Courageous Joy

Budget Thoughts - Groceries

We are still working on coming up with a workable and realistic budget. We've got a "working" budget, but it hasn't been adjusted to take into account new variables (Girls leaving, Stacia arriving, Girls not on insurance any longer, trips to see girls LOL, higher auto insurance as boys drive etc, and the fact that we currently have 3 young men eating in our home).

We received notice on Saturday that we are receiving 7 AK PFD's. We are now armed with $ to fill budget categories, pay off a lingering credit debt, and begin investing. We want to have a realistic budget set now!

Groceries! Two months ago we raised our grocery budget by $200 a month. We had NO wiggle room before and realized that several factors had changed. Our children are maturing and EATING MORE, we now eat natural/organic, baskets of fresh produce, cook most food from scratch, no food colorings, preservatives, artificial flavors etc. We knew it needed to go up a bit. THEN I began hearing in several spots about lowering grocery spending - at the exact time we had raised our spending. ::snort:: This new amount gives a bit of breathing room - allowing me to save $50 - 100 per pay period towards things like an "annual grain order" or a "large organic meat order" - which I'm still saving for. THEN local folks began to ask me how much I spent on groceries. I began to wonder if our amounts were really off. I've always considered myself thrifty, but was increasingly thinking I might be the opposite. On the other hand, we do have a family larger than most who were spending much less than we do. I found these sites which were helpful in helping me evaluate our spending.

This spot on the USDA site is full of all sorts of helpful information. They've got the whole study for the "thrifty food plan" endorsed by the USDA and used as a basis for the amount of money they allow for food stamps....Meaning it's the lowest amount of grocery money, but the plan gives you lots of ideas for meals etc that allow you to eat according to the USDA pyramid on that amount.

This link takes you to the latest charts of what Americans are spending on an average on groceries. It was updated June 2007. It breaks it down by gender and age so that you can very precisely figure out realistic spending for your unique family. It also shows you the average for those on thrifty, low, moderate and liberal eating plans. I planned to use the amount as a starting point in our budget discussions. I thought we'd be a bit high (on the moderate plan) due to our eating style and we were OK with that. IF we found we were on the liberal plan then it'd be time to cut out the raw cashews and go to 100% scratch and NO convenience foods at all.

I found for OUR family - Mom and Dad in the 40's, 2 yo, 5 yo, 8 yo, 10 yo, 13 yo male, 16 yo male, 18 yo male......the amounts came up to an average per week of: $244.50 on the thrifty plan, $314.40 on the low plan, $466.80 on the moderate plan, and $513.8 on the liberal plan. This amount is for GROCERIES only and I include pet food, pet supplies, laundry and cleaning supplies in my grocery budget. WITH our $200 a month raise we are still under the average for those on the low plan. I feel validated. ::snort:: We are spending $600 a pay period (twice a month - on months with 5 weeks we are actually spending less per week) - putting us in the low column for a family our size and we are eating organic/natural/healthy with those dollars, AND that includes all cleaning, toiletries etc for a family of 9. I can rest easy and not worry that I've lost all frugality in my old age. ::snort:: I KNOW that number seems high to most of you, but keep in mind that our family size may be two or three times the size of your family and we have several MEN eating here day in and day out. THIS amount is MORE than our total budget for years when we were a family of 7. It's shocking to us too (LOL) but God has put us in a situation where we now have money to spend on food and it appears that I'm still doing this fairly frugally regardless of the shocking number.

I'm still gathering the prices to compare the commissary and the local stores. Two years ago Walmart was the same or cheaper than the commissary. That, however, was comparing generic to name brand. The commissary sells name brands. NOW because the store brands are often full of the things we avoid we ARE looking at name brand items.....we shall see. I'm hoping the commissary will prove to be cheaper than Sam's and Walmart and then I'll be able to lower my grocery budget further.