Friday, October 5, 2007

Food is Consuming our Money!


A closer look at our current food spending has me convicted to make some changes. Let me first share an example of our 1 week grocery spending with you:

Milk 3.50
Eggs (18) 2.38
Yogurt 1.98 (2)
Cool Whip 1.87
Sour Cream 1.18
Carrots 1.68
Hamburger Meat 2.13 (2)
Chicken 6.97
Lettuc 1.50
Cheese 5.96
Turkey 3.58
Bacon 2.63
Pinapple .94
applesauce 1.96
Bannanas .75
Celery 1.34
Bell Pepper .78 (2)
Tomato .73
Cucumbers .74
Corn 1.32
Apples 1.89
Onion .79
Tortillas 1.48
Miracle Whip 3.64 last the month
Creamer 1.48
Peanunt Butter 2.64
Salso 2.08
Cornbread Mix .56
SS Morsel 4.46
Syrup 1.56
Quick Oats 2.98
Veg Oil 1.88
Pam Spray 2.44
Pinto Beans .56
Pumpkin 1.13
Kernal Corn .66
Peach Tea 1.76
Canned Fruit .78 (4)
Tomato Sauce .32
Cream Chicken .98 (2)
Enchilada Sauce .96
Graham Crackers 1.18
Vanilla .98
Fruit Snacks 3.74
Flour 1.74
Potatoes 2.98
Sugar 1.68
Chips 2.50
Mac cheese .60
Baby Food .98 (7)
This is roughly a little over 100 dollars a week. Weekly my reciept is usually 115-125 which for me is HIGH and I am moving to LOWER it, how low? As LOW as I can GO. We are a family of 5, 3 of us being boys that can eat all day long!


Something that I have heard is a good thing to do and have wanted to do for quite some time now is a price book. I simply have not done this because I am lazy. I am going to start a price book as soon as I collect all of the information on exactly how to. It is going to take some extra energy and time on my part but I know that it is going to pay off in the end.


A few months ago I began making my own detergent and house cleaning products and made a significant difference in our budget. It only makes sense to begin to do the same in some areas of my food preperation as well. Baby food, bread, certain mixes and other items. I have done these but am very inconsistent and not reliable at all. I have hopes to commit to a day and time to spend on making these for each week, I know that it is going to be a huge challenge for me just because it will take discipline... something I don't have much of.


I know that there are many other things that I can work on but for now this is it. I know better than to overload myself with to much... walk... don't run. Oh how I want to run and jump right in!


Having any thoughts that you would like to share with me? Please leave it in my comments, I am SO open for suggestions and advice.

8 comments:

Esmeralda said...

How do you make your own detergent. I'm a 24yr old and though not married and without kids, I'm also horrified at how much food eats money each week and would like to invest some time to 'making' things from scratch to save some pennies each week.

Maybe you can share the things you do already to save money on your blog like this home-made detergent which sounds intriguing:-)

Liz, UK

Jules said...

Do you make your own baby wipes? I was not sure about this but my sister does it and it saves SO much money, we were spending about $10 a week on these and I started making them and it costs us about $3 a week now. Maybe that doesn't sound like a lot but that's $28-$35 a month! Here's the recipe:

1 Roll of Bounty Paper Towels (use Bounty; the others do not absorb as well)cut in half in the middle with a serated knife.

3-4 capfuls of baby wash
3-4 capfuls of baby oil (we use great value brand)

4& 1/2 cups warm water

Round Rubbermaid container with tiny hole poked in the lid (to keep from mildew)

Cut your paper towels in half; leave cardboard in. Place warm water and baby wash & oil in container. Swish until combined. Place your paper towels in and press in the mixture until soaked. Make sure both halves are VERY wet(where you can squeeze the mixture out and the cardboard inside is soaked) Pull the cardboard out and I place some of the wipes in a gallon size ziploc bag to travel with.

These work better than baby wipes to me and it is such a stress reliever to know that I don't have to buy them, that I make them myself. That's $7 I can put on something else or save! Also, the baby wash and oil last at least a month!

I also cook whole chicken in the crock pot with seasonings. Shred the chicken and freeze it and freeze the broth so I don't have to buy it. I also make my spaghetti sauce in the crock pot. And I mop my floors with a clorox clean up mop that I got on clearance for $8 and I use shop cloths and just bleach them when I am done mopping. I fill my sink with HOT water and my cleaner and soak the cloths, place them on the mop and start mopping. As I change them, I put them in a seperate container and I wash them later with bleach. THis saves SO much money that we used to waste on Swiffer cloths and I felt that they were not getting my floors clean, THIS gets the floors SO clean! It's amazing!!!

Sorry about the super long comment! I just get REALLY excited about this stuff! I just started making my own laundry detergent, too! How do you make your cleaners? Would you mind sharing that with me? Thanks so much!

Love and Prayers,

Julie

Jules said...

Do you make your own baby wipes? I was not sure about this but my sister does it and it saves SO much money, we were spending about $10 a week on these and I started making them and it costs us about $3 a week now. Maybe that doesn't sound like a lot but that's $28-$35 a month! Here's the recipe:

1 Roll of Bounty Paper Towels (use Bounty; the others do not absorb as well)cut in half in the middle with a serated knife.

3-4 capfuls of baby wash
3-4 capfuls of baby oil (we use great value brand)

4& 1/2 cups warm water

Round Rubbermaid container with tiny hole poked in the lid (to keep from mildew)

Cut your paper towels in half; leave cardboard in. Place warm water and baby wash & oil in container. Swish until combined. Place your paper towels in and press in the mixture until soaked. Make sure both halves are VERY wet(where you can squeeze the mixture out and the cardboard inside is soaked) Pull the cardboard out and I place some of the wipes in a gallon size ziploc bag to travel with.

These work better than baby wipes to me and it is such a stress reliever to know that I don't have to buy them, that I make them myself. That's $7 I can put on something else or save! Also, the baby wash and oil last at least a month!

I also cook whole chicken in the crock pot with seasonings. Shred the chicken and freeze it and freeze the broth so I don't have to buy it. I also make my spaghetti sauce in the crock pot. And I mop my floors with a clorox clean up mop that I got on clearance for $8 and I use shop cloths and just bleach them when I am done mopping. I fill my sink with HOT water and my cleaner and soak the cloths, place them on the mop and start mopping. As I change them, I put them in a seperate container and I wash them later with bleach. THis saves SO much money that we used to waste on Swiffer cloths and I felt that they were not getting my floors clean, THIS gets the floors SO clean! It's amazing!!!

Sorry about the super long comment! I just get REALLY excited about this stuff! I just started making my own laundry detergent, too! How do you make your cleaners? Would you mind sharing that with me? Thanks so much!

Love and Prayers,

Julie

Jules said...

I wanted to tell you that over at Laine's Letters, http://www.lainesletters.com she has recipes for making your own enchilada sauce and tortillas and other things. I have tried out some of it but I need to get in gear and do more of it! There are tons more sites with other stuff but I can't think of them all right now. You probably know a lot of them, anyway. Just thought that I would let you know about this, I remembered seeing enchilada sauce on your grocery list. Hope this helps and if you want some more of those sites, just let me know and I will send you what I have found!:)

Blessings,

Julie

amyswandering said...

I can help! Pick a time & let's get together.
Amy
http://amyswandering.wordpress.com/

JavaMama said...

Thanks Julie and Amy!!

JavaMama said...

I am going to be posting some homemade detergents and cleaning solutions soon Liz!!

PJ Academy said...

Had to come read the comments because we are in the same boat :)

Food is too much money!!!

Jennifer