Friday, April 20, 2012

Feeding a family of 4 on $250 a month

I mentioned yesterday that I feed our growing family of 4 on $250 a month. Before I give you an idea of our monthly menu, I want to tell you were I shop. I shop at 2 different stores 1- Sam's- this store for bulk items (mostly toiletries, freezer items, and produce) 2- Food Outlet- this is a discount store (similar to Aldi or Save-A-Lot) near our home, where you purchase items at cost plus 10%. I purchase a huge boxes toilet paper, paper towels, and paper plates in bulk, and by doing so I only have to purchase these items every 3 months. Let me add in that we purchase the paper plates to cut down on how often we use our dishwasher, by using paper we are able to run our dishwasher every 2-3 days, which cuts down on our power bill.
 Here is what my list looks like from each store:
Sam's- $138
All Purpose Flour (10lbs)      
Bread Flour
Whole Wheat Flour
Sugar
Paper Plates            
Toilet Paper            
Paper Towels          
Apples
Oranges
Strawberries
French Fries
Turkey Bacon
Chicken Nuggets
Veggie Straws
Chicken
Soy Milk

Food Outlet- $112
Ground Beef
Steak
Sausage
Roast
Pork Loin
Ball Park Angus Beef Hot dogs
Hamburger Buns
Hot dog Buns
Bagels
Pretzels
Popcorn
Taco Shells
Frozen pizzas
Spaghetti Sauce
Juice
Bananas
Dry Beans
Pasta
Gravy Mixes
Canned tomatoes
Tomatoes
Romaine Lettuce
Carrots
Onions
Potatoes
Celery
Grapes
Frozen veggie mix
Frozen Lima Beans
Sweet Tea
Dish Soap
Vinegar

I rounded up to the nearest dollar, but you can get an idea of what we buy. We make our own bead, cookies, granola bars, pizza, ice cream, other various snacks, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, and cleaning supplies. We are not hungry (well I am most of the time, but pregnancy will do that to you). We drink water, sweet tea, juice, soy milk, and sometimes we will buy cokes. This next week I will post what our menu looks like. I hope I have been some help.

3 comments:

  1. What about dairy? I didn't see any milk, butter, cheese or what-not?

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  2. I buy all three at Sam's. I did buy Soy milk (my family has a diary allergy). I did not purchase the others this month because I still had enough from last month. I usually buy butter in a large case, and buy several at a time. I also buy large bags of shredded cheddar and mozzarella. I am sorry I did not address that. Thank you for saying something. I do buy those items, I just did not need to this month. Many times I try to buy extra of those and diapers on my off months from the toilet paper, and paper towels, so it all evens out :)

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  3. Coconut Milk and Rice milk is a much healthier option to soy milk. Soy is very high in estrogen.

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