The other day, Mr. Curly and I read an article written by a lady who challenged herself to only spending $100/week on groceries for her family of four (husband, herself, 4 yr old and 2 yr old). They usually spent $250/week, so this was quite a cut back.
I believe after 2 weeks they quit because they couldn't stand eating rice and beans anymore.
I'm sorry, but I laughed. Mr. Curly and I had a food budget of $250/month up until Curly Boy came along and needed AR formula. And we didn't live off rice and beans (though we broke that budget more and more as things went along, I will admit).
But anyway, all this frugalness that is taking over the world, and this lady's lament that you just can't live on $100 a week with 2 picky children has inspired me to try it myself.
My challenge to myself: Spend only $50/week on groceries for a family of four (husband, myself, 2 yr old and 1 yr old). This will include special fun stuff (pizzas, dessert mixes, etc), but will not include only rice and beans. It will have to be done mostly without coupons and great deals due to the limited shopping in our rural area (though the HyVee circular will become much more popular, I'm sure).
The challenge begins Sunday, Sept. 5. Due to the stockpile of groceries we have (like most people, non-perishables tend to multiply in our cabinets), I think the first week will be easy, even with the Annual Family Picnic at the Lake on Monday that we will be having. I plan to blog at least once a week, maybe more, on our progress.
My aim is to teach us how to really use the food in our cabinets so that we eat a variety of healthy meals cheaply.
And feel free to laugh if in a couple of weeks I'm lamenting yet another pasta meal.
3 comments:
We live off of $400 a month at the grocery store by buying a gift card after every paycheck then we buy a $120 gift card at Target for diapers and other things for Max. It's really helped keep us on the budget :D
Thanks again for an awesome post. You guys are such great friends and it's fun to see that we think so much alike :D
That's a fantastic idea! I just might have to try that, though I'm not sure if I'll be shopping more at Hyvee or Walmart for groceries.
excited to see the results--we're doing something similar this month.
I know people who do $40 a week for a family of 5...and that includes all paper and personal care products---I envy their success :)
You should post a menu plan along with how you did each week with your grocery budget--I think that's what we're going to try and do as we eat from our stockpile and freezer cooking.
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