My goal was to get my weekly budget down to $125. I asked my readers if this was realistic and wanted to know what others spent each week to see how this compares. Turns out- for all organic groceries, this is quite the ambitious undertaking!
So I've decided to give myself a little more room to tackle this and have upped my weekly budget to $150. This budget includes all household and beauty products as well. So toilet paper, toothpaste, laundry soap, face wash, deoderent, dog food- it's all included! Eek!
Currently I am spending approximately $250 per week on all organic foods and household and beauty products- so realistically, I am going to be cutting $100 from my weekly budget. Whew! I sure hope I can do it!
My first step has been to plan the next month's worth of meals. I have planned 7 dinners, 2-3 breakfasts and zero lunches for each week. Zero lunches?!? Ok, that's not entirely true. I've planned my husband's lunches for work. As for me and my son, we eat our dinner leftovers for lunches during the week so no planning is needed. In addition, we typically eat out for one lunch on the weekend. For the breakfasts- I have only planned roughly 3 per week because I make a double batch and have enough left over for another day. For example, next week I've planned on fried potatoes with fresh fruit and oatmeal. I'll make a double batch of fried potatoes so I can make this meal twice during the week. Perfection!
My weekly menu plans also include crockpot meals, one night per week of leftovers, baked goods and at least one meal will be a double batch. This way I can freeze the double batch and add it to my stockpile of freezer ready meals. Now that's awesome!
When meal planning, I like to keep things interesting. You won't find 3 days of beans or 2 meals with rice in a row. I plan on a nice mix of Italian foods, Mexican foods, beans, lentils, soups etc. in an effort to avoid things getting boring. You might also notice that there's not a lot of meat. We don't eat that much meat anymore- so even things like Lasagna or Chicken Tortilla Soup will be meat free. To appease my husband, I may include one meal per week that has meat- or I may not! BWAHAHAHA!!!!
I encourage you to think about making more of your meals meatless- it's cheaper and healthier for you!
Alright- back to the Grocery Budget Challenge....My challenge begins on Monday and I've already put together next week's meal plan. Click here to take a look!
A few other rules for my Grocery Budget Challenge:
- Toiletries and household items are included in the budget.
- Meals out are NOT included in the budget.
- Meat will be on the menu only ONCE per week- if that!
- Dog food is included in the budget.
- Holiday's and special events are included in the budget. Holy Thanksgiving Batman!
- At least 90% of the meals are homemade.
- None of my grocery items are free/gifted/grown etc. Unfortunately, I will have to buy everything.
- Coupons are allowed!
- Food items will be at least 90% organic.
Well- I think I have a good starting point! If you think something is missing or have some grocery budget advice, I would love to hear it!
Bring on Week #1!!!!
You should make all of your cleaning products. It's easy & saves a TON of $. I haven't bought laundry detergent or fabric softener for a year & a half. And whenever I have to purchase the ingredients to make another batch & see the prices of the products I used to use, I'm glad I don't have to buy them anymore!
ReplyDeleteThats an excellent idea! Would you believe that I bought all the ingredients to make my own laundry soap but just never got around to trying it? You've given me the motivation to do it! ;)
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