by Ashley
Food spending has always been a bit of a struggle for us. Last month, I really set my mind to tightening up our budget and documenting our weekly spending to help keep me accountable.
Check out previous updates:
I ended up traveling during Week 4 and never finished the month up with a proper Food Spending Report.
As a reminder, I had originally planned to spend $300 for restaurants/eating out and $450 for groceries. But when I started using Every Dollar’s budgeting software, I realized I was still spending too much money on food! I ended up lowering my food budget down to $200 for restaurants/eating out and $350 for groceries.
When I’d last left off (in Week 3), I had $98 left in our grocery budget, but I had no money leftover at all for any restaurants/eating out expenses.
April Spending
In the end, I came SO.SO. close to hitting our goals, but went just a smudge above-budget. Our final food spending for the month of April came to $404 in groceries and $217 in restaurants/eating out. That was $71 above budget (but still well below what has become our average food spending). One caveat is that we also had Dream Dinners in April, which cost another $250 on food. Our total April food spending came to $871. The previous month, our bill had been over $1,000 so this represents progress but it’s still nowhere near where we need to be. I want to get our total food spending down to $700/month (combined restaurants and groceries).
Plan for May
For the month of May, we have no Dream Dinners. I increased our grocery budget to $450 in an effort to subsidize some of the loss of not having Dream Dinners. I increased our restaurant/eating out budget to $250. That’s a total of $700 for the month in food. I know this is still a crazy-high number for many others, but it’s a STRUGGLE for us and leaves us with eating many interesting and not-so-palatable food options just to use up what we’ve got. It’s been tough, but I think it’s good for us. And with this month already over the half-way point, I can say we’re currently on-par with where we need to be. As the summer begins and I get to spend more time working from home I anticipate a more relaxed and flexible work schedule. Hopefully this will allow me extra time to do my due diligence with meal planning, sales ad shopping, food prep, etc. Wish me luck!
How many people are in your family and what is your current food budget per week (or per month)?
p.s. Incidentally, I found a great article on what proteins you should buy if you’re short on cash. Its over at my friend Angela’s site, groceryshrink.com.
