Saving Money While Eating “Real Food”
One of my big year end ‘to do’s’ is to look over and refab my budget. So over my Christmas break, I locked myself in the office with my computer and checkbook! I enter my totals into an excel spreadsheet each month, but at the end of the year I average them all out and figure out what needs to be changed, budgetwise.
And this year I found my food budget needs some work!
While I was able to keep my food costs on budget most months, some months I went over. And I never had a month under. And with those overages, it averaged out to be almost $25.00 more per month! Plus I hadn’t been able to save for our yearly grassfed beef purchase!
Oops!
So I decided that this year I need to buckle down and keep track of how much I spend a bit better! Previously (the year before last) I had 3 envelopes for my grocery money. One for the farm, one for the health food store/farmers market, and one for the grocery store. This system obviously worked as I spent much less that year and had money set aside for larger, bulk purchases! So I’ll definitely be going back to that system starting next month!
The thinking behind using cash in envelopes like this is archaic, yet simple. You see, I’ve always used the cash system in our budget. For me this is the easiest way to save money! You can’t spend more money than you have. (well, I guess you can as I actually did! Some bulk purchases are just easier to pay with a debit card. *sheepish grin*) But when you start purchasing food from many different suppliers, it gets harder and harder to keep track of where every penny is going. I buy milk, eggs, and some produce from a local farm, produce from the farmers markets (in the summer!) odds and ends from our health food store (whatever I can’t get at the farm and health food store) bulk food purchases from another store, and the leftovers at the supermarket.
*whew*
No wonder I lost track!
My budget for food is $300.00 for our family of four. Two adults (one still nursing a baby) a three year old, and a nine month old. The minimum I spend at the farm each month comes to about $60.00 per month, so this amount goes into one envelope and I only take money out of here for what I buy at the farm. This way I know I’ll always have enough, especially since it’s my top priority “real food”.
I’ve put another $50.oo aside, split into 2 envelopes. Half for my bi monthly bulk food purchase, and half for our yearly beef purchase.
For now, the remainder I’ll be spending between the health food store and local supermarket. Come summer I’ll figure out specifically how much I’m allowing myself to spend at the farmers markets. Because I always tend to spend to much there! I kind of go into a daze looking at all the fresh produce and homemade goodies!
Another thing I did this year was sit down and prioritized my food purchases. It’s something Ann Sergeant mentioned in her session on food and budget at the Wise Traditions Conference. At the time I thought “why I do that of course!”, but the problem was I kept the list in my head.
Hmmm, let’s put it on paper shall we?
So I sat down and really made a list of what my priorities are.
Must Haves (the real food I will not give up!)
- Grassfed, organic, raw milk
- Free range eggs
- Local honey and maple syrup
- Grassfed beef
- Organic butter
After that, there are plenty of things I’d like to fit into our budget (and hopefully will most months) but I think we’ll have to take some short cuts or go without if the money isn’t there.
I’ve also fallen off the menu planning wagon a bit and have been rather disorganized all around. This needs to change now! I tend to spend much more when I don’t write a weekly menu plan sine we eat out more often and/or throw away more food since it’s gone bad.
So, here’s my few simple tips to saving money on groceries:
- Figure out your budget, pay cash, and stick with it! (unless you’d be starving of course)
- Prioritize your purchases
- Plan your weekly menus
Next I’ll get into how to actually save money on food!
What do you think? Anything else I should be doing?
And what are your dietary must haves?
This post is linked to: Frugal Fridays and Fight Back Fridays
Eat Real Food: How to afford it
It seems that the pitfall for eating healthy for most people, is the thought that it costs more. But that’s not entirely true! For us it’s actually been cheaper in the long run. Now that we’re switched over anyway.
See. it might cost more up front to eat healthier if you do it all at once. There’s flours to buy and better sugars to purchase. More expensive (healthier) oils to find and spices to discover. So how do you do it?
Save where you can
Stop buying so many snacks! The cost of those chips/crackers/ice cream really add up! There is no reason to buy cookies and such to begin with. You don’t eat them because you’re hungry, you eat them because they taste good!
Eat simple meals, and only buy what’s on sale. After a month take that extra money and start stocking up on healthy staples. You’re pantry won’t be revamped overnight, but you’ll be headed in the right direction. And when you have a few extra dollars, start buying what can save you the most in the long run; flours (make more from scratch) oatmeal (no more cereal) eggs (great for any meal and for added protein which will keep you full longer)
Save somewhere else
Get your haircut every 8 weeks? Maybe delay it to every 10 weeks (at 30$ a cut you’ll save $40 a year, space it out to 12 and you’ll save $65!) How about getting your nails done or buying coffee? Do you really have to do those things? Try staying home on the weekends and eating in instead of at restaurants. Each small area you can cut back in, will add to your “whole foods grocery fund”! Just find those little things you do each week/month and cut them out.
Sell something!
Use e-bay and craigslist to get rid of items you no longer use. Last spring I sold our large aquarium, a dehumidifier, and a couple of window AC units that we no longer need with the new house. I was able to set aside that money to purchase strawberries and blueberries that I froze and made jam with as well as a quarter of a grass fed cow. We even had enough left over to cover the cost of processing a deer Todd got during hunting season! having that extra money was pivotal in my being able to switch to a whole foods diet faster than if i had to save a few dollars each month. If you’re creative, you can find money anywhere!
Use what uncle sam gives you
Every year most Americans get back money in the form of a tax refund. Sure you could go buy something fun with it, but why not use a portion to stock your pantry? This year I spent about $300 buying good whole foods. I filled my utility room with bulk bags of flour, oatmeal, nuts, seeds, pasta, oils, tons of spices, dried fruit, sugars, and misc baking items. Most of what I bought will last at least 6 months and many items I won’t run out of for a year! Not only has this saved me time that I normally spend in the grocery store, we always have something to eat in the house. I figure this could save me more than $50 per month and that money will then be put aside for the next time I buy in bulk.
(not pictured are 25 pound bags of whole wheat flour and whole wheat pastry flour)This post is linked to:
Kitchen Tip Tuesday
Real Food Wednesday
Fight Back Friday
Healthy Grocery Savings
It’s been a long, long time since I’ve posted any good deals from the grocery store. Most of that is due to the fact that it’s hard to find coupons and deals on whole foods or organic foods. See, most of the stuff I’ve bought before was for my husband, but I think he’s finally on the healthy eating train with us! (And I have to quickly say that even though I don’t get many “deals” on foods anymore, our grocery budget hasn’t budged. We’ve been able to spend only as much as we spent before!)
For some reason though, Meijer had a bunch of “good” foods half off the other week, so I bought as much as what was left in our budget for the month! I ended up getting:
- Organic soy sauce 50% off
- Sunflower Oil 50% off (which I use to make my face wash not eat)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil 50% off
- Molasses 50% off
- Muir Glen organic salsa 50% off plus I had a dollar off coupon so it was only 50 cents!
- And I also got some organic Fruitaboo smooshed fruit roll ups. They were marked down 50%, but when I checked out they rang up for only 80 cents, so it was 75% off! (I love having these in the diaper bag for snack when we’re out!)
- Plus I also got 3 packages of Appletree Farms hotdogs at 40% off. They’re organic, nitrate free, and made with grassfed beef. Best of all they actually taste good. (so I’ve heard – I can’t stand hotdogs, but my hubby and son love these!)
All in all, these deals made for a great trip for me!
