Mission: Feed my family for $40/week

Recently I read an article about a lady who spent only $40/week at the grocery store.  She started this habit out of necessity while living on food stamps but continued it because it helped not only her budget, but her health too.  I have long wondered how I spend such ridiculous amounts of money at the grocery store.  Every time I look at our budget it makes me sick to think how much we are spending on food!  I know its necessary to eat, but surely we could save more.  I have tried many times to cut down our grocery bill but usually by the middle of the month I am tired of shopping so consciously and I begin to slip.  I run in for one ingredient and end up grabbing six extra things.  Or I just buy things impulsively because they look good.  I am also really bad about planning dinner based upon what we would like to eat instead of using what we have.


I am going to publicly put my goal out there so I will feel more pressured to stick to it.  I would love for some people to jump on the band wagon with me!  Here are the guidelines I am giving myself:

• $40/week on groceries
• Bring $40 cash 
• 1 trip/week
• Meal plan for the whole week

I am not a religious coupon user but I will definitely try to save where I can.  I also plan to continue buying my chicken from Thompson Poultry, which costs me about $30/month.  I am going to keep that cost separate from my $40/week budget since it really only ends up being about $7/week anyways.  The one rule that I think will force me to shop within my budget is bringing cash.  I would much rather choose wisely than have to put things back!!  Since this is the last week of March I did a practice run today and will officially start April 3rd (Sunday is always my day to meal plan and make a grocery list).  Today's trip was successful as far as cost ($40.38) but we will have to wait and see how the food lasts!  I will let you all know how we are doing each week!  Please let me know if you want to join in so we can share deals and budget-friendly recipes!


For more information on the article I originally read click here.


And stay tuned for more tips on how to shop and eat better!