Kari's Koupons

Are you willing to share what your family spends on groceries each month? Do you have any tips to help people save money? If so, please e-mail me at karikoupon@gmail.com. I've wanted to calculate our family's normal month's budget for a while now, and Money Saving Mom inspired me with her post on how to spend $30/week on groceries. Read it for yourself HERE. Also, HERE is how I would spend $100 a month on groceries.

Cost Benefit Analysis

One thing to preface this with is that each budget will inevitably reflect each family's priorities. Back in my college days studying business at Warner Pacific College, we learned about a little thing called cost versus benefit. Basically, time is money and money is time. If you don't have time you spend more $$ and if you have more time you spend less $$. Since I am blessed to be able to stay home (my husband is such a hard worker), I have more time to save money by making things from scratch and using coupons.

As my family has been in the process of making changes to a whole foods diet (cutting out processed and refined foods), we have begun finding out how to get the best quality food for the least amount of money. Good quality meats, dairy, and produce can really add up if you're not careful with checking prices and knowing the lowest price per unit on the foods you buy. Again, it is a cost benefit analysis for your family.

Also, if you do not have enough money to spend on food, HERE is a post I wrote on food assistance.

With all of that said and done, this is my current spending on groceries each month:

Week 1 (As you can see, I stock up the first week):

Japanese Brown Rice 15 lb bag at Uwajimaya $13

In Season/On sale Fruits and Vegetables $25 (I shoot for $1/lb)

• Organic Spinach Costco $4
• Organic Carrots 1 lb bag Winco or New Seasons $2
• Oranges 8-lb bag Safeway $4
• Potatoes 5-lb bag at Winco $1.50
• Onions 5-lb bag at Winco $1.50
• Organic Green Peppers at New Seasons $1 ea.
• Haas Avocados at New Seasons2 $2
• Organic Bananas at New Seasons $2
• Organic Tomatoes at New Seasons $2

Meat (I stock up when its on sale around $2/lb and freeze it) $40

• Grass Feed Ground Beef at New Seasons $3/lb
• Free range, antibiotic and hormone free chicken New Seasons $2/lb
• I have a coastal source for fresh fish that is excellent! For everyone else, I see good quality fish for $3/lb when it is in season.

Milk at New Seasons $5

Brown Eggs at New Seasons $2

Bulk Baking Products $20

• Oats, Flour, Yeast, Beans, etc. from the bulk bins at Winco $10
• Raw Honey from Uwajimaya (best price I have found)

Household items/Super Deals with coupons (I can generally get about $40 of groceries) $10

=$115

Week 2:

In Season/On sale Fruits and Vegetables $14

• Organic Green Peppers 5 (we like to eat stuffed peppers) at New Seasons $5
• Organic Bananas at Safeway or New Seasons $3
• Organic Kale at New Seasons $2

Yogurt 32-oz at New Seasons $3

Eggs at New Seasons $2

Ok! Hope this is helpful. It is definitely a glimpse into the Hamilton house. If you feel like sharing your monthly budget to inspire others, e-mail me at karikoupon@gmail.com!

-Kari