Why I reduced my food and drink budget
In December I sat down and said, “enough.” I needed to cut back on my food expenses. Seriously, it was embarrassing and hurting savings. Every month involved hundreds of dollars in restaurants, fast food, and snacks on the go. When I finally shared it with you all — the readers of Frugaling — I felt nervous. How would people react? It was one thing to spend the money privately, but to openly disclose it made me anxious.
As the year turned from December to January, I knew that I needed to change spending habits. It was time to start saving, cutting, avoiding, and scrimping here and there. Likewise, I wanted to avoid debt at all costs, and recognized that in the next couple years I’ll need to spend thousands in job interviews, moving expenses, and rent. I couldn’t continue spending like mad, and actually afford these future hurdles. To be clear, “affording” means spending money on something without debt.
There was little room to save on rent or educational expenses. Additionally, I had sold my car, gotten rid of insurance payments, and moved on from any semi-optional expenses. The only piece left was the food budget. Darn it, though! I didn’t want to cut back for years.
When I first started the journey, I picked a number. It was somewhat random, but I wanted something exceptionally challenging and possible. I needed to eat healthily, too. So, I chose $200. That would be more than a 50% decrease in my budget for food and drinks.
Here’s a review of previous months
When January started, I holed up and tried to by some basics. But as the month continued, I realized I was severely underprepared and over budget. I wasn’t eating out frequently, nor was I buying lavish foods. Still, I didn’t know how to budget for this new level and ended up well over the line. Even though I had saved about $100 in one month, I knew I had more work to do.
Over the following months, I tried harder and even came pretty darn close to the tough goal. In February I was able to get within $12 of the budget through some serious cost-cutting and sacrificing. Frankly, I felt an internal pressure towards the end of the month. I knew I’d be close, and wanted the chance. My food stocks grew dangerously low and the repetition of the same foods night after night wore me down.
From then, my spending grew and it’s stayed above my $200 budget goal. It’s been one of the most frustrating parts of my budget and frugal goals. I know, understand, and see countless examples of individuals and families doing better. And there’s this guilt, as I’d like to live modestly. An expensive food and drink budget smacks in the face of that value. Plenty live on less. Plenty of live on less than they need. And I don’t want to live some lavish alternative life — above it all. I want to be in it. I want to feel the cuts.
The May food budget… Failure?
Now, I turn to May. Oh, May, you pesky month! This fifth month of my food and drink budget tired me. The middle of the month represented the end of my third year of graduate school. For us students, it was cause for celebration. And celebrate, we did.
Here’s a review of this month’s spending:
Part of the graduate school tradition at the end of the year is to go out, eat, and drink. Soak up the momentary freedom. This can be a challenging environment to save in, but it’s challenging not to seek out these moments and live them up when you can. Busyness prevents many of us from congregating as large groups. These moments are unique and special. When possible, I tried to go without or only one drink, meal, etc.
Nonetheless, as the table shows, the final total was $247.37. While an incredible $200+ decline from when I started this journey, I still couldn’t meet the goal.
Looking forward and long-term tracking
Because I’ve shared my budget a few times before, it’s not quite as embarrassing anymore, as it is personally frustrating. I’ve seen great benefits from trying to save. Hundreds of dollars have been invested, which were previously squandered. I feel healthier and eat foods that suit my own body’s needs. I do feel like a more modest person, and constantly try to recognize that I’m still privileged to have a full meal. Many do not share that luxury.
Another piece that I’m appreciative of is the tracking. Now, I can look back on my spending and clearly see where it’s spent. There are clear totals. Month after month, I can create a better average of spending versus one month’s test. In fact, my average spending for these five months was $264.78. That’s amazing to me, as I’ve never spent this little since high school. More importantly, the average is what I want to continue to reduce.
My friends and family continue to ask about this food budget. “Will you continue?” they ask. “Are you still doing that food budget thingy?” Why yes, I will continue. And yes, I’m still doing that food budget thingy. Maybe for the rest of my life, too.
June will be a tough month, as I’m traveling much of it. I’ll track and share, but I might need to pass for some increased spending. Sorry Frugaling fans! I hope you’ll forgive me. In July I’ll hunker down even further and do everything in my power to save.
How have you been doing on your food budget? What snags and troubles have you experienced? What are your recommendations for saving more? How do you rope people into joining you for your food budget? What motivates you?
One recommendation that you’ve probably already tried — batch meals that freeze and thaw well. This is definitely something I’ve done a lot of since I am single and don’t want to eat the same damn thing every night of the week. Or cook two large batch meals and alternate which one you eat for lunch and which for dinner during the week. Also attempting to be vegetarian will help the budget.
Hey Cassie,
Thanks for your awesome recommendation! I was trying that for a short time, but that’s something I really should be doing more often. Thanks for the gentle reminder. I’ll definitely incorporate that a bit more. Also, I’ve slowly become more vegetarian as a result of this budget. Funny how much it changes your diet! 🙂
Sam
This topic is a struggle for us — groceries are the absolute toughest thing for us to trim. We’re committed to buying food that’s healthy for us, doesn’t destroy the planet, and is fair to the people who create it (and doesn’t mistreat animals involved). After learning about how unsafe most food and meat processing is for workers, and how much the livestock industry pollutes, we just can’t in good conscience support that. We also try to buy as little disposable packaging as possible. The result: we pay a premium for trying to shop in line with our values. We buy almost no meat, very little dairy or eggs, next to no prepared or packaged foods — and still can’t get below $500 a month for two of us without just eating rice and beans. Sigh.
Cool to see how you’ve managed to keep trending downward on your grocery budget.
Well, you’re in good company then! Food — this obvious need — is so easily manipulated by marketing and store pressures to buy certain products. Even when you only buy generics and look for the real deals, it can be challenging. Sometimes cravings come up, and don’t even get me started on whether I always stay healthy at this budget level. Haha. I, too, have stopped using many bags and plastics in my lunches. It’s one less cost and I’m doing a little bit every day to cut down on waste. One thing I’d want to know is how often you two eat out. That might influence it.
Thanks for the comment,
Sam
Eat out maybe twice a month, often not even that often. But we’re definitely ina high cost of living area, and pay the premium!
We also have a tight food budget. You can find some organic foods at Aldi (yogurt, fruits, some veggies, blue corn chips, salsa, etc), which would allow you to skip New Pioneer Co-op for big savings! Perhaps you can separate groceries from restaurants in your budget, which could help you feel less guilty ($200 groceries and a modest restaurant fund).
Aldi is terrific for some of those staple foods. Unfortunately, without a car, it’s not easy to travel to. I will definitely consider roping some car-carrying members of my friend network into making a pilgrimage to Aldi for some deals. Thanks for the suggesting. 🙂
As for separating the restaurants from the overall food & drink budget, I thought about that for quite some time. I realized that separating that out would defeat the purpose and just make the task easier. I wanted all my purchases in this category to count, as they should, because I could have eaten in instead of out. Ya know?
I don’t think you need to be apologizing! You’ve made great progress and are continuing to work towards your goal in earnest. I’d call that a success!
Eating at home as often as possible and bringing lunch to work are the big ways I save on food. I also buy things that are on sale at the market to get higher priced items, like meat, at a discount.
Ali, thanks for your encouraging and supportive comment! 🙂 Much appreciated. I’ll keep at it!
As you noted, $200 was a “random number” you chose at the beginning of your challenge. Perhaps it’s not the right number! You tested your hypothesis and now you may need to adjust it. That’s not failure — that’s success!
Bette,
Eventually, in a couple more months of trying, I might need to revise my number to a more realistic level. You’re absolutely right. I want to keep trying and striving for that number for a few more times before I give up. I can feel like there’s an opportunity in July to do it, but I’ll need to plan very well for it.
Sam
So, I have not had a budget but wanted to see for a typical month how much I spend for groceries, cat food and cat litter for myself and 2 cats. I just added up all of those expenses for May and wow $439.92. Well, I will use this as my starting point and work from there. At least now I am aware & can’t be oblivious any longer. So I guess I know where all my money has been going now.
Jamie,
Way to go totalling everything up! That’s one of the first psychological hurdles to success. If you can break it all down and actually look at where your money is flowing, something is changing in you. Although, I personally wouldn’t include cat food in my food budget if I had a cat. While having nutritional value that is only for your cat. I might recommend placing those costs in a “pet budget” category. What do you think?
Sam
Makes sense Sam – Thanks!
Jumping in to add my thanks for this idea, Sam. Good point!
Some days, my little feline gourmand eats more expensively than me. 🙂 Couldn’t understand why my numbers were so high in comparison despite my efforts. Didn’t take into account my little buddy’s food and litter were factored in.
Good post, as usual.
Thanks Jean! Much appreciated. Glad you enjoyed it. I’ll keep it up. 🙂
I do budget and track the spending for my husband and myself. We dedicate $500 for groceries and $100 for restaurants, which is very generous, I know, but we are doing much better than we used to (trust me).
I agree with you that the tracking helps A LOT! We decided to stop buying coffee while we were out shopping because I didn’t realize how much it adds up! And we usually do not buy any drinks when dining out either, which helps, too.
Like the other frugalers who posted comments, we do a lot of batch cooking and freezing in individual containers which makes it easy to take to lunch or thaw for dinners.
We also eat 99% vegan at home, and I cook a lot of dried beans and lentils in a pressure cooker.
I think you are doing a great job! This is a journey and not a destination, right?
Love it! You’re right, the journey is the important part. Thanks for that friendly reminder. 🙂
My husband and I typically spend about $500 a month between eating out and groceries. I cook a lot from scratch. I also will make large casserole type dishes and put half in the freezer and then pull it out and eat it two weeks later. I meal plan and try to reuse ingredients. So my shopping list has gotten more minimal. Our biggest snag seems to be the cost of food and snacks. We used to be better about snacking and I actually had our good budget at $300. And now that I am pregnant it’s more difficult to make all from scratch and not snack. For time management and our pocket books, I will brew a larger pot of coffee and out the leftovers in the fridge to just reheat. Doesn’t work for everyone, but I buy higher quality coffee so it’s not terrible. We also have limited cheese. I didn’t realize how expensive that portion can be. And I will admit that I coupon as well for household products. Our stores have loyalty cards and then send coupons for what we buy. It’s the only way I manage to get produce coupons.
Rachel,
You’ve caught on to some of the major “snags” of the supermarket. Well done noticing those. I’d say that overbrewing vs. underbrewing (multiple times) likely is a minimal cost savings for me. But I think you’re right about the snacks. I can go overboard in this category and it hurts my wallet, too. Pre-packaged foods are a dangerous area of the supermarket. Maybe we can both work on it!
Sam
WHAT a great goal/accomplishment for you. Keep looking at the positive side of things. For us, the the most important aspect of living a frugal/simple life is awareness. You are aware of your spending habits and you are seeing/committing to making changes….that is a very, VERY good thing :).
We have a decent sized family with 4 kids and 2 elderly parents living in an adjoining mini-apartment.
Our budget has been $175 a week since the in-laws moved in about 5 years ago. We did not alter it when the first kiddo moved out into the world, and neither did we do so when the second kiddo flew the coop :).
Now, we have 2 teen boys living at home and I feed the in-laws dinner each night.
$175 feels exactly the same in 2015 as it did in 2010 when we had our family size adjusted….inflation is SO not the friend of the budget conscious!
That being said….I would agree with Bette who suggested adjusting your monthly goal. Your bar chart gives a good picture.
Let’s remove December–a holiday month that often requires extra spending, and January—which you said you spent extra to stock on some staples.
Your average for the 4 months has been around $240…or around $56.50/wk {there were 17 weeks in the 4 months}.
Not far from your goal :).
{At $50/wk, your average monthly budget goal is really $216 :)….when adjusted for a 52 week year}.
Three thoughts to consider:
1. Increasing your monthly food budget goal by around $25/month {or to $56.25 per week}. This is still a HUGE savings plus it keeps you in a position to think through every item you buy.
$56.25 per week actually comes to an average monthly cost of $243.75 WHEN you calculate by the YEAR and adjust for the months that have 5 weeks in them :).
But that is still sticking to an average increase of about $25/month :).
2. How often do you shop? When you do larger shopping trip, say every 2 weeks, it gives you a larger “chunk” of money to spend and this gives a little more leeway for things you don;t need each week like dish soap or hair mousse :). BUT you need to be sure to budget a good amount to keep aside for buying fresh veggies/fruits every few days.
3. Do you give yourself an “allowance”? When the hubby and I started doing this it REEEEEEALLY helped our grocery budget :). We each take a $20 per week discretionary allowance. There are weeks we cannot eek this out {he is in pest control and the work in NEPA is kind of seasonal. In dead winter, there are no bugs to kill and well, that reflects in his paycheck}!. But for the most part, this is part of our budget.
When I want a DD coffee or he has a hankering for Taco Bell, it comes of that money, not the grocery budget! When we run out of our allowance, there is no coffee<<<which is so sad :(.
Just a few thoughts for ya :). YAY for all you've accomplished thus far!!
Keep up the great life focus!
Wow! Thank you so much for your detailed, thoughtful comment about saving more! Incredible. 🙂 I sincerely appreciate the reinforcement and compliment. I’m definitely learning along the way and saving much more than ever before. And again, you’re right about the inflation perspective. $200 becomes a more and more difficult goal as you continue on. I’ll certainly consider some of your suggestions and try to incorporate them in the next couple months! Thanks again, Sam
Now that summer is here, are you planning to try out farmers markets, CSA’s or any social programs that allow for savings (in MN we have Fare for All which runs a scheduled sale at several locations,http://fareforall.org/)?
I know you mentioned traveling, are you researching inexpensive food purchasing opportunities you can schedule around (Food not bombs meet ups for example, http://www.foodnotbombs.net/faq.html)
You’re doing great, thanks for charting your progress.
I might suggest you do an Aldi run at least once a month. We have both Aldi and Hy-Vee where I live. (I also worked at Hy-Vee while in college.) Hy-Vee is so expensive compared to even Super Target. It would be worth it to throw a friend $10 and hit Aldi in their car. You will save it on produce alone.
To help with the mid-day snacks, my husband keeps bulk snacks at work. If he needs a chocolate fix, he just opens his desk drawer instead of hitting the vending machine. I stock up on candy after a holiday. Chocolate can be frozen. If you were worried about eating it all at once, you could bring a snack with your lunch.
I am always trying to lower my food budget, too, so I can relate. But with a toddler, a preschooler, and a baby, it is hard when they are picky eaters. I think the most important thing is to stay away from packaged meals.
My husband and I also have blow money, so when I want a frappachino on Friday, I get one. When the money is gone, no more Starbucks that month.
Try the all cash system….when the money is gone, it is gone.
One trick I like to do when I want to spend social time out with friends but don’t want to spend a lot of money or calories is to get a club soda with lime. Often it’s free at bars, but it still feels just a bit more festive than water!
We are a family of 4 and our grocery spending has historically been off the hook, even when it was just 2 of us. HUGE area of frustration. Earlier this year we found out we had a big tax bill. It forced us to cut out all unnecessary spending so we could pay it off by April 15. I know you said getting to the grocery store is hard but Aldi saved our food budget. They have lots of gluten free items that cost less than half what the regular gluten free brands cost and their products almost always taste way better! Our whole house is gluten free because 2 of us have celiac and are super sensitive. thankfully the other half of the house is pretty cool about it.
The other thing that helped was only using cash for groceries. There is something about holding that paper money in your hand and knowing that is all you have that makes it easier to stay within budget. We were able to to keep it to $150 per week for the 4 of us until we paid off the taxes. That’s $150 per person per month on a fully gluten free diet. I prefer $200 per person because that means we can buy more grassed meat but we were able to do it amazingly. Unfortunately without the weight of paying for our tax bill, we have been spending more again. I will keep trying though!!
Try to see what you can make/grow for yourself. In particular:
– wine & beer – easy to ferment & bottle
– yogurt – easy to make from powdered milk, no scaling necessary, just a thermos & warm water.
– sprouts
– cheese – you can make cheese at home!
– and of course meals are cheaper made than bought – and healthier.
Eating vegan is also economical and healthy. Lentils, beans, brown rice, … are cheap & healthy. Use a pressure cooker or slow cooker or thermal cooker. Use veggies & sauces to change flavours around. Diet for a Small Planet shows you how to achieve complete proteins. Peanuts & sunflower seeds are protein complementary like rice & beans are. Eat whole grain foods since they have more vitamins, minerals, and fibre.
Similar to the comment from “Our Next Life”, I too spend a lot on groceries to buy local, organic, humanely raised, fair trade, etc… However, I still struggle with overindulging on the unnecessary treats, even if it is non-GMO. 🙂
So, for the next few months, I’m going to give up the unnecessary stuff for awhile… coffee, alcohol, iced tea and dark chocolate. Like you mentioned, there are people in the world that don’t have regular meals and I’m indulging in chocolate…? Also, there is a serious water crisis going on around the world and I’m enjoying wine…? Like you, I feel that I need to humble myself a bit. I’m not saying this ban will last forever, but I think it will help me cut down tremendously for the long term and make more conscious consumer decisions.
I’m also going to give myself a challenge and try to buy groceries for a week with $21 or $3/day. Unfortunately, many people in the world live on this. It is probably not healthy, and certainly won’t be organic, but I want to try to see what it is like for those less fortunate.
I know I’m going to offend some people by saying this, but shopping at WalMart will save you a ton on groceries over HyVee or New Pioneer. The best option is Aldi, but if one is not in your area, WalMart is next. Let the flame war begin. Sorry people, it’s just a fact.
I put my monthly grocery money and gas money on a debit card and — don’t let myself go over. As the month draws to a close, I may eat more eggs and forage through my freezer or pantry more, but it always seems to work out!