I correspond with a young woman who is determined to lighten her budget. We often talk about groceries, coupons and prices. I thought if she has many questions about this subject, other young women do too. Following is the meal plan for today in our home. We feed three adults on this plan. We only eat two meals a day and 2 snacks. All of the costs are rounded up.
Breakfast:FRENCH TOAST (milk, 2 eggs, cinnamon, syrup, butter) cost $2.80 COFFEE, 6 cups $1.50 per lb. / on sale and coupon Let's say 30 cents for the pot, I'm not certain what the yield is per lb. Approximate cost: $3.10
Lunch/Dinner: ITALIAN SAUSAGE cost 1.69 on sale, 3 POTATOES cost 5.00/20 lbs, (approximately 15 cents)BROCCOLI free Approximate cost: 1.89
CAKE with frosting $1.50, 3 6 oz glasses of MILK, 3 3 oz glasses of CRANBERRY JUICE, CRACKERS, 2 1/2 oz of CHEESE, 2 stalks of CELERY for snacks. The milk cost 1.68 for a gallon. The cranberry juice was 99 cents for the bottle and the cheese was 3.00 for 2 8 oz blocks. The crackers were 1.18 for a pound box and the celery was BOGO @ 1.49. (75 cents each)
Total cost of 2 full meals and cake is 9.54. A liberal estimated cost of the snacks for today is 2.00.
Total estimated cost is 11.54. That's 3.85 per person. This adds up to 80.78 per week. I spend 60.00 per week on food for three weeks and buy only milk, bread and eggs the fourth week. This includes items we stock up on such as canned veggies.
If I don't spend 60.00 I save the extra for the future. This way I have the money to stock up on items I use often.
The costs for food were severely reduced with the combined use of planning, coupons, and sales.
I have no negative feelings or thoughts about our grocery budget. It's a fun challenge to excel in an area that's important to me.
Perhaps this is a challenge that you would want to accept for the new year. Some people keep records on excel or a similar program. I have decided to bring this one step further and record the savings to have concrete evidence of my efforts.
Happy budgeting.
If you have small children, a great way to get coupons is to sign up with certain companies. They will mail you coupons as well as email them. Proctor & Gamble is a good example.
ReplyDeleteThanks CD.
ReplyDeleteI do this to my daughter all the time. She always want to go out for dinner. I tell her how much dinner at home costs vs how much it would cost to go out. It took a couple of weeks, but she started getting the picture!!! She hates to go shopping with me though, LOL, but she will go through the line with her fistful of coupons for me....if she HAS to!!
ReplyDeleteLOL OOTY: We gotta train those youngins'!
ReplyDelete