How I Feed My Family of Five for $6,500 a Year–Week One (January 2 – 8, 2015)

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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.

When my mom stays with us, which she does four to six weeks a year, I plan to add an additional $25 a week during her stay since she’s another adult we will be feeding and we’re averaging $25 a week per person with this $500 budget.

Here’s what we bought from January 2nd to January 8th:

Trader Joe’s & Whole Foods $41.40

(This week was a little extravagant because I’m on a candida cleanse.  I bought coconut milk because coconut helps to kill the yeast and because I’m allowed to have coconut milk, hot water, and some cocoa once a day, which I enjoy greatly!)

Sprouts $22.89

(Sprouts had a rockin’ deal on cabbage–3 lbs. for $1!  The onions were for the same price.  I’ll keep the cabbage in the refrigerator for several weeks and eat it little by little.)

Costco $75.37

(Water is in this picture, but we’re not including that as part of our regular grocery budget.)

Fry’s $21.64

(Fry’s has started offering organic chicken, but it’s pricey, so I only buy it when it’s discounted, which, luckily, it is fairly frequently.)

US Wellness Meats $80.42

(I get a lot of our meat at US Wellness Meats when they have their 15% discount, which they do every two weeks. This time we got two pounds of stew meat & 6 pounds of bacon.)

TOTAL:  $241.72

Yep, I spent nearly half of our grocery money that is to last us 4 weeks in one week.  My mom did stay with us this week, so for this 4 week cycle, I’ll be spending $525 instead of the typical $500.

Spending a lot of money upfront typically happens when I’m starting a new 4 week cycle.  The good news is that the freezer is getting stocked up, and we have plenty of food for the week (or two).