I don't know that I could get our dinner budget smaller. I'm still cooking a month of meals at a time, and am spending around $300 per month on those. That's about $10/meal. Does anyone feed their family (remember I'm feeding 4) on less. I looked at the site Amanda recommend, www.5dollardinners.com, and am thinking I will begin working on my April menu and see if I can meet her challenge. Could I actually put together April's dinners for $150?! Does anyone use this site or want to share how much they spend per meal and how they do it cheaper than $10/meal?
My biggest budget problem is the food for the rest of the day. Since we began eating healthier at Christmas, we've been eating a lot (read: mass amounts) of fruit, yogurt and carrot sticks. That's what is killing my budget. Of course, we prefer the Yoplait Light yogurt, and haven't ventured into the store brands. Does anyone else frequent the yogurt aisle and know of a better deal? (I'm talking about lots of yogurt. We usually go through 6 or 7 cups of yogurt a day.)
What about fruit? Hannah mentioned that she gets fruit at Sam's and finds it cheaper. I'm headed there today to price it out and see for myself. We have been Farmer's Market frequenters in the past, but the fruits we consume (again, in mass amounts), oranges, apples, grapefruits, are not in season right now and I don't think we'll have much luck at the market. There is a new grocery store in south Austin that just opened and their prices look unbelievable on fruits. But, I'm thinking that the gas I have to use to get down there would defeat the cost saving purpose. Does anyone in the Dallas area ever venture to the Newflower Farmer's Market in Plano? If so, are the deals worth the trip? We're getting a Sprout's Farmer's Market nearby but in the meantime, I'm on the lookout for the cheapest place to buy fruit. Where do you buy fruit? I do get some frozen fruit that we use for protein shakes in the morning, but the rest needs to be fresh.
Did anyone else check out the other site Amanda recommended? I've been perusing www.dealseekingmom.com and it looks like a great find so far. I'm going to splurge and get some ink for my printer cartridge and start using it for coupons, but only on things I normally buy. And, the Walgreen's deals she points out look like good finds. Does anyone use any other sites like this?
My last question pertains to kids. What have you found is the best deal for your kids' breakfast and lunch? Abigail and Cooper have been chowing down a bagel and fruit for breakfast for quite some time? Does anyone have other ideas that are inexpensive but still healthy? What about lunch? I usually just pack a sandwich with a fruit and something else like rice cakes or crackers. Have you found other ideas that are easy on the budget?
I'm on board with freezing the bread and appreciate all the recommendations for that. I'm excited about the savings at the bread store and not having to figure something out at night when I realize we are out of bread and I've still got to pack lunches because I'll have a back-up supply in the freezer. And, I'm excited to see what Sam's has to offer me today. It sounds like a lot of you buy things in bulk, which I obviously need to start doing. I think we veered off into a family of four full-time eaters with none sustained by breastmilk and homemade baby food without me learning how to feed them on a budget, and now I've found that we are just spending way too much money on food. I know we can continue to eat healthier and still save money.
Again, bring on the ideas... PLEASE!!!
3 comments:
It's good to know my family isn't the only one trying to eat healthier but finding it more expensive. We too have a membership at Sam's Club. There we buy our meat in bulk then bring it home a vacuum seal it into smaller portions.
At Sam's I can buy 3 heads of romaine lettuce for about $3-$4. As soon as I get it home, I plug the sink and fill it with cold water and about a 1/3 cup of vinegar. Then I pull all the leaves apart and stick them in the sink to soak for about 30min or so. The vinegar helps to kill any bacteria on the leaves. This will clean the leaves. Once this is done I will wrap the leaves in either paper towels or sometimes I use the very thin "flour sack" towels and roll up all the leaves into a big roll to store in a large tupperware container. I know that this has really saved me from throwing away wilted or soggy leaves each time I make salad. We eat salad nightly. I keep celery in foil in the fridge because something about it help the celery stay crisp. Crazy but I promise it works!
Another thought I had was a food co-op? This is a great way to buy locally as well as get seasonal and fresh fruits and veggies. We have a couple of friends that are in East Tx that do this and love it. We haven't done this but we do hit Dallas Farmer's Market regularly during the summer months.
Sorry for the long comment!
amanda
We eat a lot of yogurt, too. I buy Dannon Light&Fit Vanilla in the 32oz container(Yoplait makes the same size.) We use it for making protein shakes, on cereal instead of milk and just for eating. You could easily add your frozen fruit to it as well. As for breakfast, I think giving them whole grain toast would be cheaper than bagels. Jacob likes his with peanut butter (we get Jif in twin packs.) We also keep hard boiled eggs on hand for breakfast on the fly. School lunches here are meat and cheese (or PB) sandwiches, a fruit, water and, on rare occasions, sugar-free Jello.
Hope this helps. I'll keep thinking on it.
Great idea about the Romaine lettuce above. I, too, by my lettuce at Sam's. Make sure that whatever fruit that you buy, is in season. Bananas are much cheaper at Sam's, frozen fruit is about half of the cost at the grocery, I know that they also sell yogurts in bulk. I know that my kids enjoy cheese with their lunches and I just cut squares or chunks from my large 5lb. chunks that I get at Sam's. My kids also love dried fruits for snacks and those are very cheap in bulk.
As far as cheaper dinners, check out Taste of Home online. They have a section in all of their magazines that is a budget friendly section with healthy, low cost meals.
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