As I mentioned in my last update, my family moved towards a more real and less processed way of eating late last year. This did amazing things for our health and well-being, but, unfortunately, translated into an enormous increase in our grocery budget. In the last 3 months of 2011 we spent over $700 on groceries each month, approximately double what we had been spending!
I admit, I did nothing to try and keep the budget down. I did not do much meal planning, I didn't specifically shop the sales, and I purchased whatever I needed or wanted at whatever time I wanted it. I think it worked out OK for us that way. In a sense it was a bit of a grace period to learn what worked for us. Learning a new way of shopping, cooking and eating was enough to tackle, it would have been harder if I had added in strict budget limitations.
I started 2012 with a few intentions, one of which was to do more meal planning, give more thought to my shopping list, and get the grocery budget back under control. In January we spent $550 on groceries, definitely an improvement, but still not where I would like us to be.
Which brings us to February. For the month of February I've decided to scale back, eat what we have on hand, and spend only $200. I started the month with close to $100 in gift cards to a local grocery store, a $50 prepaid Visa debit card and about $50 cash. This is all I will be able to spend this month.
I stopped by a few stores yesterday, and soon I'll work on a post about what I purchased, and what we will be eating this week! I can already tell this really will be a challenge, but I'm determined!
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