Food Budgets

Grocery shopping has always been a struggle for me. I am not good on a budget. I have tried many times over the years and failed after only a few short weeks. It is a mind set, really. You have so much money to spend on food and you work your menu plan/grocery list accordingly. How simple is that? For me it is rocket science! I do not remember my mother ever making a menu plan or even a list. In fact, she went to the grocery store several times a week....sometimes as many as 5 times. We ate out a lot too....not out in restaurants, but she would grab a pizza or a bucket of chicken on her way home from work. Working moms lead a very different life and making dinner after working for 9 hours is not something I would look forward to either. Big grocery shopping trips would be terrible, as your days off would be spent in a crowded grocery store. It was much easier to stop at the store on your way home from work and grab what you needed for the evening. That is what she did.
I never remember seeing a coupon. I know she never looked at prices....she still doesn't, and the only list she has is to make sure she gets those things she needs without forgetting. Menu planning??? I never remember that either. It was, "What sounds good for dinner?", then you ran to the store and got what you needed. It was all I knew. I have been married for 30+ years and Sweetheart will tell you, if he could change one thing about me, it would be that I was a skilled food shopper. I have friends who shop on a teeny tiny budget and they eat better than we do. My Pastor's wife recently mentioned she spends $60 a week on groceries for her family of 4, and that includes diapers and cleaning supplies. That sounds a bit tight to me, but they look healthy and well fed. She does have a garden, but not a large one. How do people do it??? I cut my grocery bill from approximately $300 a week (which included eating out), down to $200. That was a couple of years ago. Then I cut it to $150....that was hard. I only shopped at one store. A Kroger store. Now I have cut my budget to $100 a week. Incredible, I know.
This means I have to shop at 3 different stores.....I HATE grocery shopping. I mean I REALLY hate it. I tell my kids, "Do not use the word hate....it's not nice.", but I really HATE grocery shopping. I am looking at this as a challenge. So far, so good.Another problem with my food budget is, I always run out of things....milk, bread, eggs, and need to run back mid week. This gets me in trouble, because I am known for running in for a a loaf of bread and coming out with 6 bags of "stuff" and $70 less in my bank account. I made up my mind that if we run out of something, too bad. That was until I ran out of laundry soap and we had no clean clothes! I would have normally ran up to Walgreens and spent $8 on a teeny tiny bottle to get me by. Instead I ran to Walmart (which is the WORST of the stores for me) and bought a large bottle for $6. I have a stash of $30 set aside in cash. If I need anything I can take from that $30. This was the first time in 2 weeks I needed to do that, but now it will come off my food budget. I must say, that $6 hurt! Once you start counting the actual dollars, it is amazing how easily they can get spent if you are not watching. So how are we eating? Pretty darn good. We have had homemade cookies twice in the last couple of weeks, and even though tomorrow is grocery shopping day, the kids still have treats, and snacks, and there is enough food for many lunches and a couple of dinners still left in the freezer. Bread is low, as is milk, but there is enough to last til tomorrow.
So I am learning rocket science.....slow but sure. How is your food budget? Any tips for a slow learner??? Maybe I will share what I actually bought and my menu plan for this next week, so you can help me along.Sassy still gets her Fancy Feast and Purina One....I worked it into the budget and she is happy about that!
Blessings, Bren