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I was happy to read in the Globe and Mail recently that food costs, originally predicted to be on the rise for 2012, fell 4.8% in the month of December. I’m no financial expert by any means, but I understand this is due to the inflation rate dropping, which seems to be a good thing for the price of food.
Lately, I’ve been really curious about my family’s actual food costs over the course of a month, so I’ve started tracking exactly what I spend each week. I try to keep within a budget, but must admit that I’m not too stringent about it. I also purchase a lot of food for my work, and I know that skews my numbers a little.
Financial experts state that we should be spending approximately $50 a week per eating adult in the home, and half of that for each child. For me, this would equate to $200 a week, because although I live with two children, they definitely eat the equivalent of adult portions for most of their weekly meals.
A few of the moms at Savvy Mom HQ have decided to start tracking their costs to see how much they’re spending each week. I’m curious; do you know what you spend? Do you set a budget and force yourself to stick to it? What are your secrets for keeping your food costs down? Let’s discuss!
With all of our talk lately about the high price of food, it seemed like a good time to share some tips about budget-friendly ingredients, and what I’ve been stocking in my pantry/fridge to help stretch the food dollars a little further these days.
Tell us, what are your favourite budget-friendly ingredients? Is there anything you must buy because it’s too good of a deal to pass up?
Comments
I’ve done tracked my food costs for a few years now and was shocked that my grocery bill is between $1200-$1400 a month for my family of five. I do buy mostly organic, so that might help explain things. As for cost-cutting strategies, we’re trying more vegetarian meals and soups. Thanks for the thought-provoking post!
I honestly don’t even think $50 per adult is enough for a week these days. We are a family of 4, our youngest is only 9 months so he is just starting out with foods, but our toddler loves food. we usually spend $100-$150 per visit to the grocery store.. and that is normally twice a week.. which maybe a few run ins for milk and fresh produce. however that also includes household items like papertowel, garbage bags etc. I really want to try and cut down but we just love good food lol