Food Management: Let's Get it Done for Less!

Let’s just be real with ourselves at first: many times the stress of life and mothering and being a wife, working, etc. makes dealing with food and money a more difficult process than it needs to be. Also, many times we compromise our desire to save money due because of a lack of time, our desire to consume things our bodies don't even need, or our inability to set spending goals and keep them. However, we should understand that eating is a part of life that we should enjoy and that we can feel good about spending money on when we are doing so in a way that is not harmful to ourselves or others. 

With that being said, I have a list of tips that are not only practical tips like meal planning or budgeting, but also tips that target reasons why we overspend. These tips are all just food for thought. I hope they work for you as they have worked for me as I have been transitioning into eating mostly organic, balanced diet for my nursing self, baby and husband.

1. Make a list of things that you consume that you do not need. After doing so, eliminate at least 50% of those products from your shopping list until you have learned to live without them and then eliminate more of them until they are not there anymore. Do a mental check every so often to make sure you haven’t added a new item to your do not need list to replace an old one that you stopped buying. Note, I am not saying that you have to eliminate all of your favorite snacks, but am suggesting that you do eliminate food that is not good for you and costing you a lot of money—some examples: sodas, flavored beverages, excessive dessert items. 
2. Identify a negative eating or food shopping habit that you have and work at trying to eliminate this behavior from your life. A few examples of this could be eating while emotional, shopping while hungry or switching the type of food that you are eating to jump on the newest “health” trend. Doing any of these will make you have spikes in your spending on food. How you may ask? If you eat while you are emotional, then you may find that you like to have comfort food items and are purchasing those things that may not be necessary to eat and therefore are spending more money.
3. Meal planning will look different for everyone. Though it is seems like the solution for someone else to give you the exact meals and shopping list for what to make each week, unless you are the kind of person that likes to follow directions to a T and are willing to eat these meals that you may or may not like or be your style, than doing so will only be a short-lived venture that may make you never want to plan meals for yourself. With that being said, I suggest you design your own meal plans following a general guideline for healthy eating that saves time and money. Here is the guideline:
1. Include things in your meal plan that you like to eat and cook
1. One way to do this is to write down as many of these meals as possible and then rotate them on a calendar.
2. If you feel that your current meals are costing you too much money and/or time, then try this model:
1. 1st day: 1-2 whole chicken fryers depending on how large your family is: you want leftovers with the chicken. You can cook these in a dutch oven, large pot on low or a slow cooker Throw in potatoes, onions, carrots and sweet potatoes with the chicken while it cooks so as to have your side dishes before. Make bone broth from the bones.
2. 2nd day: Soup from bone broth
3. 3rd day: Ground beef dish (green beans and ground beef, ground beef and chard, ground beef tacos, meat sauce and spaghetti)
4. 4th day: chicken dish using any remaining chicken
5. 5th day: panned oven dish like casserole, lasagna, etc.
6. 6th day: pasta dish
7. 7th day: quick dinner (frozen meatballs, TJs frozen dinner, raviolis)
8. Make enough to have leftovers for at least the working person’s lunch (you, your husband), but more the better
4. Expense tracking is key to budgeting. You can set your budget realistically by tracking your expenses and getting an average of what you really spend over a couple of months OR by setting a goal dollar amount to spend and watch how much you spend each week and stop spending after reaching your goal. The fact of the matter is that many times we buy foods in bulk (like spices or pasta sauce, pasta etc.) and they go into our weekly expense, but we don’t use it all in a week, like something like milk. We can have a separate goal for bulk items or include it all in one category if we want to take that into account mathematically. To keep it simple, I just lump it all together, but I don’t buy too many of the things I would buy in bulk so as not to overspend. The key is being aware of how much you are spending and only buying what you really need. Many of us could live off of our pantries for a couple weeks without shopping! Reducing that concept will help us save money. Only buying what we plan to consume in a short amount of time is another way to look at that. 
5. Consider making your own foods like yogurt, salsa, granola, etc. It will save you money but does take some time.
6. When tracking expenses, record all groceries separate from household and baby products to get an idea of how much you are really spending on each and to get used to viewing those things as separate items. I budget $300 a month on groceries, $50 a month on baby (includes diapers and random small baby purchases not including baby food because I either made my baby food or she now eats what we eat at age 1), $200 on household and miscellaneous costs (like car needs, etc.) and $150 a month on eating out.
7. Save money by buying only certain items in bulk that you know you eat all the time. Buy organic items in bulk when possible, and shop for organic items at the farmers market—you will always find in season items there and for good prices. The vendors will sometimes give you free items as you come regularly and definitely will give you some type of deal. 
8. Reduce costs of household products by using things that are reusable, like Norwex cleaning cloths that allow you to clean without chemicals and without paper towels. Ask me more about this if interested. I sell these products and would love to demo them for you, help you learn how you can earn some for free, etc.

This is my basic plan and my family has been blessed by my stewardship of the food and finances in our home. I am still learning and want to grow in what I do as well. I also realize that we like change in life, so I am up for trying new things as well and learning from others. Would love to hear from you all!