well, dearest jennipurrr, I have been following your blog for a while and I will say with a friendly wink that I am glad you are tackling this expenditure ;)
I do agree with the others not to be too hard on yourself by using words like "failure." However, I know that your mortgage mission is important to you and if this is an area where you can cut back, still enjoy ($125 for 2 people per week still allows for eating enjoyment, it's not a rice-and-beans-every-day budget) but have more cash to put toward your #1 goal, well then, win-win!!
If the eating out is social rather than culinary in motivation, perhaps a switch to later going-out times would allow you to still go out to enjoy with friends but not look weird if you just get a drink or a dessert. You could still spend time with them but not have to order a dinner entree.
Congratulations on finding a system that works for you!!
jennipurrr
2-7-12, 10:52am
Thanks for the replies! Great thoughts.
I tend to do that...use inappropriately negative words/cognitive distortions...so maybe failure was a bit harsh, but we have definitely been unsatisfied with the food spending. Its been the one area that we consistently overspend in. There are always excuses why...busyness, traveling, I thought my cat died, etc. In the future we may give ourselves more leeway to be flexible with eating out, but the bottom line is we can't meet our other financial goals if we keep spending $500 eating out every month. We enjoy eating out, but not that much! It has been partly social and partly convenience. But, really its not that difficult to cook at home and only go out for an event or when we want to get together with friends. And lunches, those were 100% out of convenience, but at the same time, I live 4 miles from my office...I can easily go home and enjoy some leftovers and chill at the house.
I think the $125 is a reasonable amount...if it is mostly groceries. Food prices have definitely been going up lately, so something to consider on a regular basis - is that enough money. We do buy some organic meat and veggies, and not too much junk food. Now, if we have two $50 dinners then that only leaves $25 for groceries, which is pretty unmanageable. So, the obvious consequence is that we eat out less often.
Week three has two days down and so far we are still chugging along. I think I just have to be ok with this is what is working for us, even if it seems like we should be able to do it without the restrictions. I think I will be much happier with the outcome at the end of the month!
It does get easier to not eat out. When DH started his business years ago, I cut way down on eating out. I do not miss it and make no mistake, I LIKE eating out. I like it a lot. I am happy to go to the ethnic places where DH and I can get out for less than $25.
Now we seldom go out even though, theoretically, I WANT to support the fabulous restaurants we've got in this city. It is glorious richness in the city of St. Louis, the independent eateries. This week we are taking our friends out, ones who often cook for us. We are going to The Scottish Arms for Scots pub food. It's a place I want to support, yet, I only go there 1X every 2 or 3 years. There will be boys in kilts, yum.
I sympathize, jennipur! Our food budget has gone way up for a number of reasons: local inflation, depreciation of the dollar, and changes in our eating habits (low carb = more protein = generally more expensive + more organics and other pricier (but healthier) foods).
Do you have a good repertoire of "go to" meals that are relatively simple and that you can fix almost without thinking about it? One of my goals for the last couple of years has been to increase the ratio of those in our family menu. We do like to go out to eat, but generally try to limit it to once a week. When I find myself having that "I don't feel like cooking" feeling, it is usually because 1) I have recently made most of our "go to" recipes and don't feel like making them again (rare, especially now that I have a bigger range to choose from) or 2) I don't have the stuff in the house to MAKE one of the "go to" recipes.
Increasing the number of meals I feel I have at my fingertips that can be on the table in 30 minutes + keeping a good pantry stock and having enough meat in the freezer means that temptation to go out is just a little less. Even when things are stressful. For example, I had to have an urgent work call with a colleague in the US on Saturday. I had trouble getting my skype to work, so we didn;t start talking until 11:00 and didn't finish the call until 12:15. I already had started the rice in the rice cooker and had the stuff out to make one of our best "go to" meals -- "taco" soup (basically onion, ground beef or pork, a can of kidney beans, a can of black beans, and some tomato paste + taco seasoning). DH suggested we go out, but I knew it would take longer to get everybody out of the house than to just whip up this old standard. So I got to work and 30 minutes later we were sitting around the table with beans, rice and some cucumber and carrot slices. Not the fanciest meal, but we enjoyed it. I can do pretty much the same 30 minute turnaround with a few other recipes: any kind of pasta that isn't baked, a few different kinds of soups, some favorite Chinese dishes, fritattas, grilled sandwiches, quesadillas (10 minutes for those! The kids eat them a lot...), etc. There are others like my baked chicken recipe I shared here that take more time overall, but are also really simple.
I guess what I am trying to say is to look for ways to set yourself up for success rather than failure. Develop habits that will lead you toward cooking more quick, simple meals, and then you won't feel that urge to go out so much. Lunch is a good example. You say you live close to home and have leftovers in the fridge. But it takes a certain amount of momentum to get you to go home in the middle of the day, so that rarely happens. Why not take the leftovers with you to eat at work? If I recall correctly, you are on a university campus so surely you should have access to a microwave somewhere. And if you don't, you could get a used one on craigslist to keep in your office without much cost (and maybe free). If you don't have access to a fridge, you could used an insulated lunch bag to keep things cold, or do what I have been doing when I take soup to work -- freeze it first, then let it thaw out gradually over the morning. Having lunch with you also makes it easier to resist invitations to go out for lunch. If you want to go out for social or networking reasons, designate one day a week that is you "eating lunch out" day and try to schedule all lunch appointments on that day.
The basic idea is to set up systems and routines that support you moving toward your goal of spending/eating out less. You already have some pretty strong habits and it will take awhile to change them. But it's possible. And you might actually find it gets more enjoyable as you go along.
lhamo
can you stop eating out for 6 months or something?
eating out can bloat your food budget GREATLY.
everything you make at home is like 500000% less in cost than having a restaurant feed it to you.
I have enjoyed and benefited from the Cook At Home threads that we had here during the fall. Lots of good ideas.
I second the suggestion to take your leftovers for lunch rather than depending on the idea that you'll actually leave work. I cook extra at dinner so that I have leftovers for lunch. Lunch is waaayyy easy now that I work at home but only if the food is prepared (since I usually only give myself 15 minutes to eat). But having extra rice and chicken from last night makes it something I don't even think about.
We don't eat out much and as a consequence, when we do it without a plan, I suffer severe sticker shock. How could it possibly cost thirty bucks for coffee, hot cocoa and cookies for our little family? But it does. Made at home, we could enjoy the same experience (really, the coffee shop isn't that great for ambiance) for about five bucks. When we PLAN to go out, and we do, we decide where we want to eat and then we really let loose....but it only happens rarely. And we are not in a city that has many "let loose" places; I mean it would be very hard to spend more than a hundred bucks eating out for two unless you drank most of your meal.
I understand the struggle with the food budget though. I remember writing on the old boards, years and years ago, that I could NOT seem to even figure out how much we were spending on food. I tried all sorts of things, like saving receipts, trying to write things down, etc., but none of it worked until I started consistently buying food with my debit card and tracking with Quicken. I still struggle with remembering to include the milk picked up off schedule or the items bought with cash at the farmer's market. My partner doesn't see food as a modifiable expense; you buy food and you eat it, and how can you save on that? But even he can see how eating out just sucks up money.
This thread and kelli's comment sent me off to look at your blog, jennipurr. What guts you have to post all that information, and what a great way to stay accountable to your goal. I wish you the very best in this effort! We are hoping/expecting to have our mortgage paid off in October and I am looking forward to that feeling.
Using a cash only grocery shopping tactic worked for me. I got back to tracking my spending for a few months last year, just to see where all the money was really going, and I found money just disappeared in the food category (I'm not talking anything over $200 a month but just for me I thought that was too much). Keeping with a cash only system saved me money. I put down eating out expenses in my entertainment category because eating out is a rare occasion for me and I eat out maybe 6 times a year?
(As an aside, I tried to go to a favorite restaurant yesterday and it was closed down. A sign on the door said the family owned business just couldn't make it through the tough economy. It had been closed since Nov 1011. I felt kind of guilty for not eating there more often.)
A few things that I find vital to staying within my grocery budget.
1. Cash only. You can't go over budget if you can't pay for the extras.
2. Menu plan each week. When you plan your meals around what is on hand and on sale you will do much better.
3. Always go with a list and stick to it.
Personally I am managing right now on $45 a week for dh and myself. When ds is home from college our budget jumps to $65 a week. Soups, stews, rice dishes, bean dishes are very much staples. Once a week we have a splurge meal. Last week was my pick it was haddock, rice pilof and salad. This week was dh's choice and he chose oatmeal baked chicken breast, brown rice and gingered carrots. Next week is my pick again so we are having meatloaf, greenbeans sauted in butter with sliced almonds and homemade mashed potatos and gravy.
Eating out falls under our entertainment budget and usually runs us around $60 a month. Sometimes, rather than eat out, we will do a grocery store run and purchase all the makings for a special meal: Steak, fish, roast etc... so we get the restaurant special meal, at a fraction of the price.
I read that many junk foods are impulse buys, which our brains tend to require us to justify them if paying in cash. So cash eliminates junk food they said.
happystuff
2-11-12, 11:19am
I used to do the cash only and it really taught me to control my spending. I now keep a running total of my shopping cart contents while I'm shopping so I know when I need to stop!
I have gone back to the credit card to pay for groceries, however. I was REALLY missing the cash-back from my cc! Fortunately, I've figured out a method of accounting for each and every cc charge and making sure that when the bill comes in, it is paid in full. We don't charge a lot, but getting about $100 a year from the cash back program is nice.
There are two things that I actually enjoy putting my money towards: travel and food. Don't feel bad about it!
I find it easier to stay within budget now that I do all our grocery shopping online. It is less time consuming and my eye is not constantly drawn to items that I do not need.
Artist makes some good points about making lists and meal plans. Doing this has really made things simpler and cut costs for us. For the two of us, we spend around $90 every two weeks. Apparently this is quite low, but hey, we've always got something to eat! We eat take-out once a week and will indulge in a restaurant meal maybe a couple times a month - these expenses are not part of our 'grocery' budget.
Miss Cellane
2-11-12, 12:59pm
One thing to remember about your food budget is that you pretty much have to buy a certain amount of food on a regular basis. There are many, many purchases that you can put off for a month or two or even longer--clothing, a new car, new furniture, etc. But everyone needs to eat and most of us need to eat on a fairly regular basis. I find it a lot easier to just do without something than to plan and strategize how to get that thing spending less money. It's like quiting drinking alcohol--it can be easier to quit cold turkey vs. a diet where you still have to eat food, just not the food you really want.
You are having to change your food buying habits, your cooking habits and your eating out habits--and that's hard work. You probably need to plan more--studying the supermarket ads, working out a menu, allowing time to cook instead of nuking some prepared food or heading out to a restaurant.
So don't beat yourself up over this, although it can be difficult to accept the knowledge that you are not perfect. Work towards small improvements week by week.
I have had failure after failure with keeping my food budget in line. Basically the strategy was to see our monthly totals, berate ourselves for spending too much, promise to cut back, occasionally have success but more often have a repeat of the month before.
For two weeks DH and I have been doing the envelope/jar method. Basically we give ourselves $125 for the week for groceries and dining out...when its gone, its gone. The first week it was gone by Tuesday night (grocery shopping, then sushi with friends = food budget gone). I haven't been able to buy everything I "want" at the grocery store, we haven't been able to eat out as much as we would have "liked" to, and we've had to be pretty thoughtful with meal planning. So far we have survived two weeks, no starving!
Part of me is a bit disheartened that it took this level of regiment to get our food spending in line. We are not big spenders in other areas, so I am a bit sad we didn't have the self restraint naturally without going to such lengths. On the other hand, we are actually sticking to a reasonable limit for food! So, I am really excited about that, since it has been the thorn in the side of our spending for a while.
What do you all think? Will it get easier over time?
I would suggest looking over your expenses. Obviously December was a bit rough, as you spent $628 on eating out and $300 on groceries. If anything, the groceries should be higher than the eating out. Is the $125 for two people and your cat? or just you two? That would be $500 a month when there is 4 weeks in the month.
If you have not done this, I would suggest you start - get your grocery receipts together and plug it into the computer or paper or whatever. See where you are spending the money. Are you throwing out any food? Are foods getting eaten or not? Are you including personal care items in the grocery?
I would suggest that you cut back on the going out to eat part. I realize that it was during the holidays, but if you want to be on track for the mortgage, then holidays do not mean anything. You do not use the holidays to celebrate with food.
Part of me is a bit disheartened that it took this level of regiment to get our food spending in line. We are not big spenders in other areas, so I am a bit sad we didn't have the self restraint naturally without going to such lengths. On the other hand, we are actually sticking to a reasonable limit for food! So, I am really excited about that, since it has been the thorn in the side of our spending for a while.
What do you all think? Will it get easier over time?
Congrats on your success! I think it will get easier over time. DH and I used to eat out a lot when we were first married, but it was one of the first things to go when we decided to get serious about cutting our expenses. I did miss it at first and it was a challenge to have enough things on hand to be able to make a variety of meals (I'm not good at pre-planning menus, because what sounds good on menu planning day rarely seems appealing a couple weeks later...). Over time, though, it became our normal and now we usually only go out for our standing Friday lunch date and once in a while with friends or family.
A friend of mine is having a very tight month due to several unexpected things, and is struggling to have enough food. She won't listen to me when I tell her that if she would use grocery bags for trash instead of paying money for trash bags, she could use that trash-bag-money for FOOD. Like wise paper towels, kleenex..... Sorry, had to rant. She really won't listen to me and that's so frustrating.
A friend of mine is having a very tight month due to several unexpected things, and is struggling to have enough food. She won't listen to me when I tell her that if she would use grocery bags for trash instead of paying money for trash bags, she could use that trash-bag-money for FOOD. Like wise paper towels, kleenex..... Sorry, had to rant. She really won't listen to me and that's so frustrating.
That's exactly what the reader of this article (http://w4.telcen.com/simpleliving.html) advises.
Good article. I lived on $14,000 last year and would like to get below $10,000 this year. I have to sell the car to acheive that though, because even a paid for car generates lot of expense. Last year it cost me nearly $4,000 to run the car, including everything.
The article talks about phantom load, electrical appliances that constantly draw. I've also heard them called "zombies", since they are live even when dead. I have my TV, computer etc on a surge protector, which I turn off at night.
My first electric bill in this new place was $59, and it's not even cooling season. So I'm back to using a drying rack after a month of enjoying the instant gratification of the dryer.
My new place has a screened in balcony. I'm going to put a metal rack out there and grow herbs and vegetables.
jennipurrr
2-16-12, 1:40pm
Woah reader, totally impressed with your frugality!
So far we've been doing pretty well using this weekly system. Its mid-week 4 now and our numbers for this month are looking a lot better than the previous months. I do include paper products and householdy stuff in the grocery bill because its easier, but we buy very little of it. I had to convince DH when we first got married that you do not have to buy trash bags! We do use some paper towels but also use dish rags and napkins. So very little money is going towards that - maybe $5/mo? Also, I buy all our pet food else where so that is not sneaking in. Pretty much we were just eating out too often to keep within our budget!
I've also noticed that if I make meals that are really nice, then it helps curb the eating out bug. One night I made a shrimp pasta that was not cheap bc it had a lot of fresh ingredients, but it tastes so close to one of my favorite dishes at a local restaurant (which for two of us would be $60+), and I paid about $14 for all ingredients and we got dinner and lunches out of it. For V-Day we didn't go out, instead we had steak and grilled veggies, then we saw a movie (my mom bought us the season art cinema pass for Christmas) and splurged on the $2 cokes and $1 popcorn :)
We're getting there. We actually went through a couple years where we didn't eat out at all (very rarely - once a month maybe) and we were able to pay off DHs student loans very quickly. Its hard when you get out of that routine to get back in it, that is for sure. I don't know if I would want to go cold turkey though...as long as we are keeping a happy medium where we can meet our financial goals that is fine with me.
there's no way -- as far as i can tell -- that we can get away with only $125 per week in food unless all three of us went down to one meal a day. I guess it could be done, but I'm not sure it would be healthy.
both my husband and my son have high metabolisms. my husband eats for two (and is 8% body fat currently, and doing body weight exercises only -- no gym membership not "body building"). My son easily eats like a grown man (he's 3.5). I eat about 1500 calories per day, which is 300 less than the minimum that "they" say I should, and 500 less than "healthy numbers" or whatever. But, I feel best between 1500 and 1600 calories per day. DH is easily around 2500-3000; DS around 1800-2200.
We do not eat packaged/processed foods. We eat meat, veggies, fruit, nuts and seeds. We make bone broths, we ferment vegetables. We have oils and condiments that we buy. We do not buy sodas, juices, candies, etc. We do buy dark chocolate in bulk, eating an average of 1 large dark chocolate bar every 2-3 weeks (between the three of us). I usually eat chocolate about once a week or less.
We do not eat out. When we do, it's at a thai place where we can feed the three of us for $35. It's a good, hearty meal too. Sometimes, we buy food vouchers online where we can get two big breakfasts for $19 (regularly $50). We will use this instead of going for thai food -- saving a bit of cash. :D And, we do not do this every month.
While I know we could save money if we eat beans/grains, the reality is that we don't particularly care for them. I rarely ate them before, and DH is also not interested. DS will eat them, but not much. He has a thing for rice and quinoa, so we make that for him on a regular basis.
We do eat sweet potatoes, onions, and squash regularly as they are less expensive veggies. One meal during our week is onion soup made with our home-made bone broth, and served with a side salad. It is actually very filling and nice.
right now, we pay about $325 per week for our family of 3. Then, we have our "coffee, tea, dining out" budget which is $50/mo. We rarely spend it, but sometimes I like to get little goodies for DS like 'penny candies' at the corner shop while we wait for the bus ($1). It comes out of that budget.
So, here is how the money breaks down:
$5 per 12 eggs, we buy 5 dozen ($25). We eat all 5 dozen by the end of the week;
$9 for all dairy products (raw yogurt and butter) -- DH and DS eat this;
$7 per bag of frozen berries -- 3 ($21)
$10 per bag of frozen veggies -- 3 ($30)
$25 per 1 kg Fish (1 kg = 2 meals)
$10 per kg of other meats (2 kgs per week-- $20)
$14 per whole chicken (3 -- $42)
This is $151 right there.
Nuts, seeds, and dried fruit -- in bulk -- comes to $20/week. Chocolate is $3/week.
That takes us to $174.
Everything else is fresh fruits and veggies, whose prices change based on the season, availability, etc. This is usually about 10-12 apples; 10-12 oranges; a bunch of bananas (one of our few imports, and so we do pay more for fair trade); salad greens and other veggies, cabbage, carrots, beets, and anything that is inexpensive. So, about $151 in veggies and fruit.
At the end of the week, everything is either eaten or fermented and in storage. We don't ferment every week -- usually just once a month and the kim chee and kraut lasts the rest of the month. We eat this at one meal a day, usually dinner.
I have tried every way possible to slash the budget. The easiest would be to not eat any fresh veg and cut back on meat consumption. As it is, I eat about 5 oz of meat per day, and DH eats about 10-12, and DS probably eats 8-10. This is .7 kgs per day or a total of 4.9 kgs per week. Between our chickens, fish, and meat, that's pretty much exactly what we buy.
I really cannot see where we could possibly get this budget down to $125 per week or even $200 considering that there are 3 of us.
fidgiegirl
4-18-12, 9:05pm
How's it going on this, jennipurrr?
I agree, fidgie, I want to know how it's going! WHen I first read this thread I didn't respond because I was busy and blah blah blah. But food is such a key part of life that I'd love to keep hearing others thoughts about how they keep the cost down, eat healthy and still eat enjoyably. There are so many options and moving parts to feeding ourselves that we could probably talk about this constantly and never run out of new ideas/suggestions.
After re-reading the whole thread here are my thoughts:
I agree with so many different things various posters have said:
1. Food prices are going up. One of the things the gov't does when they calculate inflation is to swap out things whose price has gone up with cheaper substitutes. So the calculation drops steak for ground chuck, then for ground beef, then that for ground beef with pink slime, etc. Right before thanksgiving google news served up this article "Cost of average thanksgiving dinner up 13% from last year" with this one right below "Bernanke not concerned about inflation." 13% increase in food cost on average sounds about right to me from what I've seen.
2. Eating out as entertainment. I view it this way also. Although I enjoy having someone cook for me, I would almost never go out to eat just to have someone else do the cooking. This point was brought home to me when I first started tracking my expenses after reading YMOYL. I was stunned at how much my 'convenience lunch' budget of eating lunch out at work was. I didn't enjoy it, was doing it alone so no social benefit, etc. I started bringing lunch (by making a little more for dinner and carrying it to work) and eliminated $40/week from my budget painfree. I noticed maybe a $5 weekly increase in grocery store expense at the time.
3. Supporting local restaurants. I totally get Iris Lily's comment about wanting to support all the great local ethnic places. We have tons in our neighborhood and around the city, but the reality is that we're just not going to start eating out regularly in order to check them all out/support the really good ones.
4. My food budget took a nosedive when I moved in with SO. Before living with him I lived in midtown manhattan. Eating out with friends was a 3 to 4 times per week activity. I loved it and don't regret that spending. When I moved in with him it was to a suburban NJ apartment. Restaurant options were much less. Opportunity to get together with friends also much less. So we got immediately into the habit of eating mostly at home. Even now that we live in San Francisco we've never changed back to the eating out all the time habit.
5. Eating well. At this point I don't flinch at the money we spend for food to eat at home because if it's a lot it's because we've bought top quality meat or fish from the butcher/fish monger, etc. Food is what keeps us alive so it's one of the most important expenditures for me. Yes we could cut back on expensive meat, but we enjoy it and can afford it. If our budget was tight we'd cut back on extravagances like grilling steak.
6. Avoiding the eating out because we're tired/overworked/etc trap. I've tried to implement several strategies. Like lhamo we have a few quick and easy go to meals. Made easier because we live across the street from Safeway so we don't even have to keep stuff on hand.* But also I've gotten in the habit of freezing a couple of servings of stuff like turkey meatloaf or lasagna whenever we make them. Then if we both get home late and are tired or whatever, I can just pull something out of the freezer and heat it up.
7. Making nice meals at home. Like jennipurr mentioned with her shrimp pasta meal, it wasn't cheap, but it was still way cheaper then eating out, and it was really enjoyable, lessening the desire to eat out. SO has gotten really good at trying to figure out how to recreate a restaurant meal at home. It's certainly more pricey then just eating beans and rice, but it's fun, and it's way cheaper then eating out to achieve the same goal of a fun, tasty meal.
*Oddly enough having safeway across the street has actually helped our food budget. Before we moved to this apartment we'd go to the store once every 2-3 weeks and end up buying EVERYTHING we thought we might need, only to get home and find that we already had 10 jars of jalapenos or whatever. Now we only spend a little bit on each trip, much more frequently, but only buy what we need right then. After all, it's not a hassle to go back tomorrow if we forgot something. So there's no more seeing something and saying "oh, wait, do we have that? I'd better get some."
flowerseverywhere
4-19-12, 11:42pm
our food bill is very low as I have a huge garden in the summer and we preserve a lot and store a lot too. We recently finished the last of our winter squash, carrots, onions, cabbage, beets (yellow and red) and potatoes in storage and the last of our frozen applesauce and strawberries. We still have a couple of bags of tomato sauce in the freezer, as well as a little frozen corn and peppers. And by now my lettuce in the garden is starting to come in and I will have peas and spinach soon.
There are a bunch of things I do to help stretch the food budget.
I always have sprouts growing on the counter. They are fresh and I use them in stir fry or salads about twice a week.
I make my own tortillas and stuff them with cheese, beans and salsa making quesedillas. Sometimes I make beans and rice and stuff the tortillas with them.
At least once a week I make bean soup, sometimes black bean, sometimes pea soup, sometimes lentil. I make a loaf of bread on these days, it always goes over well and lasts for three or four meals for two of us. Sometimes I make cornbread or mufins.
For breakfast we almost always eat oatmeal. The organic plain stuff I get in bulk for .89 a pound.
We eat some meat, but it is not the star of the show, more of a small amount as a side dish to our vegetables.
I go to an asian store and an Indian store for things like sauces, spices, lentils, rice and beans and farmers market when my stuff either fails in the garden or isn't ready yet.
I make our own yogurt, way cheaper and much healthier.
I live near the dairy farms so milk (in glass bottles no less) , eggs and cheese are not really expensive.
We are very healthy and have a lot of energy and stamina, and eat very few prepared or foods with preservatives, coloring or additives. All of our numbers from our bloodwork are good. We only eat out if we have a gift certificate someone gave us, so far twice this year from a GC MIL gave me for Christmas. I can't see paying the money.
flowerseverywhere
4-20-12, 8:16am
wanted to add that a lot of prices depend on where and how you live.
I can get fresh eggs at the farmers market from chicken that walk around free for $2.50 a dozen year round. We eat about two a week. Last week huge oranges were 2/$1 (of course they were imported). My dairy has glass bottle milk for $1.69 a quart. They only buy from certain farms and you can drive by and see the cows munching in the field. The little beef we buy we get from another farm that has cows walking around they butcher, it ends up being around $5 a pound but as I said we rarely have it.
So when you take away the shipping costs, packaging costs, processing costs and fancy store cost (with high paid people in corporate offices) in my area you can eat cheaply with little junk.
So how is your budget working? Are you able to keep within your budget.
It does get easier as you go along. I think the key is to find some low cost dishes that work for your family. Start with them a few times a week and eat seasonally.
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