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Feed a Family of Four on $90 Weekly
Feed a Family of Four on $90 Weekly? Ok, let’s do a little math: Assuming 3 meals a day, a family of four eats 21 meals a week. That means that with a budget of $90 weekly, I have slightly over a dollar to spend per meal per person. My sister and I laugh at the magazine plans with servings that cost “only” $2.30 a serving. We can cut that in half.
I confess that we are blessed to have an extremely affordable grocery store about a half hour away—coupons don’t help me because their deals are almost always better, but I’m not complaining. Shopping the sales, of course, is always my approach. We make things from scratch most of the time. Also, I have a preschooler and toddler, so presumably they don’t eat as much as adults, although sometimes I’m not so sure.
A family of Four can Eat Well on $90 Weekly
I shop bi-weekly, so my totals are for two weeks: Feed a Family of Four on $90 Weekly
Meat:
Beef roast, a pork roast, two chickens, chicken nuggets [periodically, hot dogs or ham or hamburg.] $40-45.
Vegetables:
Frozen peas, edamame, broccoli, green beans; fresh onions, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, turnip, etc., to total about $20-25 [Now that summer approaches, we will soon be able to supplement this with our own veggies.]
Fruit:
Frozen blueberries, canned pineapple and mandarin oranges, natural applesauce, dried fruit, fresh apples, kiwi, melon, usually a splurge like berries or grapes, to total about $20-25 total. I try to eat the fresh produce the first week and the canned, frozen or dried the second to prevent waste from spoilage.
Dairy:
Milk, yogurt, cheese, butter about $45-50 [We buy expensive raw milk and hit the other two pretty hard with my husband’s low-carb, high fat diet and our general love of cheese.]
Everything else:
peanuts, almonds, rice cakes, eggs [lots], toilet paper, paper towels, peanut butter [lots], condiments, diapers [we use cloth except for at night], oatmeal, pasta, rice, etc—about $40-55
I don’t buy everything every week, and of course we change it up now and then or splurge on something or go out to eat. However, here is an example of a menu for the week:
Breakfast:
Eggs, cheese, fruit, oatmeal with nuts and fruit, yogurt, pancakes, etc. The kids enjoy eating out of muffin tins, so I aim loosely for two muffin wells each of protein, grains, and fruits/vegetables.
Lunch:
Leftovers, salads, mac and cheese [I make it myself—cheaper and tastier than the mix], fruit, rice cakes, chicken nuggets, mini calzones or pizzas, nuts, vegetables
Supper:
This is the tricky bit. We eat at my mom’s at least once a week, and Sunday I don’t cook if I can help it, so it’s more like a lunch meal. Let’s assume we eat 10-12 suppers at home; each chunk of meat is good for 2-3 meals:
Roast Chicken with vegetables
Chicken quesadillas with low carb tortillas
Roast beef and a vegetable
Roast Beef Hash with roasted root vegetables
Crock pot pork and a vegetable
Stir-fry with leftover pork , vegetables, and rice on the side
Roast Chicken with vegetables
Chicken Enchiladas
Chicken Soup or Chicken and Dumplings or Chicken pot pie, made with bone stock from the leftover chicken.
Hot dogs and baked beans [sometimes I make my own; it’s a New England tradition.]
It was NOT easy:
It wasn’t easy, but I am finally getting close to satisfied when I leave the grocery store. The hardest thing has been making a low-budget work for my husband’s low carb diet, but that’s where all those eggs and jars of peanut butter come in. I’ve figured out which fresh produce is most affordable and which nutritious foods are the most filling. I make generous use of my slow-cooker. I pay in cash—this has helped me a ton—and I now realize how much a handful of little unnecessary splurges can blow the budget. Whatever they were, I don’t even miss them. 😀
Tell us what you think of Feed a Family of Four on $90 [USD] Weekly? What are your best tips for saving money at the grocery store?
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That’s really great! It takes time but you really can save money with planning and preparation! My family gets hung up on the snacks.
It’s so easy to get hung up on snacks. We have a few standards and try to make ”em last. :]
Great info here! I really need to do a break down of where our grocery money goes.
Love this post! The grocery budget is the hardest to stick to!
I wish I could spend just $90 a week at the grocery store! I’m working on it. I like to stock up on marked down meat when I come across it. It is a splurge at first, but considering that sometimes I can get enough to last a month for about a hundred dollars, I think it’s a deal! Then I don’t have to worry about buying anything besides the more inexpensive stuff for a month.
Exactly, sounds like you’re doing great. :] I always scan the store for the cheapest meat–I mean, normal fresh meat, not processed meat or, I don’t know, strange parts of the animal, lol.
Wow, these are great tips… it’s so hard for us to stay on budget with food, and we are also on the disorganized side! But this post is a definite help in seeing how to shop and et right. Thanks for sharing!
Living on a budget can be hard but once you have figured out what you family eats and make a list accordingly it can help a ton (like you have done). I shop the sales, match up with coupons, and still with what is on my list. I think often times when people are trying to budget and use coupons they get to the store and put items in their carts that is not on their list so I think it’s very important to go to the store with a full stomach, a list in-hand and stick to it! Thanks for sharing your tips 🙂
I try to buy in bulk as much as I can and buy simple ingredients that allow me to make most things homemade. I still feed our family of 7 for $300 a month. We do garden and we eat in season produce mainly and I do shop sales but in this busy season of life I don’t clip coupons much at all anymore.
Awesome. 😀 I am so impressed that you feed 7 for that. :]
That’s amazing!
So glad you all enjoyed the post. 😀