No, we don't eat dog food around here.

Not too long ago I was discussing how we budget for grocery money with a few people.  They were shocked to hear that we only spend $200 a month on our groceries.  I happily explained that we have budgeted for spending $80 every two weeks on normal groceries and we set aside $40 a month for Sam's Club, which we make a trip to about every three months to stock up.  Their reply "well you must be buying dog food or something because that would never work in MY house, and we only feed 4 people."


Well we sure do not eat dog food around here, that stuff is expensive!  I could buy a lot of groceries with that money, and I do!  Now I know not everyone is able to make a meal every night, some have busier schedules than others.  Some prefer to eat out more often, some don't know how to cook, or are trapped in the ease convenience foods offer.  Some also live in a higher cost of living area than where we do.  There are lots of things that factor into a grocery budget.  Believe me, I didn't get here over night- we used to be all those people!  But I have been asked several times for a walk though of how we do it.  So here it goes.  I'm going to take you along with me on our two week meal planning journey!  Are you excited yet? I am!  I have to say this post is going to be a bit challenging for me, and it might get long, you have been warned!  But you will see just how we make it all work.  And I promise, no dog food!  But there will be some yummy dinner pictures!

Where it all starts.  We have decided that every two weeks we do our meal planning and grocery shopping. I buy and plan for enough to get us until the end of two weeks and then we start it all over again, rinse and repeat, you get the picture.  First it starts by sitting down with Mr. Bacon and the kids.  This is usually done around a big breakfast on the weekend (normally a Saturday unless we are busy).  After breakfast we talk about what we'd like for meals the next two weeks. Yes completely as a family!  The kids get to pick out one meal each that they would like to have.  This helps get them involved. They also get to help make that dinner the night we are having it.  

my crazy insane way to organize it all, yes I'm a list person!

Here is what we came up with for the two weeks (this was from Aug. 12-27th). These are in no particular order. We do check out the calender and see if we need to make adjustments for anything that is scheduled, like when one of us works.  I also check out the weather! Yes I do.  Why? Right now it's grilling season and I want to make sure if I'm planning to grill out, it won't rain on my parade!

Here is our dinner meal plan.

Spaghetti, garlic cheese bread, salad
Grilled chicken, wild rice, sauteed mushrooms, peas & carrots on grill, garlic toast
Grilled steak & shrimp, grilled taters, corn on the cob We ended up having fresh grilled fresh veggies from the garden!
crunchy fish, homemade fries, veggie
Tinfoil meal (burger, taters, carrots grilled)
Beef stir fry over rice
Grilled hamburgers, beans and fruit
Italian diced chicken, bread sticks, salad
tacos and fruit
meatloaf (Nancy's!) taters, veggie
chicken wraps & fruit
Breakfast for dinner
homemade pizza
Curly chicken and peas

Yes I really DO know what is in there!

Now that we have that figured out.  Time to make my grocery list. I start by scouring the pantry to see what we already have.  I always say shop at home first when making your meal plan. You already have the food, you better eat it up!  Then it's on to searching the fridge and freezer too.  What ever I don't have for a recipe goes on the grocery list.  For example we have tacos on our menu.  I was out of shells, so they went on the list.  We are lucky this summer to have a very good garden that is producing quite well.  I know not every has room for a garden but if you do, for a little work you get a lot in return! 



Want to know what my shopping list looks like for this trip?  I have included the prices for each food I bought as well. I know these costs differ depending on where you live.  We are in central Minnesota and thankfully the prices are not super high here yet. 

Ma Bacon's shopping list:
Wheat Germ $3.50
Liquid smoke  $.98
Carrots  $1.48
mushrooms $3.18
1 Lemon $.48
1 Red pepper $1.64
Lettuce $1
taco shells $.38 x4 (I bought 4 boxes! They were priced $1.38 and had a $1/1 coupon on them!)
tortillas $2.08
bacon $3.48
fresh fruit
-bananas $1.12 for 2lbs
-apples  $3.97/4 lb bag
-pineapple $2.10
-strawberries 1.48x2
chicken lunch meat $5.91 for just over 1 lb from deli
hamburger & hot dog buns $1.25 each
coffee creamer $2.38
1lb margarine .92
bread $1.50/loaf x2
cool whip $2.88
provolone cheese slices $3.38
cheese $4.28 1lb block of co-jack
summer sausage $4.98
Oregano $1.98
Milk x3 gallons $3.26 ea
dozen eggs x2 $1.48 ea
frozen juice concentrate x3 $.92 ea
_______________________
While these were on my list, they do not count to our $200 for groceries. That money is for food only.  We do budget $60 a month to spend on 'other' items such as these.  Most months we do not spend the whole $60.
Toilet paper
paper towels for garage
Tylenol for my teething Bacon Bit

things I picked up that were not on my list
Taco sauce $1.77
BIG can mandarin oranges (Miss Bacon's favorite) $1.66
 2 loafs discount french bread $1.04 each

That's it!  The rest we had at the house already!  Most of what I bought we will eat up within the two weeks, a few are pantry items that we were out of like wheat germ and liquid smoke. Each shopping trip I seem to have something that needs to be restocked in the pantry, but at least I'm not replacing everything all at once! 

So my total for my entire shopping trip to buy food for two weeks = $82.71!  I'm over by $2.71, I guess I should have put back that cool whip, but it's so yummy on my coffee drinks and the kids like it as a treat on their ice cream, and it was delicious on those waffles we had for dinner the other night!  But it wasn't something we needed.  In the end. I don't think we did too bad considering how the prices of everything has gone up.  Has anyone else noticed this too? It seems almost everything we bought we had to pay about .20 more for.  Honestly Mr. Bacon and I have been thinking of increasing our food budget by $20 because of that. Right now we are trying to keep it at that $200 level as much as we can.

Now we also buy food from Sam's club like I mentioned earlier.  We budget out $40 a month from the $200 and keep it separate.  Then about every three months we stock up on things like meat and frozen veggies.  This is the cheapest way for us to buy meat we found.  We used to search the sale ad's and shop several different stores to get what is on sale, but since moving a few years ago we don't have access to all those stores without a long drive.  This is easier and cheaper for us. So here is what our trip there looks like with costs.

Sam's Club List:
25# flour-8.96
2- 6# bag frozen chicken breasts 12.98
3# pepperoni 8.18
3 cheese blend (for pizzas) $14.24
10# 93% lean ground beef  $27.73
Round steaks $12.58 (can't remember how many pounds this was, but it's enough for 2 meals)
4# apples 6.48
animal crackers 6.68
container of taco seasoning $3.98
3# bananas $1.48
Giant can ketchup $3.28
6 pack black olives $6.78
Total $137.31

Yes I know, I'm over by $17.31.  It's not always perfect and thankfully I had extra left over from a few weeks back in the grocery budget.  When I have extra left over in my grocery budget and there are no good sales to stock up on, many times I move the extra to the Sam's club folder.  That way we are covered when this happens.  Also I was shocked once again on the rise in prices.  Flour went up $2, pepperoni almost $3 since the last time we shopped.  I still don't think we did too bad to get though the next three months.  We do still have a few things in the freezer like pork loin, and a few roasts that help to get through too. 

Now that we are fully stocked for two weeks, I can relax and not have to worry about last minute items I forgot to buy and running to the store for one thing and coming home with three bags of things we didn't need and fifty less dollars in my pocket!! 

So are you curious about what else we eat besides dinner? I assure you we have 3 meals a day and even a few snacks added in there, no one goes hungry around here.  All the items I needed to make the rest of what we eat I had on hand. 

Breakfasts are pretty laid back here:
Waffles- usually I make them ahead and freeze them so we just pop them in the toaster
pancakes
scrambled eggs (with ham I found in freezer & cheese)
cereal
oatmeal
toast
homemade muffins
Amish friendship bread (I have tons of these loafs in the freezer, a month ago I did a double batch which made 16 loafs of bread!!)

Lunches around here look much like this:
PB & J
tuna salad
hot dogs
lunch meat sandwiches
cheese quesadillas
homemade pizza (of some form)
waffles or pancakes
BBQ sandwiches
Homemade lunchables
leftovers from dinner
All lunch is served with some type of fruit or veggie  and usually homemade yogurt.

Snacks:
Animal crackers
muffins
fruit/veggies
homemade pudding
homemade popsicles
circle crackers (like ritz) with peanut butter
homemade cookies, or bars (I usually make a batch a week or every other week)
air popped popcorn
homemade granola bars
homemade yogurt
homemade trail mix

So once again, we don't eat dog food around here!  And no one can complain they can't find anything to eat either!  I hope this has helped you figure out how exactly how we shop and plan to feed the Bacon family and just how to spend around $200 a month to feed a family of 6.  I'm always busy planning and working hard to keep it at this amount.  I actually like showing just how it can be done.  And I know a lot of you are thinking, sure I could do it one week, but every week I'm not sure on.  So I'm going to do this a few times so you can see it does work!  You have to put some effort into it, you have to be willing to learn to cook or make meals yourself too.  If you are going to try to start to trim down your grocery budget I suggest to start small with baby steps.  Replace a few convenience meals with homemade meals (I have lots of yummy one's on the blog if you need inspiration!).  Try your hand at making a few snacks at home too or cut out a night of out to eat.  All these will help you slowly add more bacon to your own pocket!

And hey I promised some yummy dinners right?  Here are some shots from our dinners over the past few days.  If this is dog food, there is one happy dog out there! 

Do you like this post? Click Here to see another meal planning grocery shopping trip of ours!

Tinfoil dinner

Spaghetti

Italian Chicken

Waffles with strawberries and cool whip,
homemade yogurt with apples

curly chicken and peas

Tacos

Fully loaded hamburger and beans

Grilled chicken, wild rice, veggies and garlic toast

Steak, shrimp, grilled garden vegeies
grilled taters and sauated mushrooms

Homemade pizza

What's in your envelope?

Last night was our MOPS (mom's of preschoolers for those who didn't know) meeting. A bunch of mommies meet up once a month for a child-free night of much needed adult conversation with no interruptions from screaming kids, no spills to clean up and no breaking up fights! It's pure bliss! Usually we have a speaker at the meetings and do some fun craft along with eating yummy food. (more on that later!) Last night a woman came to tell us how to use coupons. I didn't learn anything new, which means that I'm keeping the most bacon in my pocket. And that's a good thing. I don't use coupons a ton, but when I do use them, they save me money. Even a small savings is money saved. Something Grandma Bacon taught me when I was little. I still remember my mom lugging around her coupons- in a SHOE BOX! She may have got odd stares and questions about her box, but they saved her a lot of money, and that's what matters.

Last night we also did a neat craft to make a coupon holder that I wanted to share with you. Ok so on to making it. The best part of making this is I'm sure you have all the supplies just laying around your house already and it will only take you 10 minutes!

Here is what you need:

Front cut off from a cereal box- I happened to have just finished my box of raisin bran this morning!
envelopes (as many as you'd like, I used 15)
piece of ribbon-(you don't need this if you don't have it. String or a clip will work too)
Double stick tape or glue

Whew... got all that! That's all you need.

First take your envelopes and fold back the flap so it is open. So OPPOSITE of folding it to seal the envelope.



Next take your double sided tape or glue and place it along the part you'd lick. (yes you can even just lick the envelope instead of using tape or glue). Now stick it to the back side of the next envelope (the part you wouldn't address if sending a letter). Keep repeating this process, stacking the envelopes on top of each other until you've added the amount of envelopes you want.


Here's my stack with all 15 stuck together:


Next. Fold your cereal cover in half. If you want you can make it fancy by glueing on material or a nice piece of scrapbook paper to the box front before this step. Add tape or glue to the top envelope and stick it to the top of one side of the folded cereal box. Repeat with the bottom envelope and stick it to the other top side of the cereal box.
Here they are all stuck together.

Next you can add your ribbon for a tie. Use glue (or tape) to stick it on. If you don't have ribbon you can paper punch a hole on each side of the top and use string to hold it together. Or even a clip or just rubber band the whole thing! What ever you have laying around.

Now it's all ready for your coupons. Last night I was talking with some of the other mommies about how we save money in the Bacon house. They were impressed we spend only $200 a month on groceries for all six of us and asked how we do it. One thing I mentioned was using the envelope system for saving and spending money. After I finished this craft I looked at it and thought how perfect it is for the envelope cash!

Wondering what to do this weekend? How about sitting down with your significant other and discuss your new budget! OH come on, it's suppose to be cold and we're suppose to get between 0-8 inches of snow depending on who you talk to... what else will there be to do! (Ok if you live someplace warm pretend your stuck in MN with all the snow! OH I'm not ready for snow yet.)

So where to begin with the envelope system. You can do what I did, start with google. Type in the envelope system and there will be lots of sites explaining it. Basically write down all the non- bill things you spend money on into categories. Then decide what amount of money you think you will need for the month to buy those things. For us, one envelope holds grocery money. Since we spend $200 a month on it, I put $80 in the envelope every two weeks. The other $40 goes into our envelope for Sam's Club which we usually visit every 2-3 months. Yes every 2 weeks I go and get CASH (you know that green paper stuff) out of the bank and fill up our envelopes.

When we first started this (back when Little Miss Bacon was just a baby) we started with baby steps. I took out for four categories - gas for vehicle 1, gas for vehicle 2, food, and 'other'. Our other category was for non- food things like toilet paper, diapers, cleaning products, ect. Over the years we realized we needed to budget for other things to take full advantage of a working budget. Need some ideas of where to start, here is the list of what is in our envelopes.

Gas-vehicle 1
Gas- vehicle2
Groceries
'other'
Garbage bill
Water bill
Date night- for those rare cases where Mr. Bacon and I get to go out together without kids!
Car maintenance
Car tabs
Gifts
Sam's Club
Alcohol (hey we even need to budget for that wine we drink!)
Hunting fund

This is what we found works for our budget. The water and garbage bill are not monthly bills, they usually are ever 3 months so it helps us to know we have the money to pay for those by taking the cash out and putting it in the envelopes. As for things like Car tabs and hunting, these are things we use only once a year, we take the cost, divide it by 12 and put that much in the envelope each month. So now when car tabs are due, there's no wondering where we are going to find the money for paying for them. Our Gift fund is for saving for birthday and christmas presents. I add money in it each month and when something goes on sale, or the kids get invited to a birthday party, I have money to pick those presents up.

Mr. Bacon and I have sat down together and decided how much money should be put in each envelope each month. Again when we first started we just kinda guessed at how much we'd need. At the time we have about $300 a month in the grocery budget for only 4 of us, and one was still a baby! Each month I'd look over our receipts to see what we didn't need to buy, or what else I could make from scratch. We'd challenge ourselves to only spend $x.xx of money to lower our grocery bill and we did!

So try it out, first steps are baby steps and just start talking about a budget or categories you need for your budget. Or if you already have one decide if using cash for everything will help save you more money. It has for us. We found if we have to pay cash for something, and when the cash is gone you are out for the month, it's a big eye opener of what we should buy vs. what we thought we wanted to buy. It also helped curb a lot of those impulse buys that are too easily forgotten when using plastic to pay for them.

So this weekend, grab a cup of hot cocoa, make yourself an envelope holder and decide what you are going to put in it! I'd love to hear what you came up with.