Saving Money with a Supply Journal

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Several of you have asked me about our food budget and how much we are spending on this or that.  Honestly, I need to start a supply journal so I can answer some of your questions accurately.

Right now, we spend on average $1,200.00 a month on food and supplements (not counting eating out once a week).    That is about 20% of our budget which is comparable to what people in other countries spend (the percentage, not the amount).  The average American spends less than 10% of their budget on food.  I used to believe that buying the cheapest food was the way to go.  Now I realize that I can’t fuel my body with cheap junk and expect excellent health, lots of energy, clear thinking and longevity.  Why are we so willing to pay top dollar for stuff (tvs, computers, houses, etc…) while treating our own bodies so poorly.  We certainly wouldn’t put cheap fuel in our gas tank if we knew it would burn up the engine quickly, require more time at the shop and shorten the lifespan of the car by decades. So, yes, we spend a lot on food but I’ll be exploring more ways to get the same quality of food for less as I continue on this journey.

Some strategies I’m planning and already starting to implement are; eating less meat, buying in bulk and using coupons for supplements whenever possible.   I’d love to hear some of your tips for saving money while eating healthy.

There’s a lady in my community who has a blog called, ‘Little House in the Suburbs’.  I’ve actually visited her suburban, backyard farm.  She’s into simplicity, frugality, raising chickens, and goats, and gardening.  I love her blog and I found this post quite helpful.

Save Money with a Food Journal, from ‘Little House in the Suburbs’.

by Ivory Soap on 05/11/2010

 

I’m so jealous when I watch Jane Austen-ish movies and Father furrows his brow and says something like, “We won’t have enough to buy coal through the winter.  We’ll be out by December.”  Huh? How does he know that?  And the general store managers on pioneer shows that know exactly how many bootlaces Mr. Smith buys each season.  And the farm wife of yesteryear who knew how many eggs her hens laid and how many bags of flour and salt it took to get through a year.

According to my reading, they did it through little monthly lists, kinda like this:

I couldn’t stand not to know anymore.  So, I started keeping my own supply journal.  Here’s how you do it.

1.  Get a half sized spiral notebook.  Label one page per category for May 2010:  meat/dairy, fresh/frozen produce, beverages, paper/plastic products, baking aisle, convenience foods and impulsive trash, etc. (You’ll start a new set each month.)

2.  Record the quantities and prices for the different categories.  No obsessing.  This isn’t your budget, it’s just an expense record.  Leave out the tax.  If it says 1.98, feel free to write 2.00.  K?

3.  Be shocked at the inordinate number of tiny chip bags your family goes through in a month just trying to keep the kids quiet in the store.  I had no idea Mr. Ivory did that too!  (I should break up a larger bag into serving size and keep them stashed in the back with the reusable shopping bags.)

4.  Be appalled at the number of times you and your hubby run to the store without having hydrated and attack one of those mini-fridges for an over-priced bottle of water.  (Throw some water bottles in the back too.)

5.  Be impressed at how much you could cut your spending if you wanted to…  Look at all the things I could make myself if I needed to.  Look how much of our food budget goes to laziness or impulse.  We’d save a fortune if I’d just make a bunch of freezer pizzas a month ahead of time.  And did Mr. Ivory really buy jerky?

6.  And finally, say things like “WOW, we eat a lot of almonds and walnuts! Six pounds in one month?  Seriously?  I had no idea.  We killed twelve pounds of produce in five days?  True we had company and all, but that plus the five pounds of strawberries I picked out of the yard?  We are some plant-eating people!  And olive oil.  We just bought 17 oz on Friday and it’s half gone.  CRIPES!”

Kid you not, it will change the whole way you look at your grocery list.  I expect in one year to say something to Mr. Ivory like, “We ate sixty pounds of chicken thighs last year, but only 15 pounds of beans.  We really should have a bean night every week, like we do fish.  And with the fluctuations in poultry prices…it will probably save us (fill in the blank).”  I’m so excited!!!!

So, you can do it to save money.  You can do it to reduce your carbon footprint.  You can do it because of good stewardship.  You can do it because, like me, you were born 100 years too late and it irks you to not know how often you buy socks.  Heck, you can do it to find out what a three month’s supply actually looks like so you’ll be prepared for that impending zombie apocalype my husband keeps training for on the XBox.  But, regardless, I highly recommend it.

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