Why do I keep the grocery budget so tight?

I know you must wonder this.

My answer is two-fold. Here's my thinking on grocery spending.

1) It's the only budget category that I have complete (and I mean complete) control over. No one in this house ever goes grocery shopping, besides me.

I can't really control our water bill (I can nag people to get out of the shower, but unless I'm in there with them, with my hand on the shower faucet, ready to turn it off, I don't have complete control). I can't control what my husband might charge at the drugstore or online. I can "suggest" better places to shop, or price points to look for, but I can't control his spending. I can't even control how much electricity we use. Again, I can nag everyone to turn off lights, etc. But without coin-operated light switches, I really can't control use.

But, as I said, I *can* control grocery spending. And we can still eat very well, even when not spending very much on groceries. I can make sure that what we keep in stock is healthful, wholesome and has variety enough to make pleasing meals for the whole family. And still do this on a tiny grocery budget.

And 2) It's the area of our budget that I can make the greatest difference. At $175 per month (my current budget), I'm spending $2100 per year on food.

The USDA currently estimates a "Thrifty Food Plan" for our family of 5, based on age and gender of each member, to cost $862.30 per month, or $10,347.60 per year.

So, here it is, my savings, by cooking and shopping/procuring food in the frugal manner that I do:

I save our family $8247.60, per year on food.

I can't shave $8000 off of our heat bill, electricity costs, insurance, property taxes, or gas costs for the cars. But I can save this amount on our food expenses.

(And these calculations were, indeed, based on the least expensive estimate. I checked and double-checked. Just for fun, I ran the numbers on the "Liberal Food Plan". For our family of 5, we would be spending about $1700 per month, or over $20,000 per year. I think if I spent that amount, there would be a lot of waste in our home, or else we would gain a tremendous amount of weight. Perhaps if we were all training for marathons, year round, we could eat that amount of food.)


So, when the overall budget is under stress, the first area I usually look to reduce spending, is groceries. Basic, (and I do mean very basic), food items are not expensive. I just need to have the willingness and time to turn those basic ingredients into interesting meals.

I choose to spend my "work time" in the kitchen. I think of it as a productive hobby. I could spend most of my "work time" cleaning, ironing, doing laundry, or decorating. For me, though, cooking is the most pleasant of all of my homemaker duties.

So, when you wonder why I make the budget choices that I do, when we could spend more on food, and less on other areas, like education or travel, that's my answer.

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Updates on my grocery spending for the month (and making a dozen eggs last for all of the cooking for a week)

My pantry and freezer are looking so clean these days. You can actually see the pantry floor again! And we can make ice in the freezer, once more, with the new-found freezer space.


Last week, I bought 4 heads of cabbage and 1 quart of soy milk. I had run through most of my soy milk. My thoughts were to just not buy more, but that would mean I'd be left out of any baked goods and no milk for my oatmeal and granola. I chose to buy 1 quart and make it last for the remaining days of March.

The cabbage will add to the carrots in the fridge, canned tomato products and pumpkin, frozen fruits and spinach, and fresh kale, watercress and herbs in the garden, for our produce needs.

The cabbage was 49 cents per pound, not as great a price as many areas were seeing for St. Patrick's Day, but an okay price for our area. I did make sure to choose heads whose outer leaves looked to be in good enough condition for eating, so I wouldn't have to throw those outer leaves out. (You know what I mean? Sometimes the outer leaves look bruised and discolored, not very appetizing.)

I have just a couple of dollars left in the budget for March. Which, while not awesome, is something. Even if I do go over, it won't be a substantial amount, as in previous months. I can see that I am catching up.

However . . .

I'm down to my last dozen eggs. I expect to find eggs on sale the week before Easter, likely at Walgreen's, as in past years. So, I just need to make these 12 eggs last through all the cooking of the next week.

Here's my basic egg-sparing plan:

• use egg substitutes when baking (here's the basic guide that I follow for egg substitution)
• change my own breakfast routine (having something other than eggs for breakfast)
• prepare fewer family entrees that are egg heavy, such as frittatas and quiche, and have more bean-based vegetarian entrees this week (for our vegetarian nights)
• skip the egg (as a binder) when making bean burgers this week

How's it working out?

On Friday, I had wanted to make waffles or pancakes for breakfast, but decided on oatmeal instead, saving eggs, milk and white flour (yes, low on white flour, too). I've been thinking about oatmeal all week anyway, so not a sacrifice to have that instead of pancakes or waffles.

Then on Saturday, I still wanted waffles, so I made a batch with 1 egg instead of 2, plus an egg substitute for the missing egg, and mostly whole wheat flour. I used 1/4 cup of pureed, cooked oatmeal in the batter, to add moisture, plus 1 teaspoon additional baking powder (actually, baking powder substitute). They were delicious, and it was completely unnoticeable that I used 1 egg when the recipe called for 2.

My daughters are making hot dog buns this weekend, wanting to use a recipe that called for an egg in the dough. They weren't happy, at first (but got over it quickly), but I nixed that recipe, and suggested one that didn't call for eggs.



It just seems to me, that when eggs are in short supply, baked goods and quick breads are the least effective way to use the eggs, when there are several egg substitutes available. It makes more sense to use the eggs where the eggs are noticed, such as egg salad, deviled eggs, topping for a potato salad, or boiled, pickled and sliced as a side dish on a dinner plate.


Just trying to hang in there with the eggs, until they go on sale, hopefully in a little over a week from now. I would just hate to spend $2 for a dozen eggs just a day or two before they go on sale, in order to use just 1 or 2 of a new carton of eggs.

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Free manly-man gift wrap

I receive these maps in the mail, free, about once every 6 months. They come with a request for a donation from Doctors Without Borders.

They make great gift wrap, especially nice for masculine gift wrapping.

Father's Day is just around the corner, and I think this map will be used then!

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