I *know* a lot in my head about living more frugally, but somehow making it show up in my life has not been such a success. My business is doing pretty well, but my husband’s construction business is pretty slow. In fact, he’s out running a combine for the local farmer for some extra money.
Somehow we still continue to eat like we both had great full time jobs. I think it is the one place we can cut back and not feel it quite so much. In my head I know a lot about saving money, but it doesn’t seem to translate into actual action.
From all you frugal moms out there ~ can you give me some tips, some hints, recipes, websites anything to get me on the right track?
What do you think is the lowest realistic amount I can spend on feeding my family of 3? There are a couple things I have to work around ~ we have to be able to eat meat ~ hubby is a meat and potatoes kind of guy. I would also like to keep the preprocessed foods to a minimum. I know that makes it a lot tougher ~ when I was buying prepackaged foods it was much cheaper but it just didn’t feel like we were as healthy.
Can you help me out? Can you lead me to some great resources where I can figure out how to not only “know” this stuff but implement in my life as well?? If you have any ideas or thoughts you’d like to share with me please leave them in the comments area below!! I’d really appreciate it. 🙂
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I feed my family of 7 dinner for less than $5 per day – it can definitely be done! My husband is a meat-eater also, and we have 5 growing children (3 boys, 2 girls) with HUGE appetites! What I do is use the meat as a topping or ingredient rather than the main course. For example, meaty tomato sauce on pasta or chicken rice casserole with peas. Just keep in mind low-cost meals comprise mostly of grain staples such as pasta, rice, and potatoes with lots of veggies (I get them for $1 or less per pound) with some meat on the top, side, or as I said, as an ingredient. Not only do you save money eating this way, but it’s healthier 🙂
One more thing; eat alot of oatmeal! You can get a large can of oatmeal for $1-$2 and it will feed a family of 3 breakfast every day for several weeks! Just add a bit of brown sugar (cheap) and/or some cinnamon, raisins, dates for extra flavor. It’s a filling and healthy way to start the day!
OMG Cathy,
That is astounding!! I guess I can surely do it for my family of 3 then ~ and one is only a toddler 🙂 I’ve been trying to work out a meal plan, but I’m getting really overwhelmed by it all.
I’ve found some great websites, and just trying to pull it all together is somewhat daunting. Do you use coupons? or go to Aldi’s? I’m trying to figure out the best way to go about it ~ and how do you get veggies so cheap???
We’ve got a garden going so I’m hoping we’ll have enough to freeze and can some of the veggies for the winter.
thanks so much for your input. I really appreciate it!!
Jackie