What is the 'average' or 'normal' amount of money a family of 5 spends on food per month? This would include eating out budget (we don't eat out much though) and mostly organic. A few years ago when my littles were littler but we had a highschool exchange student and a college student living with us I was really good at meal planning and we spent about $400-500/month. Now without the highschooler and college student but older littles (2, 6 and 7 instead of 3 and 4) we spend a good amount more. Last month I really paid attention to the budget, I meal planned moderately (dinner co-op was well planned out, other meals less so, eating out almost non-existent) and we barely kept it under $700.

I really expected that we spent less on food, I feel like that is a ton of money to spend on food. Looking back over the month I'm not sure how I can get it much lower easily and so I wanted to compare budget notes before I put to much work into this. This is without any stock up shopping, none to minimal convenience food buying (we don't eat much of this anyhow), no eating out, no special dinners with friends...... Just family normal eating at home. Our diet is minimal meal, not as much veggies as we want but more than 'others', lots of fruit, no juice, no eggs (our chickens provide all the eggs we need)....

Thanks,
Sarah

Well, we don't have a family of 5 (although a couple of my kids don't eat much!) :lol: but I think it DRASTICALLY depends on your geographic region.

I know Emily's conventional groceries cost more than some of my organic ones because we live across several states from one another. It also depends on your sources (ie. you having eggs, the type we'd pay $3 - $4 a dozen for and if you have a local source for meat or produce - ie. my CSA feeds us many weeks of the summer and we don't really put that money in the budget because we pre-pay for the whole 26 week season).

What I would suggest is sit down and figure out what you spend now and then what you would LIKE to spend - less or more - and where you can make those adjustments.

Necessity is the mother of all inventions. It seems that whatever I have available is what I spend. It may be lower or higher, but whatever it is, it's gone. I'd suggest not to worry about how much you need, but instead estimate at what you think "should" be practical. Take the excess money and bank it someplace where you can access it, but not easily. Then see if you can cope. Betcha you can! After one month you will really know what you need. (which could be higher or lower than your original estimate)

I think it would be difficult to compare what you were paying a few years ago to now....food prices are MUCH higher.
When it is the five of us (and my 18 year old is at college), I spend $150-200 per week at the store (but that doesn't include eating out costs).

Okay - re-reading your post, I'm wondering if you have a receipt that breaks it down by where you're spending the money? Like, at my grocery store, they have the produce in one section of the receipt, the dairy, etc.

And, in my case, we spend the bulk of our grocery budget on produce. But, when I look at the price of, say, a whole chicken or a roast these days - eesh. I don't mind spending $3.99 on asparagus :)

Necessity is the mother of all inventions. It seems that whatever I have available is what I spend. It may be lower or higher, but whatever it is, it's gone. I'd suggest not to worry about how much you need, but instead estimate at what you think "should" be practical. Take the excess money and bank it someplace where you can access it, but not easily. Then see if you can cope. Betcha you can! After one month you will really know what you need. (which could be higher or lower than your original estimate)

I agree with this totally. In Novembert and December, we got by on $30-$50 a week including pet food, dish soap etc. In the past, I have spent over $200 on a week and a half's worth of groceries and supplies or anything in between.

Currently, I am starting a google spreadsheet with grocery expenses to get a handle on what we spend per month. I am saving receipts and at the end of every month I am going to total up expenditures for categories such as produce, non-edibles, bread/bagels/etc, frozen foods, snacks etc. and figure out what would be best to either buy in bulk or by the case.

Okay - re-reading your post, I'm wondering if you have a receipt that breaks it down by where you're spending the money? Like, at my grocery store, they have the produce in one section of the receipt, the dairy, etc.

And, in my case, we spend the bulk of our grocery budget on produce. But, when I look at the price of, say, a whole chicken or a roast these days - eesh. I don't mind spending $3.99 on asparagus :)

I totally agree with you about the cost of meat compared to produce- I'm fine with spending it on produce. When I finish up with the kids school stuff here I will sit down with the food reciepts and look at them closer.

The thing is that in our budget I 'can' spend $700 on food but it just sounds high and I don't know if it is or not. I know what we spent years ago- as before mentioned. If I could put more of that away or give more to charity without eating beans daily then that would be great :)

Sarah

I agree with this totally. In Novembert and December, we got by on $30-$50 a week including pet food, dish soap etc. In the past, I have spent over $200 on a week and a half's worth of groceries and supplies or anything in between.

I know that I could get by on $50/week if we ate soley from our well stocked pantry and freezer- but that would only last so long. So for a temporary time period (1 month at least, possibly 2) I could do that but that is without any restocking going on and being very bare in the end. I plan to do this anyhow because I don't like to be as stocked as I am at the moment, it feels wasteful if we aren't eating through it and replenishing and keeping it at least somewhat fresh. So that is why I am looking for some sort of average.

Sarah

The thing is that in our budget I 'can' spend $700 on food but it just sounds high and I don't know if it is or not. I know what we spent years ago- as before mentioned. If I could put more of that away or give more to charity without eating beans daily then that would be great :)

Sarah

I guess it's all in your perception. I don't think $700 a month is high to eat well. If you can afford it - it's your health and wellness that are so hinged on a balanced, healthy diet - and that's worth it, IMO :)

What I usually do is plan at least one super frugal night a week (something dried - peas/beans/lentils - in your case that might be an egg dish) and a night where we eat from the freezer/pantry. Otherwise, I tend to not use what's already there, and I just keep buying more things.

But, we did eat from our freezer and pantry when we hit a rough spot (or eight) this year and it REAAAALLY saved our behinds, financially. Everyone should have a stash of food, period! When we got a little extra money around the holidays, our first trip was to Sam's to re-load the freezer and pantry. Then, if I have to get by on $50 or $100 a week one month, I know we'll be okay with the things we have stashed.

What I usually do is plan at least one super frugal night a week (something dried - peas/beans/lentils - in your case that might be an egg dish) and a night where we eat from the freezer/pantry. Otherwise, I tend to not use what's already there, and I just keep buying more things.

Thank you for sharing that tip- I will definitely be doing that when I work on meal planning this week! I had forgotten that I used to schedule at least one freezer/pantry meal per week when I was actively meal planning before- good reminder.

Sarah

Alslo remember that food costs have gone up dramatically over the last 2-3 years. I found a receipt the other day while cleaning out, and I was shocked at some of the differences.

One thing I noticed today was that at least half of what I normally buy was up by at least 50cents to a dollar. I've seen suggestions where folks have a book that tells them the least they've paid for a product & that would come in very handy to compare, I haven't been bothered to put one together in a long while, but it may be time to do that again. I was very surprised as these were things I buy weekly & know the price (& bargain price of).

eta, I think alot of the difference has to do with gas (shipping) price increases.

I spend $300 a month on groceries for our family of six.

However, that's not organic, unfortunately. It's buying everything as ingredients and making them from scratch. It means we usually only buy what is on sale or in season. We stock our freezer and pantry with good deals so we're always eating low-priced food. I buy big 22-pound bags of flour and rice. I am very inventive as far as making meals or recipes based on what's on hand or needs to be used up.

For school lunches, the kids get a sandwich, a peice of fruit, and something homebaked like a muffin or a couple of cookies or something. For my husband's lunches, he packs leftovers and heats them up at work in the microwave. We're not as whole-foods and perfect-eating as many on here, but we're way ahead of most people in real life! LOL.

Kerri

I think it varies so much. We currently eat on $400/month. That doesn't include toiletries or toilet paper or pet food. It does include bulk purchases like our 1/4 beef and CSA share in summer. It doesn't include eating out, which we do only rarely. It also doesn't includes schoolday breakfast for either kid, they get free at school, and only includes lunch for one, the other one eats at school for $8/month. And dh's lunch is not included either! So that alone tells you why it's so low...

I think that in your case, what Meeshi and others suggested, really tracking and tallying up where in the shopping list the $ is going, will help you see if you can cut somewhere, you know? Then you can decide: how do I want to reallocate our spending for groceries? It's very positive that you are able to do $700 and just looking at reducing to put money elsewhere...I mean that must be a good feeling. You're able to approach this from a position of strength not a need to cut back. So every time you weigh a purchase, you can say: I'm looking at healthy eating and amount of spending. You can continue to prioritize healthy eating and feel good about your budget if you can't cut much, kwim?

Also food costs have gone up incredibly. And the older they get the more they eat.

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/2007/CostofFoodOct07.pdf

That's the most recently published US government cost-of-food average. Kind of useful.

Alslo remember that food costs have gone up dramatically over the last 2-3 years. I found a receipt the other day while cleaning out, and I was shocked at some of the differences.

I think this is such a good point!! I keep thinking, how did we used to survive on $30 a week for groceries (just dh and I) and then I think, well, uh, yeah, so that was TEN years ago! Even the difference from 2 years ago is huge. I paid $3.50 for a gallon of 1% milk and 61 cents a pound for bananas a couple days ago. Two years ago I would have spent $1.98 for the milk and 32 cents a pound on bananas.

Yes the food prices have really shot up. I can't even run to the store to pick up a few things without it being over $100...and I'm not buying junk.
I don't even know how much we spend on food in a month, but we go out quite a bit so it's a lot.

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/2007/CostofFoodOct07.pdf

That's the most recently published US government cost-of-food average. Kind of useful.

Huh, interesting. According to that chart we are eating between the thrift to low cost level- but are eating organically mostly which I doubt that chart was based on. Ok so this whole discussion has really helped me see that I am not TOO far off base with our costs. It sounds like a lot because I guess food is expensive, lol :lol:

I checked my reciepts and the stores I shop at the most for food do not itemize the catagories. I did however see that we spent $120 frivilously in our food budget that I didn't realize. Dh went out for coffee with the guys a few mornings, I had a day out with my mom at the very beginning of December that I had forgotten about and there were a few other times out that were wrapped up in Christmas related outings. I had forgotten these outings because I had been using up gift cards and free kids meal coupons and forgot that we still had some costs (tips, adult portions). I went ahead and wrote our food budget for this month at $600 (out of sight out of mind) and allotted the extra $100 to the savings fund. We have a majoy family trip planned this month so we'll see if it will be easier to stay in a slightly lower budget due to eating with Grandma a lot or harder because we will be away from home.

Thank you so much ladies- I really appreciate you all chiming in (and feel free to continue to do so). In my head I think a budget of $500/month sounds 'right' but that isn't based on much reality-wise, its just a number. Sounds like compared to 'America' $700 is doing pretty good and I think that with some more attention I could fairly easily get down to $600 (we'll see this month). With months that I am pantry purging I can get it lower on occassion.

I've always wanted to do the food cost/comparison booklet but it seems like a good amount of work to get started. I'll think about it more, maybe. I need to come up with a format in my head that I like.

Sarah

Also I'm a major beginner gardener so I'm not to knowledgable about what is in season and when. I am much better since my stint in gardening last summer but I have much to learn yet. Is there a link/chart for that?

We've been eating a lot more frozen than we have in the past as far as veggies. Asparagus and green beans I can get frozen and often organic and I have a way to cook that we all like it. I've been hearing some debate about frozen veggies being better than fresh (not counting from your own garden or CSA though- that always wins).

Our CSA last year did NOT pay for itself at all, we mostly just watched the food go bad each week (I know- bad me!). This year I do not plan to get the CSA again, I'll just buy individual things from their store front. Our garden was more productive than expected so we ate a lot from there. This coming year I'd like to do our garden again and expand it. I should be able to get a really good amount from our own garden (at least all our greens) plus last year we did a lot of 'u-pick' stuff from local organic gardens. Our chickens are currently laying about one dozen eggs every two days and should be doing that or more in the spring/summer weather.

Sarah

We budget $500/month for groceries for the 5 of us. I spend less than that with the big grocery trips once a week, usually 80-120 a week. That's at Publix with thier "green" meat 2-3 meals a week plus a lot of organics. We eat out twice a month for $30-$50 each meal. I do not keep track of any trips to the grocery in between the weekly grocery trips. Those would put us at the $500 budgeted amount. Counting eating out we spend close to what you budget at $700.

i spend $300 a month on groceries. looks like we're below the thrifty level on that chart...lol! that amount includes breakfast and lunch for everyone almost all of the time and dinner every night minus one, where we're usually at my mom's house. we have $20 a week to spend on family fun, which is often eating out.

i tracked spending the first half of last year and found that i spent b/w $30-$45 for non food every month...all paper and cleaning and health products.

it's all a fun challenge for me. big big big give and take with how we eat as far as what and how much is organic. i certainly can't do all organic on $300, but i can do more and less depending on other choices i make.

i tell you what...i am *dreaming* of getting this house sold, moving into an apartment (which would be almost all we needed to get by each month even if dh didn't make more than he is right now), and then all of a sudden dh's business takes off...and we have money for me to eat exactly like i want us to eat.

I checked my reciepts and the stores I shop at the most for food do not itemize the catagories.

Actually, I always load the conveyor belt with everything grouped together and for the most part it gets scanned so that things are together~ I do produce, bulk, boxes, bathroom stuff and detergents and baggies etc, frozen, breads, misc.

I try to keep our grocery budget at about $300-350/month. I don't think I could do this when we were in Tacoma..I think our food budget there was $400/month. I do a menu plan and keep a grocery list going as we run out of things so I know what to get and I try to stick to the list. I stopped buying snacky type foods as much and started making more homemade stuff. That has helped a lot. I buy as much organic as I can...organic milk, etc. I can't do everything organic, but I don't buy "junky" stuff. Eating left overs for lunch helps and making homemade treats and snacks also helps. Flour and baking stuff is cheaper in the long run than buying premade...especially when buying organic.

we spend anywhere from $600-800 per month on groceries for a family of 5 (older kids)...we do eat meat and i do get organic when i can (those would be months i can budge for the higher end) but not all the time (months i need to keep it on the lower end.)

that gives me at least $150/week for food...which i find to be fair. some weeks i have more and those are nice ;)

we eat out as a family at least 2 times a month...no more than 4 (again...that would be on a good-budget month.) it's something we enjoy doing so we do keep it in the budget when we can.

I guess it's all in your perception. I don't think $700 a month is high to eat well. If you can afford it - it's your health and wellness that are so hinged on a balanced, healthy diet - and that's worth it, IMO :)


I totally agree. Let's just say that my family exceeds the liberal plan on that chart. :lol: So I find $700 to be great (and we are feeding only 4).

I also buy mostly organic, and not just produce--I try to buy organic of anything that exists as organic. I still am not perfect on meat, though--but that gives me the most mental angst, so I'm working on it.

I'm really trying to be better about meal planning. I'm working on cutting out the most expensive snacks (a bag of gluten-free pretzels is $6. But my boys love them, and it's hard for me to not buy them.) But my eye isn't on the total amount, really, but just on thoughtful spending.

You have some good ideas already, and sometimes just being aware of it is enough.

Oh lordy, I have two teens and a seven year old

so

feeding the five of us is a lot of dough.

We don't buy expensive food much but just keeping up with the quantity of the basics, well, I won't even say what that costs.

We are not big meat eaters either.

Let's just say that when my eldest winds up eating at a friend's house, I am thankful to the other parent for feeding him (he is 6'2" and though he is slim, he is an eater!)

I'm right there with you and those stupid pretzels, Heather *sigh* Forget organic, I'm just happy with 'safe'

and Sarah, I envy you your eggs. :)

I can do healthy (but mostly non-organic) on $400-500 a month but it involves a *lot* of baking on my part, shopping primarily at Aldi (yet avoiding packaged foods), and lots of soup. This includes everything...laundry detergent, dog food, paper products, cleaners, etc.

The past 3 months were super tight and I kept it right at that most of the time (until my oven died lol).

We do eat meat. I found I could get the best prices on meat on Tuesdays. The stuff that hadn't sold the previous weekend was marked down 25% so anything that was already sale priced was a good deal. I freeze it all except what I planned to use immediately.

I don't think I have it in me to maintain that budget long term. Our choices were limited (potatoes and bean soup gets old after a while) and I had to spend more time in the kitchen than I like. There was no eating out. And there were a lot of egg based meals (which is fine, but gets old).

$600-700 a month is a comfortable monthly budget for us (includes non-food items too). Even that isn't living extravagantly...still buying cheapest meats possible, cooking from scratch and baking (if I had an oven lol), and mostly non-organic. But it allows for some treats, meat more often, and less soup (which dh prefers).

My family falls below the thrifty amount. :lol: We are a family of 5 plus my 22 year old brother. I feed the 6 of us at around $400/month. I get out $100 each Friday. It's not all organic. I don't buy a lot of prepackaged items. I shop at SuperTarget. I try to use as many coupons as possible for things I already buy. I combine them with sales. I also try to stock up during great sales and buy enough to get me to the next sale for that item. I try to get to SuperTarget in the mornings because that is when they have their markdown meat available.

Right now I'm going to shoot for $50-$75/week because we have a fairly stocked pantry and freezer.

Making menus around what I currently have and then making a list and sticking to it is what keeps my total down, I think.

I have noticed that with the increased cost of groceries it is getting more difficult to stay under $100.

I think it depends on where you live.

We live in the middle of rural Wyoming. (very short growing season) Everything is shipped in. I think this raises the cost, especially on organic. I have to pick and choose what we can afford to buy as far as organic is concerned. We have two grocery stores so not a lot of competition. (three if you count Wal Mart) One health food store which has ridiculous prices since there is no competition and they are rather unethical there with what they charge. I know if we lived elsewhere, our budget would be slashed in the food category.

We have seven in our home. (four are teenagers) We do not eat out unless it is free. (gift card given to us or when grandparents come to town and want to take us out) The only exception is for longer trips to see medical specialists. (short medical trips, we pack our own food)

$1300 a month is the cash I have. Most months we have zero left. When we do have some left, it goes on debt.

Oh my goodness, even with that amount, we are a hair under the "low cost plan".

Michelle

I usually have about 400/mo to spend, so that is what I spend AND it includes paper goods, detergent and cleaners. I wait for great sales and use lots of coupons. :) I could easily spend much more, but it just isn't available. Me and the girls are not big eaters, DH is.

I'm in awe at some of the bigger budgets. I would love to have that, but short of having a whole lot more money around, it just can't happen.

Oh, and I know we are in the SE, but our groceries are definitely not cheaper, just because the pay is. LOL If anything, we are on the high side when you consider that we pay sales tax on groceries.

Doesn't everyone pay sales tax on groceries? We do here too. I had no idea that some didn't.

Our comfortable grocery budget is 1/4 our monthly net income...which seems insane to me. But we have other expenses that most people have that we choose to not have (2nd car, cable tv, cell phone other than tracfone, etc) so it works for us. Well, sort of works. I'd prefer more money to spend, of course lol.

Doesn't everyone pay sales tax on groceries? We do here too. I had no idea that some didn't.

Our comfortable grocery budget is 1/4 our monthly net income...which seems insane to me. But we have other expenses that most people have that we choose to not have (2nd car, cable tv, cell phone other than tracfone, etc) so it works for us. Well, sort of works. I'd prefer more money to spend, of course lol.

I know we didn't when we lived in MI, and to be honest, they did just reduce SC's to 3% from 6%.

Yeah, that would be a bit over 1/4 our net income. Health ins. is killing us here. And FTR, we don't have excessive bills, either, just not a lot of dough. LOL

That would be cool to not have to pay sales tax on food. Every little bit helps.

I'm totally with ya on the not a lot of dough thing lol.

I know I couldn't fit health insurance into the budget if we had to pay it out of pocket. In fact, when we didn't have it provided by dh's job, we didn't have health insurance. That was the biggest factor in him choosing to work for someone else instead of being self employed. Major kudos to you for fitting it in! I'm impressed bc I know how expensive it is.

Food is non taxable in Ohio. I couldn't imagine paying tax on food.

We are a family of four...kids are 5 and 7. We spend $550 a month on gas and food (including toilet paper, dog food, shampoo, ect.). That is not enough in my opinion for us. My budget has always been a minimum of $100 a week but since we bought our first house a few years ago we have to keep it at $550 a month for food and gas. We moved and couple of years ago and the gas prices are much higher here....right now they are $3.60 a gallon...give or take a few cents. That really eats into our food budget, even with only going out a couple of times a week into Eureka (20 min. away). I shop at Costco, Grocery outlet, k-mart, Safeway's ads, and finally Winco. I do this every week and it saves me a lot of money but I would love to have more to stop by the Co-op. I make most of our stuff but had to stop baking our weekly bread in the winter because my oven costs too much to run. I can't imagine trying to feed older kids as well on $500 a month. I am always amazed when I see families spending under $100 a week or bigger families living off what they do.

Food is non taxable in Ohio. I couldn't imagine paying tax on food.

Wyoming went no-tax on food about a year ago....really a great blessing!

Michelle

Just commenting on the girls photo.....Meeshi they are beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!! My goodness. Breathtaking.

I miss keeping up on your family through that photo album you had a long time ago online. You have a sweet family who I've always enjoyed watching grow and hear about online.

Michelle

No sales tax on food here. There also wasn't in IN, and I don't think there was in IL either.

No sales tax on unprepared food here either. :)

I'm right there with you and those stupid pretzels, Heather *sigh* Forget organic, I'm just happy with 'safe'

and Sarah, I envy you your eggs. :)


Between mine and Sarah's chickens Jody, I am sure you could squeeze a few dozen eggs out of us in the next few months. I keep having to use mine so I don't fill up my second 18 egg thing in the fridge! lol! Planning on making quiche this weekend to make them all go away. ;)

Sarah... I was looking at my grocery bill and just from last year it has shot up by over $100 per month just for the stuff I would "normally" buy. So yep... grocerys have gone up BIG TIME. I wouldn't be surprized if this year the farmers market is actually comprable to the grocery store, esp for organics.

We are right there with you though. I tallied up what we did for groceries three days ago (I told you... we are linked at the brain! Sometimes it is down right spooky), printed out my bank statement, and then highlighted what we spent last month in groceries, and then in eating out. It was nearly $800, just for food! Glad we can do that now, but WOW... that is SO much money! Yikes... Just 4 years ago I got buy for two years (late 2003 - 2005) on $218 and then $240 a month. There is no way I could do that now. I am guessing food stamps have gone up seriously too. They just have to keep with how much things are costing these days.

I honestly am shooting for $700 this month, and then less next. Getting back to cash like I was when I started the dinner co-op with you would help to. I just need to menu plan... I did it a bit tonight... but then had to buy more because Don will be home for meals this next three weeks... so I have to account for Mr Picky. I love him, but man, that was a pain. :p

Val

I have been spending around $75 per week on food. We are trying to make a conscious effort to stop spending so much on food. Part of our issue was that we were eating out a lot. We have stopped that. Our food bill has plummeted and we are eating so much better.

Family of 4, everyone takes a lunch from home. I usually have at least one more kid around for dinner once or twice per week.

I have noticed the huge price increases over the past couple years. However, I have noticed the biggest increases were related to milk, eggs, meat, cheese, etc... The price of a bag of dried beans does not seem to have fluctuated a whole lot in Maryland.

We have been leaning towards vegetarianism for awhile and have committed to the lifestyle for a year (reassuring for dh, lol) with a planned attempt to actually become vegan (for the most part...I can't give up honey). The marked decrease in the food bill was astounding, even though I've switched over to buying organic (maybe 80%). If I didn't let the kids have Morningstar patties once per week and didn't buy the frozen sweet potato fries and if I didn't "need" an out of season fruit or veggie here and there, I could probably feed us for $50-$60 per week. Believe me when I say that is a far cry from what we were spending.

Between mine and Sarah's chickens Jody, I am sure you could squeeze a few dozen eggs out of us in the next few months. I keep having to use mine so I don't fill up my second 18 egg thing in the fridge! lol! Planning on making quiche this weekend to make them all go away. ;)

:lol: Leila *loves* eggs. She yelled at Eric and walked around pouting last month because he ate a bunch of eggs when we were out of town - and when we bought more, she lectured him on how he shouldn't eat HER eggs. :lol: Given that she can't eat so many things, I'm glad she's got something she loves. I'll take any y'all want to give me! Lindsey's in school now, but I'll happily drive to get some.

we pay tax on food here in IL, too

Just commenting on the girls photo.....Meeshi they are beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!! My goodness. Breathtaking.

I miss keeping up on your family through that photo album you had a long time ago online. You have a sweet family who I've always enjoyed watching grow and hear about online.

Michelle


Thank you, Michelle!!! :D

Lindsey's in school now, but I'll happily drive to get some.

If you'll drive to get some I have at least a dozen and maybe 18 I can give you now. I know I can spare at least one dozen and possibly 2 per week. Feel free to contact me and come by Jodi :D If the kids wear rain/muck boots they can go out and collect them if they want too :)

Sarah

That is SO cool!!! How sweet of you, Sarah!

BTW - Gwen (SoggyGranola) might be looking at doing a PC online party. She's posted about it on the market and I recommended you since mine was So easy. She needs a few (inexpensive) items and I thought doing one on the board would be fast and painless for her first party ;) (note I said FIRST - because we all know when someone gets into it, they'll be hooked)

That is SO cool!!! How sweet of you, Sarah!

BTW - Gwen (SoggyGranola) might be looking at doing a PC online party. She's posted about it on the market and I recommended you since mine was So easy. She needs a few (inexpensive) items and I thought doing one on the board would be fast and painless for her first party ;) (note I said FIRST - because we all know when someone gets into it, they'll be hooked)

Thanks! I'll send her a note. All Stoneware is 20% off this month so its a good time for everyone :)

Sarah

Sarah.. wonderful! When do y'all leave? :)

Sarah.. wonderful! When do y'all leave? :)

Early next week Thursday.

Sarah

If it works for you, I could run by anytime Sunday, sometime Tuesday morning or Wed. after Lindsey gets out of school.. we won't stay and pester you - I know you've got packing to do and all that good stuff :)

If it works for you, I could run by anytime Sunday, sometime Tuesday morning or Wed. after Lindsey gets out of school.. we won't stay and pester you - I know you've got packing to do and all that good stuff :)

Sunday works- anytime after 4pm. We have a friend coming over to do a 'pet walk thru' as she will be house sitting when we are gone and we have some local mom's (not all amity mom's) coming over to swap casserole dishes. So we may or may not have someone over when you come by but none of it is really 'company' and if you have the kids they'd be welcome to stay and play for a bit. Next week I'm trying not to have anxiety about all I know I should be doing........


Sarah

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/2007/CostofFoodOct07.pdf

That's the most recently published US government cost-of-food average. Kind of useful.

Wow, we are at the "thrifty" plan for a family of 4 (but there are 5 of us). According to this even at the "thrify" plan for our ages we should be @ $161; normally we spend about $125 for the 5 of us.

works for me. PM me directions from 1-5 again, will you? I'll most likely run out without the kids, but we'll have to see if they're making me nuts or not :)

Wow, we are at the "thrifty" plan for a family of 4 (but there are 5 of us). According to this even at the "thrify" plan for our ages we should be @ $161; normally we spend about $125 for the 5 of us.

I'm surprised to see I usually spend at the thrifty plan level, too. Totally bizarre to me, especially considering that I don't feel as if we're deprived of fun stuff or anything. To the contrary, I think I buy too many unnecessary fun things. :p I'll have to rethink that.

Well I think it's an average of what people DO spend rather than how thrifty they COULD spend, you know? All of us frugal Mamas help to lower the average, but alot of people don't really consider cutting back on groceries.

Kerri

$700/month is around our usual food budget as well. I'd like to scale it back, but with an assortment of dairy and non-dairy items, etc... It really adds up.