August Grocery Goals

I need to come clean. I went a little crazy these last couple of days on our food budget. I knew that I was over budget already and I also knew that August was fast approaching and that I would want to start the month off on a good start, so I made some extra purchases that, had I been on budget to begin with in July, I wouldn't have made.

So, my actual total on my grocery budget for the month of July was: $1095.95

I now have decided to change tactics. If my goal is to get down to $522 (or as close to it as humanly possible without sacrificing my food values) then instead of cutting our food budget in the first month I need to ease down to that amount.

 I spent approximately $1700 for the month of June on groceries and was able to cut it down to approximately $1100 in the month of July. I think it would be fair to try and cut that amount down to $ 837. I know that $837 is an odd amount, but my thought process is this: Every day in June we spent around $56.67 on food. In July we spent $35.48 a day on food. So, for August, I would like to try and shoot for around $27 a day. Why $27? I don't really know except that it was less than last month's number, but not too much less that I started panicking that there was no way I would be able to feed my family all month on that amount. My goal is to get down to around $16 a day. I cut a lot of stuff out of our budget in the month of July and it will be harder each month from here on out to get our budget in line with where it needs to be, so each month (assuming I succeed from here on out) I will drop the daily dollar amount down less and less.

Here are some things that I am keeping an eye/doing for the month of August:

1.) As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am doing my bulk shopping every other week now and will go approximately every two or three days to purchase fresh fruits and veggies for those said days.

2.) Meat and dairy are very expensive when you are trying to buy them all organically/grass fed & finished. I am going to try and see what kind of vegan dinners I can come up with. Not because I am trying to turn my family into a bunch of vegans, but because beans & rice with a salad for dinner is a lot cheaper to buy organically than making a cheese lasagna or having tacos with all organic ingredients. So, my line of thinking is that if I can find delicious meals that do not contain any animal products at least for 2 meals a week I will be slimming my budget.

3.) The place where I buy my meat, Natural Grocers, seems to have a system where they will take chicken that is almost at its sell by date, freeze it, and then sell it at a discount. I just noticed this system as I was shopping last week and plan on taking advantage of this. As long as I do not leave my chicken to thaw for too many days in the refrigerator thus making it go bad, as I have been known to do more than once, I will be able to have the chicken I want at a 10% discount. Now, that may not seem like a lot, but when you are buying packages of chicken at 7.99/9.99 lb that 10% adds up.

4.) To keep the kids interest I am advertising to them what my spending goal is for the present two week period. Any money that we have left over will be put into a mason jar that is sitting above my kitchen sink to be split equally between a  family fun event of the kids choice & a charity of their choice. I think that this incentive will help those few remaining objections disappear that I still hear from time to time regarding this "project" of mine.

5.) When planning my menu I am keeping certain days open for certain foods. For example, every Wednesday we will have pizza (homemade). Every Monday & Thursday we are going to be cooking some sort of pasta (but I will be changing it up every week, so that we are not eating the same things). Tuesdays are going to be crock-pot dinner day. Saturdays are grilling day (again we will be grilling  different foods). Friday is new recipe day where the kids and I will be making something we have never made before just to add some variety to our menu. With football right around the corner (we are a football loving family - at least  me, Bob, and Josh are) we are making chili (both vegetarian and meat) in the crock pot. I am hoping that by doing things this way I can give the kids a little more consistency without having their menu be boring while also making life a little bit easier for me knowing that certain days are for certain foods.

6.) I am going to allot $50 of my budget a month towards Sam's Club necessities such as toilet paper and paper towels. (I haven't decided yet if I am going to include this amount in my food budget or if I am going to keep it separate and then work over the next few month to incorporate that amount into my food budget).


Now for the good stuff: my numbers for today's grocer shopping menu.

I went grocery shopping today after spending a considerable amount of time on a menu that had both some tried and true favorite recipes, but also some new things that I think I can get the kids to try. (Think curried chicken  or ratatouille & rice.)

I followed all of my food commandments.


With $378 to spend and still stay within my budget I wanted to spend around $300 leaving $78 for produce over the next two weeks.

I ended up spending: $201.15 at Natural Grocers and $99.94 at Walmart for a total of: $301.09. I am okay with that amount especially because 75% of what I spent at Natural Grocers was on meat and dairy. (Which is why I realize that I have to cut out both of these items drastically in our diets if I want to be able to stay within my future months' food budgets.)

We will see how this month goes. Any progress is good progress, right?