It’s no secret that food prices are soaring, and this affects everyone. We’re feeding a family of four, and we’re trying to do this without overspending. I didn’t really start tracking our spending scrupulously until the last couple of months, and they’re not indicative of how we usually eat and spend food money. In December, we hosted a gathering or two and ate at other people’s homes, so that threw us off. And for January, we had to restock from eating down the food in the freezer and pantry before our Christmas travels. I decided to see how we did between mid-January and mid-February, and that was also a little wonky because we’d bought different food for our Superbowl spread. Given that, I suspect what we spent was a little higher than normal.
As everyone who knows me knows, our family has been following the Mediterranean lifestyle/diet/way of eating for almost nine months now. The price of the food in this lifestyle kept me from adopting it for my family for years, but I took the plunge when blood panels showed that my cholesterol had gotten higher than it needed to be. Yes, it was expensive to start, and we transitioned in. In other words, we didn’t trash or donate all the food we had and buy entirely new. That would’ve been foolish, as we’d just restocked the week prior to starting this. However, I’ve been seeing where we’ve saved so much money along the way. So, while, yes, some things are quite expensive, we buy them less frequently. I wanted to share with y’all how we shop and some things I’ve learned along the way.
In one month, we spent $521.41 on groceries for a family of four. That felt like a crazy-high amount for us, and I’m challenging myself to see how I can drop it lower.
There are groceries we buy weekly, monthly, and every few months.
Weekly: Fresh vegetables in season, though year-around this includes cucumbers, baby spinach, onions, and carrots. This can also include celery, mushrooms, potatoes, romaine lettuce, butternut squash, or cabbage as recipes require. We work seasonal vegetables into dinners in their time. For example, this time of year we’ll eat butternut squash, but it won’t be showing up on the grill come July.
Frozen vegetables, usually cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, and Brussel’s sprouts
Whole milk, eggs, whole milk plain Greek yogurt, chickpeas. We also meal plan and buy whatever we need for the meals for the week.
Every other week: Fresh fruit in season, canned tuna.
Monthly: Whole wheat pasta, chicken breasts and thighs, dates, oatmeal (we always have three different cuts in the pantry), raisins, Dave’s Killer Bread (powerseed), whole wheat flour, fresh cheeses (mozzarella and feta), whole wheat couscous, quinoa, frozen fish.
Less frequently: Chopped walnuts; sunflower seeds; pepitas; raw honey; pure maple syrup; spices, herbs, and spice blends; yeast; lemon juice; extra virgin olive oil; pork; beef; farro by the case; balsamic vinegars; peanut butter.
If you look at that list, you’ll notice that some things are cheaper–frozen vegetables and produce in season. Some things are also more expensive. Dave’s Killer Bread is quite costly. Because of that, we eat less store-bought bread. A loaf easily lasts us a month or more. We used to be big fans of luncheon meat sandwiches, but they’re not a part of this lifestyle, so we eat fewer sandwiches overall and only a half-sandwich at a time. The more expensive things we use very sparingly and rely instead on the cheaper foods like…
OATMEAL! Yummy! Steel-cut oats cooked in milk with some medjool dates and cinnamon mixed in… That’s some kind of hearty, comforting breakfast right there–and it won’t leave you hanging around mid-morning, hangry until you can get a snack.
Chickpeas! This was the hardest sell for me because I’m just not a legume/lentil person. I’ll eat them in soups, but that’s about it. I could eat hummus with no problem. However, I discovered salads with chickpeas, and I got used to their taste and texture. They’re rich in protein and fiber and cheap! I can stretch a $1 can of these little gems to feed my family of four with no problem at all.
I buy a bag of brown rice for about a dollar a pound. I used to spend a dollar on a 5-ounce package of rice mix that had a lot more sodium, about twice the calories as a serving of brown rice, and would only go for one meal. We eat much less cheese than we used to and do so with intention. We only eat red meat a couple of times a month at most. Since it’s like a treat, we aren’t just throwing together meatloaf. We’re planning that meal and rejoicing over it. I kid you not, my tween and I are already planning on grilling hamburgers for one of our red meat meals this summer–as soon as we thin down all the pork in the freezer.
The Mediterranean lifestyle is largely plant-based, so most of our protein comes from non-meat sources. This makes it easier to be cheap with our eats while still keeping ourselves healthy. With food prices increasing like they are, eating less animal protein keeps our food bills more reasonable, and we’ve gotten creative about how to use the meat we have.
We also do a great deal of big-batch cooking. We’ll make whole wheat bread, two loaves at a time. Favorites, especially this time of year, include gumbo, taco soup, tomato soup, butternut squash soup, and spaghetti sauce. These dishes fill a Dutch oven or slow cooker, and though they may be a little more expensive to make for one hit, these actually last us at least two meals, sometimes three to four. In the end, they’re still cheap eats AND–bonus for the soccer/church mom!!!–time savers! Thaw the leftovers, chuck ’em in the slow cooker, and dinner is done when we roll in the door. We don’t buy the broths these dishes call for, either. I freeze any chicken stock I end up with and can both vegetable stock and turkey bone broth. We LOVE having these ingredients on hand all the time when we need them.
Lean times while also trying to be healthy call for creativity in the kitchen. It is my hope that this helps guide you in thinking about ways to make your food budget stretch further, especially if you’re also trying to feel your family healthy, nutritious meals.
snesbitt
A Mom's Life 