Budgets And Eating - Can They Co-Exist?

By Shirley Bullington


Whatever your reason for         Use cash to pay to avoid      
having a tight budget, the       temptation of over spending   
truth is that going to the       and work out your shopping    
grocery store without a plan     list ahead of time. You only  
is a BIG budget breaker. And     need to do this once as many  
sadly all that cash ends up      of the items Cereal, meat     
vanishing into our stomachs      etc. will need to be          
and then...well, you know what   repurchased each time. Other  
comes next.                      items sugar, flour etc. may   
                                 be substituted every other    
But if you only had $300 a       month. In this example you    
month to spend on groceries      have $200 left.               
for a family of four, could                                    
you do it? What sort of food     Fifth, have a schedule of     
would make the list and what     meals that you can rotate.    
would stay tauntingly on the     Cheap, healthy meals like stir
store's shelves?                 fry can be inexpensive as     
                                 they use less meat than full  
Could you save $25 a month on    pieces of chicken or beef for
groceries? How about $50 or      dinner. Plan to have a meat   
$100? Possibly you could cut     meal offset by a simpler dish
your bill by almost 50% if you   like pasta every other night.
consider some of the             This way your family will not
following suggestions:           go through 'feast-and-famine'
                                 when they eat like kings the  
First you must divide the        first week and are eating     
budget you have into three       canned chili every night for  
categories; weekly, bi-weekly    the last week.                
and monthly. Once you have the                                 
totals fixed, try to find a      Always determine your meals   
way to make it work. If you      based on what you really plan
budgeted too tight, only then    to cook. If you have easy     
consider how much more you       weeknight staples, try to find
really need to spend.            the cheapest method of        
                                 preparing them, or make do    
Second, identify your WEEKLY     with less pre- packaged affair
needs; milk, bread, fruits.      on other nights when you have 
These will be your saving        more time. Using items like   
graces when the troops are       frozen vegetables can make    
hungry. You can load up every    eating cheap also healthy and
week and always have a healthy   convenient.                   
snack available. Think about                                   
$15/week.                        Clearly the $300 suggestion   
                                 will depend on your family,   
Third, identify your BI-         the age of your children and  
WEEKLY needs; eggs, cheese,      how much your budget really   
vegetables, meat and cheese      allows. Whatever your budget,
for sandwiches etc. These        taking the time to draw up a  
items have a slightly longer     plan and think about your     
shelf life but you will watch    choices will guarantee that   
how much you use when you know   you keep more cash in your    
there's still four days until    wallet for other important    
your next purchase. Try $20      things.                       
every two weeks.                                               
                                                               
Fourth, get the remainder of                                   
your groceries in one place.     

About the author:
Shirley Bullington, the operator of http://www.femeat.comhas extensive nutritional knowledge and is an expert on advising families on their financial matters. Please visit her sit at http://www.femeat.comfor more information on meat and other nutritional subjects.


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