Wednesday, February 24, 2010

grocery shopping for 6

buying groceries for a family of six is going to be a huge adjustment for me. i've spent that past year perfecting our grocery budget and can spend only about $30 a week on groceries. that is including all our toiletries and cleaning supplies and even stocking up on diapers. well with have 5 males in the house that $30 might only buy meat for the week.

i'm a huge coupon fanatic and follow several different blogs that help me get the most of out of my shopping trip. blogs like moneysavingmom.com and faithfulprovisions.com and southersavers.com. these blogs are fantastic and help me match my coupons to the sale items. it is very rare that i ever pay full price for anything. and my average cost per item is about $.50 an item. it's like a game to me and it actually is a huge stress reliever for me to go grocery shopping.

so how do you shop for a family of 6 with 5 of those being males that could each eat you out of house and home? i'm learning alot about nutrition and what will make them full but still be good for them. since i still have a little time before they move home permanently i'm trying to stock up on some items when they go on sale. these boys will eat anything you put on their plates so i'm stocking up on anything i can. i have several vegetables and sauces i have chopped and put in the freezer for different meals. this past week publix had pasta on sale for about $.50 plus my coupons so i got several boxes for the pantry.

however, even with all the preparation i'm trying to do i'm having to release myself from my $30 a week challenge. i'm not saying that i'm going to buy everything in the store. but i do want my kids to have plenty to eat and to have healthy food choices. it's totally worth the money. so i'll keep stocking up on cereal, granola bars, pasta, muffin mixes, crackers, popcorn, and everything else while i anxiously await the larger grocery bills that are in my near future.

3 comments:

Amy said...

One thing I have learned that I LOVE about having a boy- he sure makes me feel good about my cooking!!! Micah will eat anything and everything, love it, and want more! Meanwhile the little miss' poke at their food and go "EEWW whats IN this?!" Micah boosts back up my cooking confidence. :)

Unknown said...

$30 a week!?! Whoa! I have been trying to diligently coupon for about 6 months now. Sorting them, following the blogs and matching coupons with sales. I have not seen my grocery bill go down. I obviously suck at it. :( In fact, the past couple weeks I haven't done much with the coupons and have spent less. I think I'm giving it up for a while. It's not saving me money and it's costing me too much time. Maybe I need some lessons from you.

us said...

it's true that it isn't worth it if it's not saving you and just taking up time. but good for you, Amy, for spending less and not even trying. i'm not sure if i will be as good or a diligent with a toddler running around the house all day but i'm sure gonna try.

other amy, i totally agree that boy making cooking so much fun. i'm think i might cry if my kids told me what i cooked was gross and they weren't going to eat it. oh well, guess God knew i needed some boys to boost my cooking confidence first.