$35 a Week on Groceries?!

I often get this incredulous comment from people when they find out how little I spend on groceries per week. I know a lot of people have learned how to be very successful with couponing, which is how they keep their grocery bill down, but that is not what you will find here. That approach wouldn't work for my family. So how, then, is $35 a week possible for a family of four? (And no, we don't starve. In fact, somehow we always have plenty and even like to invite friends over for dinner!)

• My husband is a full-time student and I am a SAHM (who works as an at-home MT several hours a week), so we live well below the poverty line. We therefore have to budget carefully and be frugal in everything we do,
• I shop according to the weekly ads, plan meals around those items, and don't buy much of what isn't on sale,
  
• We have and use food storage regularly,
• I cook almost everything from scratch--which is cheaper and much healthier,
• I use a lot of the cheap/healthy staples, like wheat, beans, pasta, rice, and potatoes.

With this blog I hope to show others how I feed my family for $35 a week, and thereby help you see how you can do the same, if you so choose. Most Americans need to make changes in their diets, some of them drastic changes, and this requires not only the desire to do so, but also a rearranging of priorities. Sit down for a few minutes with pen and paper and evaluate where you are and where you want to be--with your health, your eating habits, and your grocery budget. The changes you make may necessitate a change in time management but will reap rewards in so many areas. Most of my recipes don't take that long to make if you're used to cooking, but they are certainly not instant, or even 5-minute meals (unless we're talking leftovers--which I also believe in). Practice becomes habit and this kind of habit is both healthy and delicious.

We eat yummy, healthy, satisfying food and you can too! Welcome to my kitchen...