We love our raw milk. It's thick and creamy and it's unspoiled by human intervention. It's also $3 for half a gallon and Little E can suck it down like a vacuum. This week I reduced our milk order and am going to start watering down our milk. This will lighten our grocery bill by $12 a month. If it goes well, I may reduce our order one more time for a total savings of $24 a month! While I could certainly get some slack by whole foods minded folks, I feel like this is our best option for now.
It seems all the basic recommendations that I read about in regards to cutting the budget just don't work for us -we've already done them. BUT, when it comes to the grocery bill, that is where I feel guilt. We eat probably about 80% organic, which does add up no matter how much I've read it's not supposed to or tried to convince myself it doesn't. I've gone into days of grocery remorse after reading a blog I frequent in which the writer spends $40 a week on groceries for her family of four. After confessing what I spend on groceries to a friend recently I wanted to eat my words and crawl into a dark hole somewhere. My one relief has been to hear Dave Ramsey state on his radio show that the average family spends $600 a month on groceries. Having learned my lesson I'm not going to say what I spend but I will say that it felt so very good to hear that average.
I would love to hear suggestions on how you slim down your budget. I should mention that I do sometimes make our own bread (as I feel I'm able), and beans are not an option as a member of our family gets seriously ill on them, and I'm involved in a whole foods buying club where I can purchase organic foods at a reduced price.
Oh, this is getting sooo long BUT - we've been on raw milk for a good three years now and I have had NO charley horses with this pregnancy! Huge for me as I usually wake up with them in the night while I'm pregnant! Maybe that means I'm getting really great calcium resource? Hopefully that doesn't change with the watering down. .
5 comments:
This is definitely an area of frustration for me. I want to feed my family healthy meals but it costs more. Plain and simple. Sure, we could feed our family on $40 a week but that would mean eating pancakes 2 times a week, Lipton Noodles and Sauce, Hamburger Helper, bologna and Ragu spaghetti sauce. Yuck. Sorry, but I just can't eat another package of that stuff. I am known to have a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese in my cupboard, though. I love the idea of the farmer's market but the prices keep me at bay often.
For me, food and eating is something I really enjoy. It's not just a means to an end (food for energy, that is). Now that I'm working and Skip's doing most of the cooking, the gourmet-ish meals are becoming very rare and that is definitely helping the budget.
There are a few things that I do to keep down the cost of groceries. First, I get as much as I can at Aldi. It's significantly cheaper than any other store around. Second, I make a weekly menu and make a list of all the ingredients I need and only buy those things at the store. And then I am only at the grocery store once a week. Not only that, I watch the ads pretty closely. It's worth it to me to hit several stores to save $3/lb on chicken or get buy one get one free pork roasts. By having my menu set, then we aren't tempted to eat out (one of my favorite things!). Well, we're still tempted but it's much easier to resist!
I think it's so great that you are re-evaluating your spending. It's really all about spending our money on what is important to us. That is, our spending should reflect our values. And if it's organic food and raw milk, then so be it! May God bless you for your efforts to be good stewards!
Thanks Carolyn! I love menu planning - that's a great tip. I have the mac and cheese in my cupboard too. Aldi would fit right into DR's cash for stuff deal. Thank you, thank you!
Sheryl, our budget is $260 bi-weekly for groceries. I have kept this budget for a number of years. I do some organic, mostly in fruits, dairy and meat. I shave off cost by only having 4 out of my 12 pre-planned dinners include meat. Two of those are fish (tilapia which is one of the cleanest fish to eat and inexpensive). The rest is 1-2 lbs of bison and probably a roasting chicken. As you can imagine we eat a lot of salads, soups, pasta and rice (mostly one pot meals). I also try to by what is in season (cheaper). I also try carry coupons for my organic food purchases. This year we're also doing a garden and farm share to shave off a bit more. It isn't easy but we eat fairly healthy for a family of 5 and I think we have a realistic budget. I think it would be very difficult to do it for less without sacrificing food quality or owning a farm. ;)
Thank you Pam. It is so encouraging to hear what you're doing. I like your plan of limiting meat intake. I think you eat healthy and I'm always impressed with what your kids will eat!
Don't forget that eating healthy will save you on expensive medical bills!JK
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