Comments on: Frugality, the Grocery Bill, and the Large Family, Part One

By: Kendra

Kendra — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:37:24 +0000

Sophia-

Great suggestion! I’m sure it could be a huge boon to many families.

By: Sophia

Sophia — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:27:59 +0000

Kendra,
I recently had to come up with a way to severely cut our grocery budget after my husband lost his job. I was blessed to be directed by a friend to angelfoodministries.com and have been able to take my $600/month grocery budget down to $200/month to feed our family of five. It is such a wonderful ministry and anyone can participate. We order two regular boxes and two fruit and veggie boxes every month and spend $100, then I spend another $100 to buy things at the store to expand the recipes and buy paper and laundry products. Also, I was given a recipe to make my own laundry soap which is another huge cost savings.
Blessings,
Sophia

By: theMangoTimes » 8 Kids - How do you afford it?

theMangoTimes » 8 Kids - How do you afford it? — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 07:46:21 +0000

[...] blogged on frugality and wise shopping. She is really good at it. Enjoy her first three posts here: Frugality, the Grocery Bill, and the Large Family, Part One Frugality, the Grocery Bill, and the Large Family, Part Two Frugality, the Grocery Bill and the [...]

By: Kendra

Kendra — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 01:21:41 +0000

Brandy-

Yes, you are!

~Kendra

By: nates5bs

nates5bs — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 21:29:27 +0000

I’m so happy to learn the USDA average for our family. They say our family of 7 should be spending $948.90 per month. We eat very few processed foods and as much as possible organically. We either grow our own fruits and veggies or go to the Farmer’s Market each week. We shop at Trader Joes and Costco. We also have many people in and out of our house because my husband is on staff at our church. I was beating myself up because I was spending about $720 per month to accomodate our entertaining and eating organically in a family our size! I no longer will beat myself up! I am doing a great job!

By: Franci

Franci — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 01:10:41 +0000

Oh man, here in New Zealand all our supermarkets are owned by 2 major players and the amazing prices you guys can get on products just don’t happen here. Add to that the fact that coupons here are very scarce (and I grab all the ones I can find!) and usually only good for one item. We grow some of our own vegetables in summer, and when we lived in the country got our yoghurt from a local farmer, but that’s about as much as I can do! (apart from just good old sensible shopping, that is!)

By: Courtney

Courtney — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:59:36 +0000

I am really looking forward to reading everything you have to say about this! I have a lot to learn as it’s only me, my husband, and our 16 month old, and I still spend way too much!

Thanks for all the great tips!

By: Sonya

Sonya — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:40:43 +0000

Hi Kendra – Thank you so much for all of your posts! I have found so much encouragement and great ideas! I love this post too! I just had a couple of random questions – First – I’m just trying to think of what possible criticism your family could get from this helpful post? Am I totally missing something? Is it just Wallmart vs. Target? I live in Target headquarters land myself (MN) and so we have great Target stores and not very nice Wallmart stores (and not very many either!) So, we are huge SuperTarget fans, but for those who want to shop at Wallmart, that is great too!:)
Also, I am wondering what the importance of checking the USDA average family costs are? I personally would have never thought to look there or really cared what their averages are, and it seems like most real nutrition books agree that their model is not the way towards good nutrition, much better something likehttp://www.nuval.com/Default.aspx

Thank for my random thoughts! Keep up the great work!

By: Brandi

Brandi — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:13:44 +0000

I love the hospitality note. That is awesome! I can’t wait to hear more! I am a pastor’s wife and our family of 7 would love to have folks over more than we do. Sounds like you have advice for helping me do this! Looking forward to more!

You are SO organized. Praying I learn more.

And by the way, thanks for the post on how you plan for the year. I am looking to try a NEW way this year. I have been so bogged down in planning throughout the year that I haven’t been enjoying teaching as much! Not good. Thanks again!

Brandi

By: Dawn

Dawn — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:31:59 +0000

Kendra,
The thing about the employees smoking outside against the wall really gets me too. It’s hard to walk 8 children thru all that smoke and feel like a good mom. LOL!
Our Target and Kroger are both an hour away. That’s my problem…getting the stuff I get at Wally World somewhere else without travelling an hour to Target.
Maybe I should just suck it up and do it. Thank you for clarifying.
Dawn in SC…who is beginning to feel encouraged that it CAN be done without WM. Keep it coming.