I know that bonbons have never been part of my life let alone my grocery list! It does make this subject much more appealing though wouldn’t you agree?

I asked my Facebook friends to weigh in on grocery budgets and received some great feedback! The family sizes ranged from 4 to 6 (parents and children) and commented regarding both budget dollars and whether they purchase organic items. The age ranges within these families is important as well because it seems very true that when we have children in the teenage years we are being, “eaten out of house and home!” The children were at or below 12 years old; including several with infants. Budgets range from $125 to $150 per week. Our budget had been at $500 a month for a LONG time and approximately 2 years ago (when the kids were 9 and 5) we began to overspend. I analyzed the spending about 9 months ago and found that our average for the prior 6 months had been closer to $700. That became our new budget amount.

I realized from reading the comments on my Facebook inquiry that I’ve included items such as paper goods (toilet paper, paper towel, and cleaning products) in my grocery budget and if I’m going to get micro on our spending I’ll need to break these out. I also have a multivitamin and protein that I use and these are lumped in the grocery budget as well.

WHAT DID I LEARN?

First, our family is well within the range of “normal” for our family size (4). I would also categorize our eating as, “healthy convenience,” (as one friend dubbed it). Healthy convenience to me means that we eat a lot of the “perimeter” items; fruits, veggies, meat, dairy, eggs, and much less middle aisle items where the processed foods live. When I am making a mid-week grocery run it usually involves a vegetable that was either forgotten or was eaten earlier than expected or another staple item like milk or eggs.

Second, I plan our meals weekly (7 to 10 days) and base these on what we like as well as what is on sale. The freezer we used to stock up on items like meat and frozen vegetables died a while ago. I miss it! This has caused me to have to plan much more carefully since I have less freezer space. It also keeps me accountable for what I’m buying so that I don’t end up with a bunch of junk that we don’t need. Junk items such as frozen pizza, toaster strudel, Eggo’s, etc.

Third, I’m trying some new things like “Meatless Monday.” I’m not vegetarian or vegan but recognize that our bodies need more plant based food and less meat. We will have a large salad full of many different grilled or steamed vegetables, beans and hard-boiled eggs for dinner. Although we will add grilled chicken this is an easy change for “Meatless Monday” by simply adding only the eggs.

Fourth, we went through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University many years ago. Staying within the budget could easily be achieved by using the envelope system instead of my debit card. What works well for you?

DID ORGANIC MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

The feedback I received on the organic front was generally that those families didn’t buy much organic unless it was on sale. My stance is that there are items that are better bought organic because of the exposure they may have to pesticides; such as apples, potatoes, or other fruits and vegetables that you eat the skin of. If it has a thick skin or is something you peel, bananas and avocados come to mind, I don’t buy organic.

I’m interested to hear from my readers on whether they buy organic, why and how they make allowance for that.

I plan to go into more detail on protein powder in the future as well as vitamins.

Happy Valentine’s Day!