I’m not going to lie, this second four week cycle is going to be difficult!
We decided to buy 30 pounds of pork from a local farmer. We have to pay the entire $260 upfront before we get the meat in early March. I paid the $75 deposit out of our last four week grocery cycle, and this grocery cycle, I have to pay $110 at least.
We also discovered the food co-op that we go through to buy Azure food is offering 1/4 beef, which we would love to buy, but since it comes so close to buying the pork, we simply can’t afford it. We’ll have to slowly put money aside to buy the 1/4 side of beef the next time, in September.
This year, I’m aiming to spend $6,500 total for food for my family. That amount includes groceries only, NOT toiletries. We rarely eat out, so the food I buy to prepare at home is what we eat.
Since my husband is paid bi-monthly, the goal is to spend no more than $500 every 4 weeks. (I don’t calculate the amount spent on a monthly basis but on an every 4 week cycle.)
We try to eat organic veggies and fruit as much as possible, and we try to buy meat that is grass-fed and organic. We have multiple food intolerances, with the biggies being gluten, corn, and dairy.
Here’s what we bought from January 30 to February 5th:
Sprout’s – $34.11
I splurged a bit at Sprout’s this week. In their frozen clearance section, they had rice milk ice cream pints for .99 each, so I bought 5. Hopefully that will make a nice treat for the kids over the next couple of months. I also bought some beef and broccoli so we could have beef and broccoli stir fry.
Sprout’s – $14.99
Yep, I made a second run to Sprout’s to take advantage of the red pepper sale. And then, well, I gave in to some impulse buys like Daiya cheese that was on sale. My kids had been asking for quesadillas, so I bought this for them and the raisin bread for something different for breakfast.
Costco – $128.62
I bought 12 pounds of turkey and made several freezer meals, some for the slow cooker and a few loaves of meatloaf. (The water is pictured, but we’re not including it in our grocery budget.)
Trader Joe’s – $35.58
Fry’s – $55.18
I took advantage of the Super Bowl sales to buy some kielbasa. It will go nicely with the cabbage we have to use up in the refrigerator and the red peppers that I bought on sale at Sprout’s. (Two packages of the kielbasa are not included in the picture.)
Pork Share Payment – $110
We won’t get the meat until early March, so there’s nothing to show for this yet.
TOTAL this week: $378.48
TOTAL for this 4 week cycle so far: $378.48
Remaining for this 4 week cycle: $121.52
Remaining from the the first 4 week cycle: $8.65
A Recap of This Series:
Week One $241.72
Week Two $185.88
Week Three $59.80
Week Four $28.95
TOTAL for Cycle One: $516.35 (My mom stayed with us for a week, so we raised the grocery budget to $525 to compensate.)
Are the waters for emergencies? If not, it might be cheaper to buy a filter and reusable bottles.
No, they’re not for emergencies. Our house has a water softening system, and the previous owners have the water softener go to all faucets, even the kitchen and the bathrooms, which results in some nasty, salty water. Even the filter doesn’t take care of the sodium. The expense of water drives me crazy, especially on such a limited grocery budget. I’m open to any suggestions!
Have you tried a water purifier? They do not just filter the water, but purify it. You can use any water. They do cost more, but the filters last longer. Katadyn and Berkey are good ones. (Goggle how to make your own Berkey using their filters for less) They are also good for emergencies because you can use any water source.
I’ll look into that. I went to Berkey’s website, but it said every purifier is currently out of stock??
You can also buy them on Amazon. 🙂
Why not get one of the big 5 (?) gallon water dispensers? I see where you can replace the bottles at my local Wal-Mart. That would be a lot cheaper than individual, or even gallon, bottles.
I’m not sure that it is, though. I did look into having water delivery, but that would run us $50 or so a month since our main beverage is water. I can buy 6 (1) gallon bottles at Costco for less than $4. I’ll have to look into it further. So far, we haven’t found any good solutions to our water issue.
Have you looked into a water delivery company like Sparkletts? I know they usually advertise really good “reel you in” deals for new customers but I’m not sure what the long term cost is compared to your current water budget. One of the ladies I used to work with ended up going that route last summer after she realized that her kids were going thru at least two 30-packs a week. Similar situation as you with the whole house water softener and water was their primary beverage. I remember her saying that in addition to the dispenser jugs she usually got a case or two of individual bottles with the plan she was on but I don’t remember how much it was.
Another idea is to buy the water dispenser/cooler (Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Costco sell them) and then buy the 3 or 5 gallon water bottles separately from Home Depot/Lowe’s/or even your local grocery store (some stores have water bottle refill stations). I just looked at Home Depot and for MD, they charge $7 for a 5 gallon bottle with an empty exchange.
I’m not sure they have them in AZ, but when we lived in Houston, there was a chain of water stations (Windmill Express?) that you could fill your own containers. Not sure about the cost, but I always noticed a lot of the professional landscaping crews filling up their big water coolers in the morning on the way to work.