Budget $1400

I'm amazed how you all are doing with your food budgets.  My household includes me hubby, s18, s15, s11, d10,s4,s3, dog and 1 cat.  My budget covers everything from tp, food, doctor visits, and school trips.  I haven't been good at keeping track of what is spent on what, but for the pass year I have consistantly gone over my budget.  My hubby is self employed and with the economy in the shape it's  in I need to rein our food bill. 

The kids go through 12 gallons of milk every 2 1/2 weeks.  Plus 6 double cereal packs from b.j.s  Milk at our b.j. is 2.98 vs stop and shop which sells milk for over $4 a gallon.   Oh yeah, they (the kids) are now only allowed milk at breakfast time, before it was 16 gallons. I cut coupons, stock up on sales, but I really can't tell you where all the money goes. Any and all help would be great.  I need to get the food budget under control.  All six kids eat like horses, but you'd never be able to tell since they are all growing like weeds.  My budget runs from the 15th to the 15th every month.  I make a huge thing of spagetti sauce each month and have recently gone to making bi-weekly food menus and freezing our dinners.  Anything to stay out of the stores.  I was going to the store every single week 2-3 times and have cut that done to 1 a week, plus a b.j.s run every two weeks, but i haven't seen much of a savings.  B.j's runs anywhere from 200 - $300 a visit sometimes even higher. The Northeast tends to be a bit more expensive.  I make all our meals, no processed foods or sodas or junk.  I bake once or twice a week no store bought cookies.  I really could use some help.  Thanks

I spend $160 a month on groceries for a 4 week month or $190 for a 5 week month, it just depends on when my disability check comes.  I am feeding one.  My pet food comes from a separate budget.  I should mention that I also do Angel Food Ministries.

Hi DMC 2008

DMC do you cross stitch,?  I use DMC threads.

 I am off the subject, sorry.  I am new to this site, but I set a budget of $600 for the month of June.   I started a price book and let me tell you it is work, but worth it to find out if a sale is really a sale.  I love to grocery shop.  Sort of a shop-a-holic.  I feed 3 adults, DH, DD and DGD (17). plus myself,, guess you could say I feed 4 adults.  I did really good this month.  I have about $29.00 left for a little over a week.  The freezers are full, as are the pantry's..  Yes, plurals for both.  I have a upright freezer, a bottom roll-out freezer in the second refrigerator in the garage and the freezer section in my kitchen side by side.  I have a in-house closet type pantry, which I keep box and bagged items.  I have two double door cabinets with canned goods.  On top of that I keep all my staples in glass containers, on top of these two cabinets, as they are in the garage and I want to keep mice and what ever, out of them. 

Make a price book up of the items you buy most.  Brand names or store brand, size of product, ounces, pounds...Cost per unit.  and store where you find the price...  It takes time and a little work but worth it.  Good articles about price books on this site.   I also make a 2-week menu plan and do my grocery shopping in my freezer and pantry first.  Then I stock up on sale items (meats, canned goods, etc).  Like I said I am new to this but it is working for me.  I spent well over $700 last month and it was an eye opener for me... Hope this helps.

Navywifeinms.

We have a family of 9, and are always looking for ways to cut back like everyone else.  Our kids are 8 and under, so appetites are still within a safe range so far!  Our monthly budget is $540- which includes food, paper products, and personal stuff.  Formula and Diapers for two of the little people are on a seperate budget.  We shop at Sam's for now, and average about $385-400 per month.  We try and fall under budget, because we will need the rest of the cash to purchase more milk, yogurt, and any fruit for the rest of the month.  We try and stock all the basics, and then meal plan after.  I found that I spent less, instead of meal planning before shopping.  I think some recipes that call for speacialty items are just not realistic right now.  We seem to eat more variety, believe it or not, by shopping this way.  We tend to eat lots of frozen veggies, rice, potatoes, meat pies, noodles creations, gravies, beans, chicken dishes, and such.  I find for our family that the older version of the Betty Crocker cookbook has been invaluable.  It is a wonderful source for homemade sauces, gravies, and pastries...that I would have spent on ready made.  We also supplement store bought bread with homemade.  I still find myself anaylizing what we eat, and how to eat it at less cost.  Anything saved helps overall.  I really appreciate this website for so many ideas..that's how we started buying our groceries monthly, which has kept us in line.  No extra impulse purchases and such.  Also, Sam's club has a service for no extra charge called "Click n pull"...we order online, they pull it, we show up and get one reciept, they bring your groceries out, they load it!!!  Not a bad deal!!

mrsggb2,

You have a lot of mouths to feed, so your food budget is definitely not going to be as small as some here, but I do have some ideas that may be helpful. I am Personal Chef with a specialty in nutrtion, and these are some things I talk to clients about:

-No more cold, boxed cereals. This is a huge expenditure, and pretty much all the cheaper ones are a) unhealthy and full of HFCS, and b) don't stick with people very long and c) poor nutrtional value for the high cost per pound. Most of the expensive ones are only marginally better. Go to oatmeal and whole-grain porridges. Buy in bulk, and make it in the crock pot. You can also freeze individual portions, and it can be eaten cold once cooked. This is a much, much better value for your money, far more nutritionally sound, and will keep the bellies full longer so they don't need as many snacks. You can vary it by adding different fruits, jams, nuts, grains, or making it thick and squishing it into patties to fry.

-Spaghetti. This is all carbs, and processes very fast. Adding meat is expensive. Can you make your own pasta, and do it with whole grain flour? We find that homemade pasta is cheaper, and it takes a good deal less to fill you up. If you can cut in whole grains, such as wheat or spelt flours, it also sticks with you much better. You can often buy these grains in bulk, and instead of making 100% whole wheat pasta, just cut in a 1/3 or so. We make it and dry it.

-Cut your meat. Try not eating whole cuts of meat for the family. Instead, do a lot of things like stir fry, casseroles, and mexican foods. Most of us eat far too much meat anyway, and this is a better use of it.

-Up your protiens. Use beans, legumes, and TVP instead of meats at least some of the time. They're leaner, better sources of protein for the price per pound. They're also more filling, and will again stick with you longer than carbs. Upping the overall protein content in your diet will help moderate the growing children's appetites, too, in a healthy way. Eating a lot simple carbs causes a cycle of full to ravenous due to insulin and other hormone release that isn't healthy. If you up the lean proteins, you'll find everyone in your household eating more moderately and still getting the appropriate calories. 

-Up your fibers. This works in conjunction with the proteins. Fibers are a large part of what keeps us feeling full, so the more whole grains and whole veggies you can use, the better. Fiber takes longer for your body to process, and aids in digestion. It also helps regulate insulin production, which will help curb cravings and quickly returning hunger. You may spend slightly more on ingredients, but you'll use less of them.

-Make your own yogurt. It's easy, and it's far cheaper than purchasing when you've got this many people eating it. You can make a gallon of it for the cost of a gallon of milk and a few tbs. of yogurt to get you started, some water for steralizing and temperature control, and your stove. After the first time, you won't even need the cost of the yogurt (you'll use your own yogurt to start your next culture). You can actually do organic this way cheaper than purchasing equivalent amounts of non-organic, if you are so inclined. You can also do this with sour cream, which is a large savings. 

-Whole Milk. Growing children can drink whole milk, and it will keep them full longer. Purchase separate milk for the adults if you prefer lower fat, but for children who are not overweight, this is a good option. It will keep them full longer, and it will also add much-needed calories to their diet. It does cost more sometimes, but per oz. vs. drinking more milk it's a frugal option.

 Hope you find some of these useful, and look forward to hearing how it goes!

- 

I agree about the cold cereal. When things are tight here, that's the firt to go...and pop...and juice, excep the homemade kind.

A large family could really benefit from raising some of their food. Even if you can't garden where you're at, try patio gardening in pots, and at least provide some fresh veggies during the summer.

16 gallons of milk a week? Wow. At $4 a gallon....that's $64 a week for milk? (That's what my goats are giving me right now.) I agree, make milk only at one meal, and water the rest of the day.

Approximately $400 per month.  (6 - kids are 11, 13, 15, 17).  When people visit us and go to a grocery store, they cannot believe how much higher the prices are around here (about 30% compared to neighboring states).  That said, we raise our own beef, chicken, pork, and hunt for game meats - venison, pheasant, water fowl and fish (ok - we fish for fish). 

The 400 does not include any type of pet/animal foods, but does include personal products.  This amount also  includes going out to eat for the month if the kids are willing to pitch in and help.  They help with menu planning, cooking and budgeting.  They have discovered that if they help cook meals (they love the crockpot), our food dollar goes farther, and whatever they have left can be used to go out to a restaurant to eat or for junkfood that we don't keep on hand.  Sometimes is it fast food, other times it is sit down.  Right now they are working towards having enough left to go to a steak house (will take about $150 or so).  Probably during the garden harvest they will reach that goal.  

When we are doing backpack camping (early spring and fall), our budget usually changes to $500 for the month so we can purchase some of individually wrapped, prepackaged foods.  That way each person can choose their own snacks, and carry them.

The $400 can vary based on the time of year.  We also have a garden, so when in season, we spend less, or spend on things like frozen pizza for winter nights when none of us feel like cooking or it is mom and dad's night out.  Breakfasts - normally oatmeal, whole grain bread, fruit and yogart except on Mondays.  Mondays are almost always cold cereal.  It is one luxury for mom that I am not willing to give up.  Mondays are usually extremely hectic for me and our kids love plain old cherios or wheat squares with fruit or honey. 

Largest portion of our food budget goes for fresh products and dairy products.  (No, I am not going to start milking a cow - I know exactly how much work that involves and really appreciate Dairy farmers.)  We go through 12+ gallons per week.  I shop at Aldi's a lot - milk is currently $2.69 in our area, however I do know that it is $4 per gallon in other grocery stores.  I can usually get by with grocery shopping twice a month - dh works in same town as Aldi's, so he can pick up milk after work on the off shopping week.  The kids do go through plenty of water each day.  We also keep powdered gatorade on hand for the hot days that we are outside working.   

An experiment we tried last year - we moved a tomato plant into the house for fresh tomatoes year round.  It grew slower in the winter, but still had fresh tomatoes in January.  We plan to try the same with an additional tomato plant and a pepper plant this year - not sure if it will work, but since I raise them anyway, plan to bring one in and see what happens. 

We don't purchase pop or packaged meals.  The older kids have each been given the opportunity to plan whatever they wanted for meals, then given the $200 for groceries and allowed to get whatever (within reason, they were allowed to cut anything but 10 gallons of milk).  It was pretty amazing how quickly they discovered that making food was the quickest way to stretch food dollars.  They also learned that treats every so often are much more appreciated than daily (healthier too).  The younger ones will get the same opportunity when they get to be 14.

Scraprageous, Hey, there, fellow backpacker!! I am training for some pretty serious trips right now, and it's great to hear other frugal folks share our interests!

There's actually a great way to do backpacking food so that you don't have to purchase the individually wrapped stuff. I never purchase any prepacked foods, and we end up eating much better than a lot of poeple who buy the "Mountain House" and similar products. The system came from a backpacking book that is one of the absolute best I've ever read, but unfortunately I also can't find it right now. Ergh. I'll keep looking and post it here. It's saved me a bundle, and I can even afford to feed Mr. 4000 Calories (other known as my DH) using it. And the meals & packaging ideas a awesome.

It also illustrates good ways to pack your bag, etc. I'd been packing for years when I read it, and it still gave me an immense amount of useful information.

If you find the name of the book - I would love it! 

Started backpacking when ds went to Philmont, got hooked and now everyone is.  By pre-packaged, guess that is a bit misleading - usually means the blueberry and energy bars and such that kids love, but we seldom buy.  We tried some pre-packed freeze dried ice-cream on this past trip - will never do that again - yuck.  Heard it was good and only oldest ds ate 1/2 - youngest took one bite and gave his away to a buddy on the trail with and rest came back unopened. 

I have a dehydrator we use for a lot of foods.  A friend just did some dehydrated spagetti sauce - it was really good - don't know why I never thought to try before.  We do the 4000-6000 calorie thing - depends on the path - youngest is only 11, so we don't do the super heavy duty with him yet - gotta watch those pack sizes :)

It is so awesome that your family packs--what a wonderful way to spend time together and keep everyone active! DH and I were into it independantly. I got into it years ago in college in the UP of MI, he's still not sure how he would up with a pack and boots :-)

DH does 4-6K calories on trips (his daily minimum at home is 3,500-4K), but I fortunately get to do less. 2500-3000 is good for me, which makes packign easier. This is a total thread jack, but freeze dried ice cream is just ICK!!!!  I can't blame you all for shunning it :-) I've had it exactly once. Another packer brought it on a trip as a treat for everyone, which was very cool, especially as I never buy stuff like that. Ugh. The worst part was I couldn't show how blechy it was! My favorite, admittedly a bit decadent, trail meal is pizza. We do dehydrated everything for it, and mix the dough w/water on the trail. Logically, I know it's not as good as the stuff we do at home; but, by day 5, it tastes better to us than anything we've ever made here. My favorite easy meal is white bean curry soup. What's your favorite meal?

The book I am talking about also talks about how to dehydrate meats, which was new for me. I knew the cooked-bacon is good for 3 days thing, but dehydrated burger? Yup! Also give some great recipes for one-liners, thermos meals, etc. Most useful book ever, esp. when paired with my wild foods and mushroom guides! I don't try to survive on foraged foods, but it's a fun thing to do and add to dinner when you're packing. 

And now, I am going to be obsessed with finding it. I haven't seen it since we moved, which worries me. I hope I didn't loan it out, but a few friends have read the book since I recommended it, too. It may be out of print, but I think one of them picked it up cheap and used on Amazon. I'll get more info ASAP.

Time to go tear the house apart.