We spend over two thousand dollars a month on food-- mostly groceries (typically around $500/week for groceries-- more if we are going to Costco to stock up on things). And then! Nights out, quick dinners, takeout-- all of the things. So closer to 3k (and over?)
Soooo, when we are taking a look at our budget and trying to cut the fat, this is, of course, the first/ most obvious category to consider.
This month, I am going to keep doing the 2 no-spend days a week, and I am also going to tackle the problem of food waste. I think (based on nothing but casual observation and a hunch) that we are wasting quite a bit of fresh food, and if we ate it, we'd all be healthier.
Frist, Ben and I cleaned out the two giant (and really annoyingly deep-- I think the shape of our kitchen cabinets really contributes to food waste) cabinets where all of our meal ingredients and snacks live. We only got rid of expired things and stale things, and the the difference is startling. We can SEE what we HAVE, which is radical for us.
Also, say hello to the winning expired products of shame (beating corn bread mix from 2021 and green beans from the start of the panny): RAMEN FROM 2018
Third, I have started cutting up veggies in small amounts every other day or so (I used to wash and chop and prep them all when I put away groceries as part of weird pandemic hygiene theater), and then I have them on hand to offer as a pre-dinner snack or eat myself when I need something crunchy.
Fourth, I am saving and re-serving fruit the kids don't eat. Dorothy, for example, ate like a third of an apple at breakfast, and I knew she had another apple in her lunch (and giant off-season organic honey crisps are like $2 a pop). I sliced up her breakfast apple and put it in a bag and returned her lunch apple to the fruit bowl. Minnie might find, for example, her leftover cutie wedges from breakfast mixed in with sliced strawberries at lunch. She eats half a banana every night after dinner and refuses the other half the lext day because iut gets brown. So now I have a tupperware of browning bananas for bread/muffins.
What other suggestions do you have for me as I solve this problem in February?
Honestly, $2000 doesn't sound like too much because you buy some very specific brands and lots of foods your kids can eat when they are coming and going. And you have teenagers- one can eates, it seems, as much as 4 adults at times. However, food waste is always a good issue to tackle. I'm trying make sure I have plans for leftovers so they don't linger too long.
ReplyDeleteDoes ramen go bad? I thought it was twinkies- eternally preserved.
I DID NOT KNOW RAMEN WENT BAD!!!
DeleteAccording to the US dept of agriculture, low cost monthly food budget would be about $1850. You're right about there! What they consider moderate would be closer to $2300 ( I rounded down their numbers), so I think you're doing fine. Liberal would be over $3000 ( I'm guessing your kids ages right now.) So it might seem you're spending a lot, but it looks like you're doing well!
ReplyDeletethe google tells me the average cost for groceries is 600-1300/family...
DeleteGoogle has no clue. Use the Ag dept guidelines- it reflects current prices. Google could be hitting data from the 80s or 90s. You also have 5 kids- 7 people not 4.
DeleteFor $600all you'd be eating is expired ramen.
We freeze bananas and berries if we aren't going to get through them and then use in smoothies.
ReplyDeleteI do that too! Great tip!
DeleteI cut bananas in half (right through the peel); if you leave the other half - still in its peel - out on the counter, you can slice off the top little bit that is brown/dry the next morning and the rest will still be 100% good to eat. We do this ALL THE TIME!
ReplyDeleteSMART
DeleteAlso, if you cut the brown bit off out of sight of a 4 year old, they won't question you.....#protip.
DeleteAnd good luck! (I know that we're all not breaking the bank on bannannas, but go team!)./
UGH SHE WILL NOT ACCEPT A USED BANANA **eye roll**
DeleteFood waste is so frustrating! We try to make sure we give the boys the ‘right’ amount of food on their plates so we don’t need to throw much out. It is tricky though! You would just laugh hysterically at our grocery shopping bills. Phil weighs about 150 so he doesn’t eat all that much, or at least less than the average male and my children eat like birds. Both boys eat lunch and snacks at school so that also cuts down on what we buy. But that means I hav no idea what Paul eats. He is a smart kid but many days he cannot recall what he had for lunch when I ask him at dinner time. How is this possible!???!
ReplyDeleteDoes the school have the lunch menu online or on hard copy? My daughter's school has her lunch and breakfast in her binder so I can see what's she's getting. (She's non verbal, so she wouldn't be able to tell me.) My son's school sends theirs in email (though he won't touch hot lunch with a 10 ft pole, so he eats the same bagged lunch lovingly made by me each day.)
DeleteAccording to Dorothy's lunch bill at school she eats water and Doritos when she buys her lunch. Neat. (Especially since she takes a $50 Stanley to school with her...)
DeleteI don't have any advice. We are two adults who essentially eat the same thing every day for every meal, so I know exactly how much food to buy at the store each week. Our fridge and cupboards are bare by the time Monday night (our grocery store night) rolls around. Also, we had a mouse incident a few months back, so we went through every single thing in our kitchen and that's why we realized we had red wine vinegar that expired in 2018. What does bad red wine vinegar smell like? You really don't want to know.
ReplyDeleteI wish we could arrange our rhythms to shop on Mondays. That way we'd sail through the weekend on what we had--- I might try to finagle this, but Monday nights are kind of busy...
DeleteI love the cut up veggies--you mentioned it a while ago, and I've been loving it! Dinner prep time is basically like a little appetizer course for my fam.
ReplyDeleteI refuse to believe that Ramen goes bad. :) And also food waste is terrible and all, but bananas aren't the bad guy--I'm horrified at how cheap they always seem to be.
I bought 13 for $2 and thought well, ok, I can absorb a 25% markup...
DeleteGosh I think you're doing pretty good. I mean, last month I spent $2800 on groceries and it's just the three of us. We don't eat out or get takeout often/ at all, so maybe it balances out. My produce tip is to make giant stir fries at least once a week to use up veg, particularly if a pepper is starting to look wrinkly. I don't really consider food waste to be a problem in our house though, because I hate leftovers I tend to cook right to exactly what I think everyone will eat. If there's leftovers, the guys will eat them though.
ReplyDeleteI also hate leftovers! I just cleaned out the freezer and found 3 bags of shrimp that are not getting any younger, so stir fry is def on the list.
DeleteI am here for Food Waste February! My biggest problem is good intentions, I think. I'll take my kid shopping and she'll put a giant bunch of bananas in the cart and I'll grab a bag of grapes and then she eats two bananas and I eat ten grapes and the rest slowly rot. I need to remind myself that we can buy SMALLER AMOUNTS OF THINGS and get more the next time we go to the grocery store. No one is going die if they have to suffer a few days without a banana/grape.
ReplyDeleteThere're always too few or too many bananas. I have never gotten it right.
DeleteYES YES YES!! I pay for "free" Whole Foods delivery every month, so this means I should order as many times a week as I need. But instead! I go to the store with a hoarder mindset.
DeleteI swear the pandemic has forever altered the way I shop. And maybe it's fine for like, pickles, but grapes and asparagus and lemons and lettuce GO BAD if I buy too much.
Deletei got these pretty cool containers that keep salads fresh for 3-4 days, its very convenient.(hydroflask outdoor kitchen bowl search in amazon) it blows my mind that salad is fresh and crunchy after 2 days but it is. also for fruits i got a sealed container with compartments, so we wash the fruit, dry it and add it to these compartments and sometimes i add paper towel to the bottom if we have berries. it works great for keeping fruits fresh longer and the kids can see them in the fridge since its transparent, this has increase our fruit consumption.
ReplyDeletei hope it helps!
Martha
these sound genius-- thanks for the ideas!
DeleteFood waste is so frustrating. After I almost used some expired cans of tomatoes, etc in my chili in the fall, I'm vigilant that I check my cabinet BEFORE I go to the store, so I only buy the cans I need with maybe a few extra cream of chicken soups for casseroles. Lad babysit during nap time for me a few weeks ago (and again last week), so I could go to Costco. Then he requested food. I bought him what he asked for, but warned him to put the ground beef in separate bags in his freezer. Did he listen? No, instead he called yesterday to ask if he could still eat the WEEKS OLD gb in his fridge. What? Not unless you have a secret death with. He was so mad, but I was like I BOUGHT THAT FOOD THAT YOU WASTED. We spend a lot on groceries, but I'm also still feeding Lad (he comes over and eats A LOT, but I suspect he's lonely and I'd rather he eat healthy meals than fast food), Reg takes his meals to his apartment in IN, and I bring my folks meals a few times a week. We rarely eat out. No concessions at games. Nada. I bought the girls hot chocolate over the weekend and popcorn when we were enjoying a nearby winter festival and it was a big, happy deal. We try to tap into giftcards from Coach's patients or from my sitting families when we want to eat out. I think with the size of your family, your grocery bills sound about right. I have some red peppers in the fridge that I think I will go cut up right now to have on the ready for an after school snack. Great tip.
ReplyDeleteLOL at "I BOUGHT THAT FOOD YOU WASTED"
DeleteI'm with the others who say that you are doing FINE in how much you are spending. But food waste sucks and is depressing. I love the idea of putting cut up veggies out for people to snack on. I remember when my daughter was little, and the parents of her friends would say, "my kid won't eat fruit or veggies", and I was surprised, because those same kids at them at my house. 5 girls sitting around a table with apples in a bowl, no one is going to eat one. 5 girls sitting around a table with sliced apples put down in the center, and somehow they all got eaten, every time.
ReplyDeleteThere are only 3 of us, and at least once a week I try to make chili or soup, and I leave some leftovers in the fridge for my husband to take to work the next day, and I portion the rest out and freeze it. Tomorrow for example, we're 'shopping the freezer', and having grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for dinner. That way the fancy french bread my husband buys gets used, and the soup too.
I would like to find a way to use up all of the extra fancy french bread that he buys, without the answer being that I eat it all. We have 1/2 loaf left, and he likes it fresh, so he buys another. I could make croutons I guess, or make French toast, but I'm not sure I have room for that many croutons, and no one else will eat the French toast but me. I have considered giving it away on Buy Nothing (I've given away 1/2 packages of hot dog buns, people are in need out there) but somehow it feels weird to say, "This bread it past it's prime, but maybe you could make croutons or toast" so I end up throwing it away. This bothers me quite a bit, so I need to figure it out.
I make bread crumbs from extra bread and store them in the freezer until I need them for a recipe. Saves me from buying the cans of crumbs and uses up slightly stale bread.
DeleteI have been making tomato soup in the instant pot quite a bit. And! Costco and Whole Foods sell this garlic spread stuff that makes grilled cheese EVEN MORE DELICIOUS. French toast is just about the only thing I do with leftover bread....
DeleteYeah, we waste a lot of food- mainly leftovers that rot in the fridge. Your ramen from 2018 makes me feel a little better about myself. Okay, I'm going to join in "Food Waste February." I don't have any specific tips but I'll share some as we go on.
ReplyDeleteI'm really trying to fix my brain to remember that if we don't have leftovers, no one will starve. This helps me cook smaller meals, even though there's six basically adult people in the house. I've also moved to keeping my produce in the door so we can see it, and using more frozen produce. For meal planning, I'm trying to use ChatGPT more. So I plug in "I have XXX, XXX, and XXX. Please make a menu to feed 6 people using those ingredients" AI is scary for a lot of things but I figure if it knows I have lentils languishing in the pantry, my danger level isn't too high
ReplyDeleteFood waste is my nemesis, too! I can't believe how many times I just go through my fridge and cabinets, throwing things away. I need to get better about using what I have.
ReplyDeleteI budget $700/mo for food (this includes Ubereats, fast food, etc.) so I feel like $2,000/mo for a MUCH BIGGER family is okay, but I know it may feel like it's just so much money. <3