I was just reading another blog from a lady who was explaining how to make do on a food budget of $150 a month. Her explanation on the hows and whys and wheres of saving money on food was very good. She even gave examples of her menu, which I thought sounded very yummy. But I kept reading the same thing over and over again - for me and my husband. I was a little frustrated with myself for going back over that phrase again and again until it dawned on me that she was only talking about $150 for two - yep 2 - people. And then I knew what the problem was. I was subconsciously jealous that she has so much money to spend on food. It is true and I won't deny it.
I decided that I would share what I do because my budget - or I should say Daniel's budget - is way less than that and there are 8 of us. So here's how it goes: Every three or four months (several years have been every five or six months) Daniel goes to a store we have here that is 45 miles away called Aldi, and spends between $200 - $350, although I do remember him spending $400 once. He buys canned corn, peas, green beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, chili beans, kidney beans, refried beans, pork and beans, cream of mushroom soup, macaroni and cheese, macaroni noodles, spaghetti noodles, ramen noodles, rice, oat meal, oil, sour cream, powdered milk, sugar, and flour. Occasionally, he may come home with bread, bananas, apples, a box of raisins, or a vegetable or two he thought was a good price or just wanted to treat us with. If cheese or chicken goes on sale then he might buy that. If you were to average it out, even at $400 every three months, which just doesn't happen, it would still only give us a food budget of $133 a month for a family of 8. It's actually more like $65-$100 a month. (Right now I'm sure you are either impressed or thinking that we are totally out of our minds crazy. You may be right on both accounts!)
We don't eat a lot of meat and what we do usually comes from what ever I can butcher in any given year - deer, turkey, chicken, cow, pig, or goat. I can a lot too. When my garden is great we eat great, and when it's not I do a lot of bartering to make up the difference. This year, between the tornado that took out my garden and the fire that took out my food, I have been doing a lot of begging. A friend of ours gave us a watermelon they grew and the rind of one they ate. I made dill pickles with that rind today and got 14 quarts. That's good in my book. Also I pick apples and pears from different people who have trees and don't want them or don't want any more of them. I slice them, sauce them, juices them and can them. This year was a great year for sand hill plums. In less than two hours the kids and I picked two five gallon buckets, which will translate into jam and syrup. If there are any left on Friday, I will be picking more.
I have lots of dry beans on hand, and always seem to be given more - no complaints from me. And I have lots of wheat, rye, and soy beans. I make breads, rolls, pastas, cakes, cookies, etc. from what I have on hand. It's yummy and some times way to good for us. For example, Brandon decided that he wanted to make cinnamon rolls so he and Grandma Wohlford made a double batch. We had cinnamon rolls for supper that night, breakfast, lunch, and supper the next day, and breakfast the following morning. That does not include all the snacking on cinnamon rolls we did. I banned anyone from making them for a whole month. Oh but they were sooooo good! Wish you were there :)
So you see, it is possible to. I will be more than happy to show you how I do it, and then if you have any hints or suggestions then you can pass them on to me. On my next post I will tell you where I started. See ya soon and thanks for chatting!
