"Cutting Costs" Shopping List

Only a few days ago I began this new adventure by cutting our families food budget down to $275.00 per month.  And I am excited to say that our lives have already changed dramatically.  I was quite intimidated by the task, not sure if I could live up to my expectations for myself.  Not sure if I could make time in my day for the necessary food prep and all the cooking that goes into living on only whole, raw, and homemade foods.  While it has been a lot of hard work, it has been very rewarding and enjoyable.

Here is the shopping list I used.   I may have to tweak a few things, or add additional items to the list as the month proceeds.  We'll see how it all pans out.  But for now, these are the items I started with.


Dairy

• Full Cream 1 Quart
• Whole Organic Milk (not raw) 2 Gallons
• Cheddar Cheese  32 oz.
• Mozzarella Cheese  32 oz.
• Salted Butter  32 oz.
• Sour Cream (full fat)  1 lb.

Produce

• 20 lbs Russet Potatoes
• 5 lbs Apples
• 5 lbs Bananas
• 5 lbs Carrots
• 1 Large Celery
• 1 Green Cabbage
• 3 Heads Broccoli
• 2 Cucumbers
• 10 lbs. Oranges
• 3 lbs. Onions (yellow or white)
• Large package Baby Spinach

Grains

• Whole Wheat Flour  15 lbs.
• Whole Grain Rolled Oats  4 lbs.
• Brown Rice Pasta 32 oz.
• Brown Basmati Rice 10 lbs.

Protein/Meat/Fish

• Dry Pinto Beans  16 oz. bag
• Dry Kidney Beans 16 oz. bag
• Dry White Beans 16 oz. bag
• Dry Red Lentils  16 oz.
• Canned Pink Salmon  4 - 8 oz. cans
• Ground Beef (grass fed if possible) 5 lbs.
• Whole Chicken (w/out antibiotics or hormones) 4 or 5 lbs.
• Eggs (we get all our eggs from our own hens, but I'm guessing 5 dozen or so would do)
• Beef Bones (should not pay more than $6 on these. if they want more than that, go elsewhere)

Other

• Soy Sauce
• Natural Peanut Butter 32 oz.
• Honey x2
• Tomato Paste 2 - 13 oz. cans
• Diced Canned Tomato 4 - 28 oz. cans
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Raisins  32 oz.
• Bulk Flax Seed 16 oz.

I chose to do my shopping at the local Safeway. The GRAND TOTAL for all of it was $197.00 .  

This leaves me with over $75 dollars to pick up any extras I will need.  We go through milk quickly since we have a 12 month old who drinks whole milk bottles regularly, so we will need to buy more throughout the month.  It's also nice to have a buffer for things like spices, yeast, baking soda, etc.  

I plan to post the meals I'm creating along with pictures. So far we've had Chili with Corn Bread, Cow Tongue Tacos (The tongue was not planned and not on the shopping list. A friend brought over the parts of their recently butchered cow they weren't going to use. Thanks Pat!), and Meatloaf & Potatoes. The kids and I have baked healthy cookies, whole wheat bread, got our sourdough bread starter going, and tomorrow we will be trying out a new homemade yogurt recipe.  I feel very blessed!