- Milk: Around here the price of milk is set by the government and it is usually about $3.25-3.50/gallon. If we go to the Amish and get it raw, we pay $3/gallon. Andrew is the only one who drinks milk in the family so we usually only go through 1 gallon every two weeks.
- Eggs: If you buy regular, large Grade A eggs you are going to pay about 1.50/doz. We buy local free range eggs from a small grocery store for $2.50/doz.
- Bread: We get ours from Costco and it is about $2 a loaf.
- Bananas: .59/lb.
- 80/20 Ground Beef: Today was on sale for 1.99/lb. I am looking into buying a quarter of grass fed beef this year as soon as I get a chest freezer. A side should last us a year. We only go through about 5 lbs. of beef a month, if that.
- Chicken breasts: Usually on sale for 1.79/lb in bulk.
- Butter: We buy ours from Costco for $1.79/lb. It would be lovely if we could find a local source for butter, but I haven't seen anything yet.
- $38.43 was spent on produce: 2.5 lbs bananas, green onions, 2.6 lbs. sweet potatoes, 5 lbs. Gala apples, 1 spaghetti squash, 2 heads of organic lettuce, 2 bags of organic carrots, celery, cantaloupe, 3 lbs. broccoli, 6 kiwi (Ravenna wanted them and how could I say no to a child asking for fruit?) and 3 avocados.
- $20.84 was spent on meat: 6 lbs. Turkey breast, 4.5 lbs. ground beef (we will actually only use 1 lb. of ground beef, but I was stocking up).
- $5.58 was spent on dairy: Kefir and soy milk
- $8.69 was spent on grains/legumes: 1.5 lbs of organic jasmine rice, .5 lb. peanuts, pumpernickel bread
- $7.49 for cereals: Organic cereal for Ravenna, and generic big bag coco crispies for Andrew
- $19.30 for canned/jars: jalapenos, green chiles, mayo, sesame oil, salsa, 4 cans tomato sauce, imitation maple syrup (for Andrew), agave nectar, baking powder
- $25.28 for Misc.: chocolate and organic fruit snacks for my secret sister, cheesecloth, muffin cups, wipes, packing tape, baking powder and two boxes of kleenex with lotion (the best!).
Update: Andrew had to bring food for two days straight for potlucks so guess what? 4 Avocados, a bag of tortilla chips and two sweet potatoes (because they looked lovely): $9
So we are left with $65.39 for the rest of the month, plus $20 for Costco. I think we can make it, but I will probably be tweaking next month. It is a good thing we have our food storage!
5 comments:
ok I'm really curious!!! does your husband eat all meals at home? or packed from home? b/c I have NO idea how you get by with such little amount of meat for a month! (or was it two weeks? whatever...) what do you all eat for a typical day/week?
anyhow your breakdown was fin to read. should do that some time!
I didn't have to buy much meat because I stock up whenever there is a sale. The last time I bought chicken breasts was in November and I bought around 10 lbs. This month was time for ground beef, but, like I said we don't eat that much beef.
We do eat a lot of legumes, eggs, nuts and cheese so we get alternative protein so meat isn't a huge thing in our diet. Andrew always makes his lunch unless he wants to go out, then he uses his allowance. Oh yeah, and quarterly he gets $20 to buy lunch at school.
I think my next post will be my dinner menu so you can see what we eat.
Dang, your food is cheap.
LOL!!
I know, I live in a very expensive area. It's wonderful that you're able to get so many organic/free-range things there though. I have to pay $6 for an 18pk of fresh farm eggs, and $3 is the sale price for a gallon of regular store milk. I have no idea what raw costs, but in Utah it was $4/gallon, so I imagine it's probably around $6 here as well. Costco butter is $2.50/lb
*whew*
OK, so, I think $200/mo is probably quite possible given that you are a family of 3 and your child is still small. Shop sales, get a lot of something when it's on sale. I always try to buy bigger cuts of meat, because I cook up a roast one day and we eat it as a roast, then during the following week I use the leftovers sliced or chopped in multiple other meals. Since meat is one of the most expensive food items for us, doing it that way helps. It also helps us consume less meat per meal, while still feeling like we've had a 'hearty meaty meal' almost every day.
Here's a question--will you be getting a tax refund? Perhaps rather than budgeting certain things into the monthly budget, plan to pay for them fully from the return. (Like the CSA, or some food storage stuff?) Food storage type things are usually cheaper in bulk, if you can come up with several hundred $$ all at once you can order from somebody like Azure Standard and get more bang for your buck than if you just spend a little each month...then each month you should be restockign things as you use them, but you wouldn't need a designated 'storage budget' if that makes sense.
By the way, you mentioned being gluten-free, or at least somewhat? we're not GF, so I'm not very familiar with what is involved besides wheat...but if you'll share what GF includes, I will get onto my food blog and tag for GF too. :)
Yeah, the tax refund will pay for the CSA and other big one-time items. I don't factor those into the monthly budget at all. We pay for everything with credit cards so that our money earns more interest while it sits in our ING account. Plus we get rewards with our card.
As far as the term "food storage" goes that is code for "Costco." That money is only for bulking up our 3 month supply, not our long term storage. Usually the only things I buy at Costco are things that I can't get in bulk anywhere else. For example, the organic Chicken broth I use, organic jam, peanut butter, TP, toothbrushes, etc. I don't buy a ton at Costco because there is a lot of highly processed stuff there, but certain items are amazing!
GF means anything without wheat, barley and rye. Also, some people cannot have oats, but we generally don't avoid those. If it is processed you have to assume there is gluten in it unless it says otherwise, but you probably don't have that problem. :)
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