Friday, June 10, 2011

Grocery Budget Overhaul

It's pretty amazing how a quick trip to the store can add up. I had the hope of doing a $50/week grocery budget for our family of 5. I realized yesterday that I was a bit unreal with that hope. For several reasons.

The first being that we're a family of 5. Feeding 5 people on less than $10 a day is possible, but not really practical unless there are ways to compensate for the little amount spent (good coupon deals, using a garden, etc). Also, possible doesn't mean that it is enjoyable. I could eat nothing but beans and rice and save a lot of money, but I'd also be very sick of beans and rice (and I think my family would resist).

Another reason this was impractical for us is the lack of coupon options. My grocery store does double 50 cents and lower and do I get many items for free, but when you buy staples more than box mixes, it can add up because there are fewer coupons for those products. I also find it hard to get to the grocery store often. I'm sure if I were able to do the drug store game that I would have more at my disposal.

It is summer. My kids are home and with all the playing, running, and swimming, are more hungry. I'm also nursing my youngest, and though that saves the expense of formula- it ups my food budget because I'm always hungry.

So my budget became $100/week. That is without using our garden (since it just got put in the ground this week), so I hope that it'll go down. It is also with a lot of fresh produce and our meat intake has cut back a lot. I don't think it is horrible for a family of 5 to eat 3 meals a day at home + snacks :)

What is your grocery budget? Do you have trouble lowering it?

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