25.00 a Month!

I guess the reason why a blogger says she feeds her family for a hundred dollars a month is because she tries to do that and she has done that in the past.

In December of 1971. I spent 25.00 a month on groceries!

Just for a challenge, I decided to use the ads this week and buy as much as I could to make meals for a family of four .  I'm not going to include the basic stock  items people have in their pantry...flour, bisquick, oil etc.



SAFEWAYS

Corn 6/2
Buns .99
Cheese 5.99
Hot dogs 3.99
Sausage 2.99
Chili 2.00
Pasta 1.00

Five dollar Friday
Ribs 5.00
Peanut butter 3/5


ALBERTSONS

Corn, 4/1
Buns .88

QFC

Hebrew national 2/6
Ball park franks 2/3
Yoplait 10/5
Pork and beans 2/1
Ice cream 2/5

TOP

CORN 6/2
Grapes 1.98
Blues 5.00
Sausage 2/5

That's about all.

Now, let's see how much dinner  we can come up with for 25.00.  Break down a 25.00 budget means 3.57 a day.

I am going to assume that the household has staples ? ( cheating a little) and the meals are not
necessarily what I would feed my family.  They are edible and have nutrition, just not necessarily what I would feed my family all in one week.  I'm pickey, I would only buy Nathan's or Hebrew
national hot dogs and I try to only feed us processed meats once a week.    I'm going to work off the grocery ads and my stock prices ( cheating here too.   )

Breakfast

Oatmeal , or fruit muffins

Lunches
Peanut butter sandwiches. Or tuna.
Tuna was .69 at Fred Meyers.  I got bread free at the bakery outlet.

Dinners

1) hot dogs, with buns corn on the cob, lettuce salad $3.15. You can cut this. by a buck if you make pigs in blankets.

2) Pepperoni pizza, green salad.
     Tomato sauce can .25 ALBERTSONS, yeast, flour, oil, ( stock) pepperoni .50. With coupon at the dollar store.   Cheese  2.69 grocery outlet (1/2)  1.35

3)  bacon quiche, green salad   Eggs 2.00 at Fred Meyers , turkey bacon 1.29 at Walgreens,  cheese 4.00 at FRED. MEYERS last week.   Total  1.63 plus a dollar for green salad.   2.63

4) spaghetti, sauce,  sautéed squash, black olives, tomato, herbs    2.75

5) bean and rice burritos ,   1.00

6) Mac and cheese , peas and carrots. 2.80

7)  stuffed green peppers , 2.56. Peppers are .50 at Fred Meyers. Using stock hamburger @ 3.00 a pound 1/2 lb

Total dinners 17.24, or 16.24 if you made pigs in blankets from bisquick.

That leaves 7.76 for milk dairy, breakfasts and lunches and bread.
That a) has too much prosessed meat, and bare bones cheese.   It assumes that you have a stock that isnt counted in the figures and doesn't have enough fruits and veggies to suit me.

I would prefer to stock at low prices. But my average is around five dollars a dinner, or 35.00 a week for dinner only.   That does, however provide ample fruit and veggies .

Milk is 1.25 this week at Fred Meyers ( until next Saturday) .  Peppers and cucumbers .50,
Squash 1.00 a pound.

In other words, if you shopped wisely, and didn't replenish your staples, you could  eat.  I'm not sure the nutrition is there, not enough protein and veggies.  


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Jane