Home Sweet Simple Home

A bit of menu Q and A

Please join me for a bit of Q & A. I get many [wonderful] comments on my menus and how I figure out the costs and such. I also get many questions on my menus. Here are a couple:
Amy,
How much money do you budget for all food, drinks, snacks per month? Do you have a different budget in the summer (garden produce) vs. the rest of the year?
When you save your leftovers, do you freeze them to save for use on your planned leftover meal times? 
I put $40 a week into an envelope for groceries for 3 weeks of the month and $60 on the fourth week [$180]. I set aside $5-10 a week to misc. needs (things like toilet paper, deoderant, wipes and diapers etc.) in another envelope. I set aside $5-10 a week for dining-out [this also includes money for date nights!]. I don't budget differently for the summer (w/ our garden produce and such- we spend less) because the extra money in the envelope goes towards bulk purchases- like when I can get chicken breast on sale (I wait for the buy one get one free sales) or hamburger or treat the kiddos to store bought donuts or such.
I keep a colored slip of paper in the envelope where I write down when I put money in the envelope (deposit) and when I take out. [This helps me to track our spending.] At the end of the month, I take the money left in the envelope (usually between $5-10) and put it in another envelope for special purchases-- such as holidays, company coming for dinner and such. At Christmas time, when I will be doing extra baking and cooking and such, I set aside money specifically for this purpose, usually around $75 and I often come in under-spending.
The money in my grocery envelope covers all groceries- including snacks and beverages. We drink milk, juice and water here. We get soda pop every once in awhile (I get crazy cravings for Wild Cherry Pepsi) which is usually once a month. We drink apple juice and lemonade. Unless a snack is cookies (which you must have milk with) we drink water between meals. Snacks here are fruit, cheese crackers, cookies, chunk cheese and Mr. Conductor's favorite- fruit snacks (those little gummy things). I calculate that I spend under $10 a week on snacks and beverages.
As for leftovers- if something is going to be in the fridge for more than a few days we freeze it. Mr. Steady takes leftovers to work to reheat for lunch (and is often the envy of this co-workers who buy from the break truck- yuck!). As you can see from my menu, Saturday is leftovers day here. I have never had a problem with anything spoiling in the fridge if left for a few days. I really hate to waste food and if I find we have a ton of leftovers I will do one of 2 things- either freeze some of them or nix a planned meal during the week in order to eat up more leftovers (and I also share leftovers with my extended family too!).
To comment further- I keep a price book for items I buy frequently and from the stores I shop (I currently shop at 3 grocery stores but the bulk of my shopping is Aldi's- I shop sales at the other 2). The price book helps me, not only to have a firm figure as to what my grocery bill will be, but also helps me to price meals that I make. I also take post-it notes and note down the prices for ingredients along with the final cost and stick it to my recipe cards. My Weekly Menu planner is another place for keeping cost tallies- I write down the costs of a meal (with side dishes) right on my planner. This is a great reference tool. I have made my own menu plan sheets on the computer but you can download many different ones online for free (or make your very own).

Untitled Comment

10:05 PM, 2007-Jul-9 .. Posted by Kitty

Wow, you have certainly got it together there. I just don't know how you manage to spend so little on groceries. I have finally, after so many years, gotten my weekly spending down to around $100. For me that is a big thing. My dh loves and wants meat for almost every meal, even breakfast. I think that is why I cant get my bill down lower, with the price of meat alone I spend about $50. We are a family of 5, 6 with my dd's fiance eating here a whole lot. Do you think $100 per week is too much to feed 6 people for the week, plus send two men to work with leftovers for lunch each day?
I have checked into the grocery game, but they only have Walgreens in my area that I could work with, and I really never ever go there, so I opted out of that. I do use coupons but never with a big amount of savings. I do have a menu plan that I stick to religously, lol. I make my menu for the entire month and I love that it helps out so much. So I feel that I am on the right track but just can't get over the hill with the amount of money I spend each week.
I do love your menu plans with the way you break the cost of it down that way. Great job.
Well I've rambled long enough I guess.
Kitty

Untitled Comment

8:52 AM, 2007-Jul-10 .. Posted by Anonymous

Thanks for the info! It always helps me to hear how other people do it! We are working on bringing our spending down as well. I have to say the menu plan helps tremendously! We are also downsizing in other areas to save money. I know God is leading us in paying off our debt and making it possible! Thank you for sharing how you do it!

Poshmama
(Shayna)
www.livinginhismercy.blogspot.com

To Kitty

10:32 AM, 2007-Jul-10 .. Posted by YPAmy5

Kitty- Thanks so much for writing!
$100 a week for a growing family of 5 is spot on. My children are all under age 10 (and I’m only feeding one grown man). When Mr. Conductor hits puberty I figure we’ll be spending about that much a week!
I don’t do the Grocery Game and I actually don’t clip coupons either- it’s a time waster for me and I’m only brand loyal on a few things. I find shopping at the little discount groceries like Aldi’s and Save-A-Lot is way cheaper than trying to clip coupons. We also don’t get free coupon flyers here where we live- you have to get the Sunday paper in order to get all the coupons and that would cost $$- as I read the paper online and save $$. So cutting coupons just doesn’t make sense (and cents) for me! LOL Now, my MIL does give me coupons every once in awhile for diapers and wipes and such and I sometimes use those.
Having meat at every meal is thankfully not a necessity here (my Dad liked it that way growing up though!). One of my biggest savers right now is using ground turkey instead of hamburger. I can get ground turkey for 79 cents a pound as compared to $2 a pound for hamburger- that’s a big savings for me.
For meat- I shop the discounts at Meijer’s meat counter (I can get great deals there!) and buy boneless skinless chicken breast frozen and in bulk packages only when it’s on sale for BOGO. It is very, very rare for me to pay full price for meat.
You may find places to cut costs if you can take the time to price everything as I have. That way you know the prices of certain meals and you won’t plan too many really expensive meals in one week.
Thanks again for the comments. I love discussing how to save money!
Amy W