New… any help will be much appreciated

I budget $40 a MONTH for groceries but get by on far less than that. I will tell you what I do and all of itmight notwork for you but some of it will.

The only thing I purchase on a weekly basis is milk. We are on the East Coast and the cost of living (in our area) is extremely high. I purchase free range, hormone free eggs for $3.00 an 18 pack from a woman I exercise with. As it is just my husband and myself that will last us about 3 weeks. I purchase bread from an outlet store within walking distance of my house. If I am just going for one loaf I will walk to the store. But if I am out doing errands I will purchase 3 months of bread at a time. It is a Pepperidge Farm thrift store and I pay $1.35 per item. It is far more than that in the store. Any bakery thrift store would work. In some bakery thrift stores the items are day old (which they sit on the shelf at the grocery store more than one day) but some are just outlet stores where too much bread was baked and the items are sold for less. I have been to both kinds and they both work for me.

Myhusband is a minister and we have people give us food all the time as a kind gesture. Not because we need it, but I am willing to take whatever anyone gives me. I never refuse anything. We have a couple in our church who clean out their freezer 4 x a year and give us everything in it. We have gotten steaks, fish, desserts, vegetables, etc. Most of the stuff they buy is Schwan’s, which is a nice change for us as we do not purchase a lot of processed food. This same couple give us steamed crabs on a regular basis and I pick the meat out of them and freeze the meat for future use.

If you have room for a garden please consider this. In 2005 we had a medium size garden and we are still eating the produce. I canned a lot of salsa which I use in venison chili. The venison is passed on to us also. If you like deer meat, put the word out. Many people just like to hunt, they really don’t want the meat. Most of the time they will process it for you, although sometimes you might be asked to pay the processing fee. I don’t know what it is in your area, but $35 in Missouri was reasonable for a freezer full of meat. I have no idea what it is now that we live in Virginia, but I am sure it is more than that.

Consider discount grocery stores such as Aldi’s, Save-A-Lot, and salvage grocery stores. You usually have to sack your own and bring your own sacks. If you don’t bring your own sacks you will be charged a nickel a piece. If you bring your own, you save that nickel. Some grocery stores in the Midwest will subtract a nickel if you bring your own bags so they don’t have to use any of theirs. I know the Kroger chain does this, at least they did when we lived in Missouri. But I always had to remind the checker to give me the discount.

Salvage grocery stores are great. I purchase 5 pounds of flour for $.50, 1/2 gallon of chocolate milk for $.99 and other bargains. I once bought a case of Egg Beaters for $3.00. It is good you cook from scratch and that you make your own baby food.

I am in charge of our church food pantry and I clean it out once a month. Any food that is outdated I will take home with me. I do not have a problem with outdated food and have never been sick from eating it. Of course if the can is bulging, I throw it away. One salvage store I used to go to would sell cans without labels for a dime a piece. Many “mystery meals” were planned that way. At the time we had an outside dog and if we didn’t like what was in the can, the dog ate it.

Have you considered cloth diapers? This way they can be reused over and over.

I don’t know if I was much help. But we are debt free except for a vehicle payment.
Susan