Help with food

Mermaidyo

I'm not the richest. But I have a family of 3 to feed, and have about 80$ a week to spend on groceries. Finding the right foods to eat on this limited budget is hard. Any feedback is helpful.

lissa0040

I'm not the richest. But I have a family of 3 to feed, and have about 80$ a week to spend on groceries. Finding the right foods to eat on this limited budget is hard. Any feedback is helpful.

Hi! I would try a Farmer's Market and/or Aldi's, Save- a-lot, and Food 4 less. The farmer's markets or veggie stands have the cheapest and freshest produce. The discount grocery stores will help with the cost of chicken breast and turkey burger and things like yogurt. I hope that helps!

gpmominoh

my grocery budget and family size is close to the same. What I have found is that we cannot have many processed convenience foods. I stick to fresh fruit and veggies, meats on sales, eggs and butter. Cheese is also pretty expensive so we get it sparingly.

A few other things that I do to help --

We do not buy bottled water. We can drink it from the tap, we do have a filter pitcher and my kids both have water bottles they can take to school or sports.

Coupons - At my work we all bring in our leftover coupons. I spent about an hour a week clipping coupons, matching to sales and trying to get good deals. I am by no means an extreme couponer, but I have saved nearly $600 this year with my coupons. This also forces me to look at what is on sale at my favorite store. Nearly everything I buy is on sale or I have a coupon or both.

Stock up when things are on sale - If the store has a really good deal, I stock up. I bought uncle ben's brown rice when my store had it 10 for 10... we had rice for months. I bought canned green beans and peas on sale

Cook in advance - Since we don't have many processed foods, I have to have things that are ready to grab and go -- so I will use my crockpot to make some soup or beans on the weekend that we can grab in a pinch during the week. I also cut up fruits and veggies and have those on hand in the refrigerator. I use this pre-made stuff to bring as my lunches for work during the week.

Don't skimp on the indulgences.. We are only going to enjoy Heinz Ketcup and my 9-year old loves lays wavy potato chips (no other brand). So we buy those.. Not the healthiest options but since we do have a few of the kids indulgences no one feels cheated by the budget.

I hope some of it helps.

Mermaidyo

Thank you ladies. Sorry for the such late response. We do shop at Save a lot. and normally eat turkey burger and chicken. Also there's never processed food in our cart. I have bottles that I refill daily so I can drink throughout the day. I just feel that there is a lack of fruit and veggies because make meals and meals for a 2yr doesn't seem to go as planned.