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If you’ve been following along, my food budget for August was $550 (our budget coincides with my husband’s once a month pay day and runs from the 23rd to the 22nd of each month). That budget plan went kaboom. My last post I was over by $17.74 but we spent a little more after that post.
On Saturday it was decided that since the temperature was over 90 my planned dinner of Vegetable and Mussel Soup was not a good choice. Joe requested hamburgers instead. Problem was that I’m almost out of hamburger (grass fed ground beef) and it was frozen solid. So we bought ground beef, buns, Hunt’s Ketchup (no HFCS in this brand), lettuce, tomato, onion, and cucumber. We had a great dinner of hamburgers and salad. Total cost was $20.07.
Sunday we stopped at Subway after church which seems to be becoming a bit of a tradition. Cost was $15.23 for lunch.
Our final total for August $603.04. We did go $53.04 over budget but I was kind of expecting it again for this month. I’m adjusting to having two extra people here (and probably as soon as I get used to cooking for 7, my daughter Sierra will leave to go back to college) and figured on needing some time to get my budget figured out.
We are now into our September budget (runs from August 23 to September 22). My budget for this month is $490 divided up as follows:
Cowshare: $54 (hopefully the cows will have their calves soon so we can start getting milk again)
Beef CSA: $50 (10 pounds of grass fed beef, assorted cuts)
Azure Standard: $135.23
Dining Out: $50
Grocery Store: $200.77 (some spent already)
You might notice that my budget is less this month than last month. One reason is that Sierra and Rico are buying a some of their own food items which will lower our grocery spending. Another reason is we really need to tighten our belts. We used to have a very structured zero based budget based on Dave Ramsey’s principles but we have slacked on that lately. Slacking is no longer an option.
So there it is. A wrap of August’s food budget and the planning of September.
>I am impressed that you are able to eat so healthy and still keep your budget low. I live in Montana and feed 5 – 7 people, we also following the nourishing traditions way of eating and our budget is no where near that. Access is an issue but it is for you also! How do you do it? I am not as good at making something and then using it multiple times for the week… my planning skills uh…suck! But, I am working on it. Thank you for taking the time to post your story, I very much look forward to reading it and I try to check it on a daily basis to see whats new!
Take care and God bless,
Lisa
>Hi Lisa,
Sticking with our budget is a super challenge and one that we do not accomplish each month. Our major downfall often seems to be dining out which one would think would be an easy fix (just stop dining out) but harder to actually accomplish.
My plans for the week don't always work out. I really try to 'plan my work and work my plan' but sometimes things fall apart. Then I have to pull a rabbit out of my hand in order to have dinner 🙂
Access is an issue. I've been working hard to find sources for things. I've been thinking of doing a post on some ideas that work for me. Maybe I should do that. My techniques may not work for your situation in your area but there may be some ideas you can use. I hope you will check back for that post 🙂
>Millie,
I would love information on any of the ideas that have worked for you. I look forward to you posting about them! Eating out can cause problems for us too, mostly because I have a very picky teenager and sometimes it is the easiest solution. We only indulge maybe once every 2 weeks or so and I've noticed it becomes more of an issue when I haven't prepared well. Something I am working on perpetually 🙂