Cutting back

Last week a Facebook friend posted a Body by Vi ad: "Where else can you buy 30 meals for $49" and that got me to thinking... $49 divided by 30 = $1.63 per meal.  Times that by 4 people, 3 meals a day for 30 days and it equals: $588.... To me that seems expensive and I thought some more.
(I know this meal shake is not to be used for 3 meals/day nor for everyone in the family and NO I am not thinking of using this product, just the math intrigued me.)

I thought about how much I spend on groceries for my family. I didn't sit down with the month statement and checkbook, I just roughly estimated... once a week I go to 2 stores in GF, usually spend $100 (+/-) at each one .. $800!! Are you kidding me that's TOO much! Now I felt deflated... But that is $2.22 per person/meal, never mind the snacks, desserts and cat food (dog/rabbit food separate) and now I felt better but still.... a nagging little feeling deep inside was screaming at me to cut that budget, lower the $800 to at least $600...

I used to be so good at shopping, spending $300(+/-) each month, at least I used to be good at shopping before I started taking my nieghbours shopping every week,  before veggies, dairy and grains became so ridiculously priced, before Anna's galactose/dairy free diet, before both girls, before I cut out prefabbed meals.... before I learned how to make good food from scratch.... before.... Wow lots of things have changed in the last 7 years!

Ok, maybe $800 per month for my family of 4 isn't so bad. But I do need to re-think what goes into my shopping cart and cutting down on the shopping trips will help a lot.  I went a week and a half between my latest trips and I only spent $65 on the last! Mostly Almond milk, PB, veggies and wild rice.

Our meals are not lacking from my cutting back, the freezer is a little less full and the fridge has veggies/dairy and not so much junk. I think this cutting back will be more beneficially to my family. Soon we'll be buying veggies from the farmers market and then harvesting from our own garden and greenhouse.  I've also been thinking seriously of raising chickens in the backyard (4-6 layers) just have to wait for city council to approve a by-law, fingers crossed!

So all in all, my shopping habits will be changing, not only to ease our pocketbooks but to help our waistlines too! 
Happy June everyone :)