My husband Rick and I are complete foodies. As terrible as it may sound, one of the hardest things about debt-busting is dealing with our grocery budget. I love to cook and going to restaurants used to be our past-time. There are people like my dad, who can eat the same sub sandwich & spagetti nearly every day... but I have never been like that!
We are in week 3 of a "real" grocery budget, and every day it seems like I am tweaking it. I actually don't know certain things like, how often do we go through a carton of milk? How many diapers does our youngest use in a month? I quickly started at a $150/week budget, but I realized it should be lower for a family of 4. But I'm not gonna lie...it's hard to menu plan and not order pizza after a busy day at work!
I'm sure I will post many entries on this subject. I'm pretty proud of myself tonight. After a tiring day at work, I was not at all in the mood to cook, but I got in the kitchen and made somewhat boring, but cheap, grilled cheese sandwiches. Rick made homemade french fries (baked, not fried) that were really tasty. Yes, it took some time, but it was so much healthier and cheaper than fast food fries. Yay for us! If you're wondering why I named this entry "potato butts", it's because that's what Rick calls the last slice of the potato, with the most skin on it. That slice makes the perfect kind of fry, yum.
I will post next week's grocery budget & list, after everything is bought and I can account for the cost. It will be a little lower since Rick will be out of town, but I'd still love to get any input on this subject!
Potato Butts
January 8th, 2010 at 02:16 am
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January 8th, 2010 at 09:19 pm 1262985580
Can't advise you on the amount you're spending on groceries, because we allot $700 per month for three adults and a cat. (We also put household products and toiletries on that budget, but the majority is spent on food.) We love varied and unusual foods, so it's definitely one of our least frugal areas of life!
January 8th, 2010 at 09:49 pm 1262987359
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January 9th, 2010 at 08:36 pm 1263069364
We personally swear by the Taste of Home magazines. There is free recipes galore online, but a little overwhelming. They tend to focus on frugal and/or fast/easy meals. I just like that we have new recipes to try every month. But they have free recipes online, too. http://www.tasteofhome.com/Simple---Delicious-Magazine
As far as caving in and getting a pizza? We do that fairly often, BUT consider "take and bake" instead. Our grocery chain has the most awesome FRESH pizzas on sale every Friday for $5. Just a tip, there. (We also know where/when the kids eat free, etc., for those crazy days when we just need a night off).
January 10th, 2010 at 08:23 am 1263111803
Good luck!
January 10th, 2010 at 07:20 pm 1263151237
Jerry
January 10th, 2010 at 09:57 pm 1263160679