Oy Vey, friends. I swear the price of groceries is just taking its toll. I keep trying different things to get this budget under control, but IT IS SO HARD.
And honestly, it's not easy.
Last week I went to Costco (and got a lot of things but I'd be embarrassed to tell you what I spent).
I have done Aldi.
I have done the local discount store.
I have done the regular grocery store.
I have done the local butcher/local farm.
I'm telling you, I have really tried it all.
And my budget is blown all the time.
I feel like I'm failing at this. But...
I'm not giving up. I have been scouring YouTube and watching many frugal YouTubers. I'm going to try a different tactic.
What I'm not going to do:
Homesteading. This is not for everyone and we are not farmers. I did plant my garden. And I will still visit local farms, but I am not a farmer.
Processed food. I do think processed food can be cheaper (and easier), and we do eat some processed food (I am not making my own crackers). But I would still like to keep most of our meals home cooked.
Meal Kits. We have food allergies in our family and most of the meal kits I have looked at will not work for us.
Starve these people. I do make a few meatless meals per week, but these people are meat eaters. The suggestion I keep seeing to only use meat for flavoring is just not going to work here.
Deplete my entire freezer/pantry stash. I am going to use this stash, but I will be replenishing things as we go. I am keeping the food instability of 2020 in the back of my mind.
But I am going to be making some changes on how I shop for our food and home needs. It's just getting so out of control. I feel like I'm white knuckling this food budget every month. There are stresses in life that we can't control. But this is one of those stresses that I can control.
So stay tuned for what works and what isn't working. I will share all the good, the bad, and the ugly.
