$50 Per Week

My goal is to spend an average of $50 per week on groceries (and everything else) and so far I have been doing pretty well. BUT, I know by now some of you are wondering when I buy meat and vegetables… that will be in next week’s shopping list. Between the free organic carrots from a couple weeks back and all the frozen veggies I purchased a few months ago, we have been eating our share of veggies. I also still have some pork (that I put in the freezer) from a while back that was purchased on sale with coupons. I ended up paying $16 for 16lbs of pork ribs! We really do eat pretty healthy: there is always a meat, starch (pasta, potatoes, rice, etc) and at least one vegetable on our dinner plates every night. Sometimes there is even a fruit – but most of the time we eat fruit throughout the day as snacks. Anyway, I just wanted to reassure you that it is possible to save money and still eat healthy. The key is to purchase items when they are at their rock bottom prices, not when you need them. So, for example, my shopping lists each week may not seem to make any coherent meals, but if you looked at my overall stockpile you would see that I have most everything I need each week to make delicious meals for my family. I actually just a couple days ago wrote out a list of all the meals I could prepare from my stockpile. The result was about 3-4 meals that I would not have to purchase anything for and 15-20 meals that would only need one or two more ingredients each. I’m sure I could come up with a lot more meals, but a plan for over three weeks is enough for me right now. It can take a while to build a good stockpile (I have been at it for 9 months now), but the savings are worth it! I used to spend $110-$125 per week before becoming a Krazy Koupon Gal and it never felt like enough food. Now I am spending $50 or less and we have plenty of food, all the personal care products we could ever want, art supplies for my boys, a stocked vitamin and medicine cabinet, lots of cleaning supplies (including laundry and dishwashing products) and some early Christmas shopping done!