Thrifty Thursday

Feeding My Family of 5 on $100.00 a Month, Part II.

Last Thursday I posted about feeding my family on a budget, I am going to pick up on that post today. I did receive a couple of questions that I thought were really good ones, so I wanted to post the answers here in case others had the same question.

#1 Do you use Coupons?

I do love coupons, as you can tell by my Walmart trip post. However, with coupons you should always be sure that you are not spending more on the name brand product that you are using the coupon on, than you would buying the store brand. For example, I bought Cheerios today at Walmart and they were $1.98 a box (retail price), but I had a $1.50 off coupon which made the $0.48 a box. There are different brands of cereal that cost less than $1.98, but I don't think I have ever seen one that costs less than $0.48 a box. I also bought some Ronzoni Pasta. I would normally buy the Walmart brand because it is cheaper, but I had $1.00 off coupons, which made the pasta $0.50 per box, so I bought them. I think if you are going to coupon, you Must Coupon Wisely!!

#2 Does Aldi have better prices than Super Walmart?

Aldi does have better prices than Walmart on most things, but you have to be sure to compare the prices at each store. I find that Aldi is more expensive on things like regular sugar and noodles, so I buy those items at the cheaper stores. I make a monthly trip to Aldi because the closet one to me is about 45 minutes away, but I do find that it saves our family so much. I have heard someone else say that if you can reduce the number of times you go to the store, you will reduce the amount of money that you spend, and I find this to be so true. I don't know about you all, but every time I go into the store, I am tempted to buy something that is not on the list. Most of the time I am able to resist the urge, but it is there no the less.

I think a super important thing to remember when working with a food budget, is to be creative. Sure it can get boring if you cook the same thing over and over, but get a little creative with it. Lets take pancakes for example, sure my kids will get tired of eating plan pancakes, but when I add frozen berries or chocolate chips they act like it is a totally different meal.

You can also get super creative with those little blue boxes of Mac. and Cheese. Try boiling the noodles as you normally would. Brown up some ground beef. When the noodles get done, drain them and put them in a casserole dish. Add the ground beef, and mix them together. Make the little cheese packet according to the directions, and pour over the noodles and meat. Then I like to get a couple of slices of regular cheese out and put that on top, and then sprinkle with bread crumbs. This turns mac and cheese into more of a casserole, it changes things up to keep it interesting.

Do you have a super creative idea for a simple meal, leave me a comment and let me know all about it. I love trying new ideas, and would love to hear all about yours.