Feeding a family for 100.00 per week..see article

The waffle comment jumped out at me too. I realize Ms. Dunleavy probably doesn't have much cooking experience, but really ... how hard is it to make waffles from a mix?

I don't want to be too hard on Ms. Dunleavy. She's trying to do the right thing. It's just funny, though, to see how foreign the concept of cooking from scratch is to some people.

There are 7 of us, so it takes two chickens, but I make 2 to 3 meals out of that too. Always at least roast chicken and then a pot of soup. Sometimes, a pot pie too...

Cindyc.

I have little patience with people who are so spoiled. They need to adjust their thinking. Deprived is not beans and rice. Deprived is no food on the table. Cutting their food budget and building a pantry today might that mean that some day in the future they have food when the coffers are empty. They same is true when I hear "they or I won't eat that". I'll eat about anything because that's the way I was raised. Its okay for everyone to have a few things they don't like, but not too many. And what's with the coupon thing...they're too good to use coupons...embarrassed to use coupons? Get over yourself!! I feed two people (one diabetic) plus guests on $190 a month. That is an increase of $10 over last year's budget. I could manage on less but as long as we can afford it we will enjoy the extras we would have to give up on a $100 a month budget. I think saying you can't or won't do with less is tempting fate.

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This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

there's just 2 of us...and we do NOT eat luxury meals. I am frugal beyond the mere meaning of the word. yet we spend $100. a week on groceries a week...sorry...it isn't our fault things are so expensive. YES..we also have the garden, but beyond that....that is what we spend. guess I'm flunking housewife 101...but it is not because I don't try...BIG TIME...to be more than thrifty. I wish most wouldn't judge so harshly...I even have a stocked pantry. guess we're just losers........

gee, I don' t know what to think. I must be doing something wrong. There are two of us and I spend around $150-165 per month and never more than that! And I get what I want/we need.
And we eat well - lots of veggies, good meat and sweets at times. Good rich whole milk; not skim or powdered. Lots of farm fresh eggs that I get from a neighbor. I cook everything from scratch and most of my purchases at the are for flour, sugar and that type of thing.
I have two freezers and lots of home canned food. We raise and butcher our own rabbits, I have good farm raised chickens in the freezer and we get a hog in the fall each year from a friend.

I wouldn't know how to act spending $100 a week. Mercy!

Really? nobody spends $100. a week on groceries? am I the ONLY one? trust me...it's not on any junk food......we don't eat sugar, and NO horrid snack foods in this house. (poor hubby) but I make a list..hub shops (cause it's on his way home, I won't spend gas money to go out to town) sure..sometimes I'm adding things to stock up on, but this is our usual weekly spending just to eat average meals. WITH THE GARDEN. so...seriously.........JUST US SPENDING THIS?? really?? ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS a week is too much? what are we doing wrong then? I garden..we eat tons from that. what the heck????????????

and we're two skinny peeps. I'm totally confused........

We spend 150 per week for 4. We dont buy junk (which is actually a lot cheaper than good foods. Soda is a fraction of the cost of milk!) nor name brands.
Its was 80 per weeks with raising all our own meat but here prices went crazy.
We have only one small store in one small town.
No competition!!! They can be expensive all they want because they know there isnt another store around.
Thats one draw back to not living near any cities.

The closest cheap store is way to far for gas cost to go there. We wont save money if the savings in placed in the gas tank.

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"We spend money we don't have on things we don't need to create impressions that won't last on people we don't care about."
~T.Jackson

My site.

Here's a real boohoo....son's SO got $700 in food stamps last month and they couldn't make it last two weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!etc. I could feed them (7 people) well on half that, have stuff in the freezer and money left over. Their trash is full of Dorito bags and soda bottles...never a sit down meal...they all snack all day and nite....imagine many other families are the same. It plain horrifys and saddens me. They are all in poor health,overwt. and don't have clue one. I have a hard time getting to $50 a week feeding four grownups and when my 4 kids were all young I never had even that amt. to spend. As times get harder and harder many are gonna be faced with grave money problems and food is probably the biggest area a family can save on off the bat. DEE

I still say food stamps should not allow junk foods!!! I bet less people would use them if they have to buy veggies and rice!

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"We spend money we don't have on things we don't need to create impressions that won't last on people we don't care about."
~T.Jackson

My site.

mamita -- if you really want us to answer your question as to how/why you are spending more, post a list of typical meals at your house. That will give a basis of comparison as to what we're doing and what you're doing. Don't beat yourself up ... there is no wrong in spending more as long as you can afford to do so.

I know I could do a lot better and probably manage fairly well on $100 a month but I work full time with a commute so I'm definitely not doing my best. Some nights I just am too tired to make the effort. We're Pepsi addicts and allow ourselves 1 can of Pepsi each day and with the cost of pop/soda increasing that takes a bite out of my food budget. In fact, I've switched it from food to entertainment cause it absolutely is not needed for nutrition!

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This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

I went to the store today and spent just over $100 for the two of us for this week. I don't buy pre-packaged food or junk. We have a big garden as usual but it's doing very poorly this year. We don't have chickens or other meat animals. I cook (very well I might add) dinner every day from scratch. We could certainly eat for less but we're happy with the way we're doing it now. I raised six kids hungry kids on a very limited budget, cutting corners yet making sure they were well fed, and now we eat what we want. The time may come that the budget won't allow us to have Tilapia or Italian sausage for pasta and we'll be just fine then, but right now I'm not feeling at all guilty.

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"Don't confront me with my failures, I had not forgotten them." - Jackson Browne.

Thank you Bluesky! I was starting to feel like this was a "I can spend less than you" contest. I really don't think it is about what we're spending. It is if we are getting the best for our money and meeting our needs and always striving to do better.

I gotta say, my sister spends less than me with her kids (though they do "shop" in my frig all too frequently to supplement) but they eat absolute trash in processed foods while I have none such. It costs flat out more to eat that way here, especially organic foods.

Organic beef here is 2.5 times the price of the same cut not organic. Yep..2.5 times for the last cut I bought.

And I don't think it should be a contest of who can do "better" because it ain't necessarily better. I bring home, after taxes, an excellent living (with all my income, not just my job) and I don't think it is at all unreasonable to expect that I might eat a slightly different diet with more foods that cost a bit more than someone who makes half what I make and has a family.

I just think all this comparing is apples and oranges. If you're happy with what you're spending, happy with what you're eating and not putting other things aside to do so...then you're good.

don't you all think so?

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Christy
Growing Human
http://growinghuman.blogspot.com

When wearing narrow lenses of hate and ignorance, is it any wonder one finds it difficult to see clearly? - Me

I think so Christy. I spend more than I have to, because I prefer some items that are more expensive over the cheaper versions. For instance I prefer to buy local naturally raised meat over regular hamburger or chicken that costs a lot less, and I tend to buy organic products when available. I actually have no idea how much I spend on groceries off the top off my head. And I do understand that is a luxury.

However, there was a time in my life when I had far far less money than today, and stretching every penny to the max was the most important thing. At that time I would have easily participated in a thread discussing how I could possibly spend less than I was now, how other people managed to spend less. I don't really think it is a contest, but if someone is really working to stretch their food dollars, it is helpful to hear what other peoples food budget is like and how they do it.

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-Laura

Where do you live? Location can have alot to do with what you pay for groceries.

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"Perhaps I'll have them string a clothesline from the hearse I am in, with my underwear waving in the breeze, as we drive to the cemetary. People worry about the dumbest things!"
by Wendy

I'm seeing a lot of people who have very low grocery bills... and then they add in that they raise their own meat, have chickens for eggs, garden, etc.

So, we can't really even compare the 2. I'll be able to grow produce next year, but if you really think about it, some of the most expensive parts of eating are meat, milk, eggs, etc. Things that many posters here are able to produce on their own, trading their labor instead of paying actual cash.

I spend at least $100/week for a family of 3. Granted, if I was a stay-home mom and able to cook all our dinners, I could probably cut that down, but I'm not, and life dictates that I can't... since I don't even get home until after 7:30. I do some cooking ahead and crockpoting, but whatever I make has to be quick to prepare for my DH when he comes home with DD. Yes, we could eat bean burritos every night, but I think once a week is enough. So I don't feel guilty for spending $100 or so a week.

THis might sound snarky, and sorry if it does (cuz it's definitely not intended that way), but for those of you who spend so little on your food budget but raise your own meat and whatnot I'd be really interested to see what you spend on feed and also how much labor goes into it? Then we could have a fair comparison

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Uncle Dutch Farms
Blogging from working city mom to homesteading housewife.
Rural Living Today
Encouragement for the Urban-to-Rural Transition
My review of the Piteba oil expeller

I think it takes a learning curve. Some people honestly are not brought up with household common sense or home ec lessons of any sort. I was one of them.
About five years ago we were spending close to $200 a week for two of us and a mutt (including eating out a couple times a week)
Starting our journey that led to finding this site along with a couple others. Got that figure down to around $60 a week for all things, but it took us a LONG while to learn the skills and implement them!!
Since then have added two little ones. Crept up to $90 a week. Now with the recent increases we are averaging about $100 a week.
I feel that with some work we can get it down to $80 a week again...... especially once our garden starts producing.
I also think where you live has a lot to do with it. We live in a very isolated area way up north with a short growing season. Things tend to be more expensive in some places.

I don't have any animals. None to eat and note to feed. I also don't have the luxury of spending $100 a week on food. I hope I'm not being snarky because as I said before there is nothing wrong with spending more if you can afford it. I can't. $190 a month for groceries is pretty much stretching my budget to allow that. I do have a garden which some years provides a lot of good veggies which I can, freeze and dry.

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This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

I gave DDIL the Angelfoodmnistries website- she found the nearest site to her and got good basic groceries for $50. They need to buy coffee (DS is an addict) and soymilk-DGD is allergic-, but since she had the bariatric surgery she has become more interested in cooking /saving money at the grocery.

Tomorrow is SHARE pickup. We stopped using the program 2 -3years ago or so when sevreal convenient sites closed down and it meant spending an additional night apart because dh had to stay in the city and do the pickup Sat morning. Now there is a SHARE site near the lake cabin. (Sigh- all those boy scout hours I had banked and lost- why 2006 I had close to 300 hours just for prep and planning and participation for the high adventure canoe trip..)
Anyway I strongly advise checking the Angelfood ministries or the Share Florida sites and using them if you are conveniently near.

I also fed my children on 1.10 daily during the year and half I was on foodstamps. It went a little further in 1979..Now DH and I spend about 6$0 to $90 a weekfor the two of us and it is usually only 3 bags worth...DH does NOT believe in stocking up. If toilet paper was 10 cents a roll today only he would say "We have enough"..Now he has been laid off again! I wonder if he will rethink his anti stock up stance..altho he was out of work before when I gave away my grocery stash of homecanned foods to forestall him trashing it...

I think a lot of the cost difference is the area you live, and the stores you shop. Around here the major grocery chain store is ACME. Now, they are very nice stores, but I find them hideously expensive. I have been shopping at Save-a-Lot, and I can get almost twice the amount of groceries there, for the same amount of money. Really. At the time we switched, $60 would get us a full weeks groceries for 2 people, including paper and cleaning products at SAL. At Acme, $60 would be your price if you went through the express lane, with 20 or less items!

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[COLOR="Blue"]Expect Little - That way you will be seldom disappointed.../COLOR]