As I've stated before, my husband and I follow a budget. However, we've always had a difficult time sticking to our food budget. Now, you could say, why don't you just increase that category? Which, in all honesty, we have done (mainly because Eliana eats more now). However, a budget is like a puzzle to me, and I really wanted to find a way to stay within our budgeted amount.
We love to eat out. Don't get me wrong, I love to cook, but there is something we both love about eating out. I think there are two big reasons we like eating out so much: 1) Nothing to clean-up. 2) Fountain Drinks!!!! One of our biggest weaknesses is fountain drinks. We love them. We get them when we eat out, and sometimes we get them for a special treat at night when we're on our way home from somewhere (on those occasions we take it out of our "Fun" budget).
Here are a few tips that we've implemented to try to stick to our food budget. You may think we're crazy after reading some of these, but that's okay with me.
1) Menu Plan - I've preached about menu planning before. There are various ways to do it, but find a method that works for you, and stick with it. We menu plan monthly. Why? Our biggest reason for this is because it allows me to go to the grocery store less. What happens when you go to Walmart? Inevitably, you end up with something in your grocery cart that wasn't on your list. The more times you go in a month, the more likely that will happen. I still have to go several times throughout the month for produce, bread, milk, or more yogurt for Eliana, but it drastically reduces the number of times we go. Also, if I menu plan for the whole month, I have plenty of options for what to cook for supper. This also reduces the chances of one of us saying, "I don't know what I want, so let's just go somewhere."
2) Cook at home more often - I know grocery prices are rising, but I can almost guarantee that you can cook better and healthier meals at home for the price you would pay in a restaurant. Not to mention most of the time we have leftovers. This allows you to have 2 meals for the price of 1! Just make sure you eat your leftovers! We menu plan 5 dinners at home each week. It doesn't always happen that way, but we're prepared for it. If for some reason we don't make a meal that we've planned for, we add it to the next month's plan. Always make sure to use your perishable items, though! If you don't know how to cook, talk to me. I'll give you some pointers and some easy recipes!
3) Pack your lunch - This one is where you may start thinking we're crazy. Remember our slight obsession with fountain drinks? Keep that in mind when you read this. My husband and I try to eat lunch together each day. Sometimes it doesn't work out, but for the most part we are able to do it. One day we realized how much money we were spending on these lunches, and we decided we needed to change something. We knew we still wanted to eat together, but it takes too long for him to drive home for lunch. I work from home, but for him, 40 minutes of driving for a 60 minute lunch break seemed like too much. I also didn't want to spend 40 minutes driving each day to meet him at his work. We decided we could meet in the middle, and I would pack our lunch. The problem with this is that most places aren't too happy when you walk in with your packed lunch and don't plan on buying anything. Our solution? Buy fountain drinks! We often meet at our local mall food court, and only buy drinks. I'll admit we do this at McDonald's as well. This has saved us a ton in our food budget. If you really need to cut costs, you shouldn't buy drinks either. Drink water, it's healthier and cheaper. We have used that option as well.
4) Coupon - but only if it's something you really use. I know coupons are tempting, but they aren't helpful unless it is something you normally spend money on. Also, make sure that the coupon will really save you money. If you normally buy the store brand (we do), check to see if the coupon will make the name brand cheaper than the store brand...many times it doesn't. Our local paper does not have many coupons, so most of the time I use http://www.coupons.com.
5) Shop your pantry - What do I mean by this? Before you make your menu plan and your grocery list, look in your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. Plan meals that include items that you already have on hand. Please, please, please check as you're making your grocery list, so you don't end up with 14 cans of tomato sauce or 4 pounds of stick butter.
I have other tips that I'll include on future "Thrifty Thursdays." This should get you started for now. Let me know if you have any questions.
