How do you feed 11 people for $350 a month?

I use sales at the grocery store. I stock up on specials, especially half price items. This way I build my own grocery store at home using my freezer, my kitchen pantry and shelves in the basement.

I’m also in a frozen food co-op which gives me a huge amount of food for a very low price. Check it out at mlwholesalefoods.com. An extra freezer is almost an essential for saving money to the degree I do it.

I travel to go to Aldi (a no-frills grocery store) and Costco (a warehouse store like Sam’s Club) about every 3 months. At Aldi I get chips, crackers, canned refried beans, soup, vegetables and fruits. At Costco I get dairy products like cheese, butter and sour cream. I get milk there, but also from an organic dairy source. The organic is about 70 cents a gallon more. Costco is also a good source for large size baking supplies like 20lb bags of sugar, 25 lbs of flour and 1lb of yeast. If you bake a lot it’s convenient though not always the cheapest.

I also buy grains and baking supplies from Frankferd Farm Foods. We formed a co-op and get a delivery to share about twice a year. This is the way I get 25 lbs. of oats, 5 lbs. of cocoa, 1 lb. of baking powder and other baking needs. I also buy brown rice from Frankferd Farm, and wheat berries, spelt and rye for grinding at home.

I rarely go to more than one grocery store each week. I just select the one with the most good deals. Because I buy in quantity, I can use food from my pantry instead of going to the store.

Produce and bread sometimes run low and I’ll stop into the store just for those things. I can go 2-3 weeks without a big shopping trip if I pick up bread and produce between larger shopping trips.

I get free, organic bread and produce weekly but it’s a case of getting whatever’s available. The organic grocery store lets us pick up day old bread and bruised produce. The produce is still great for fruit salads, guacomole, and chunks of vegetables in a stew. The bread is whole grain, or herb, or fruit and nut. It’s lovely and would retail for $4 a loaf.  We get lots of bagels and dinner rolls which help supplement the breakfast and dinner menus.

So, we eat very well but we pay very little.

What are you eating? White bread and Kool-aid?

That would lower our food bill but we’d spend more at the doctor’s office! We eat simple whole foods, bake from scratch, and eat lean meats.

Salmon, chicken breast, roast whole chicken, venison, roasts, steaks and ground beef are all found in our dinner menus. Occasionally there’s some bacon or sausage. We also enjoy some meatless meals like mac and cheese, quiche or cheese fondue. Meat stretchers like rice, potatoes and noodles all help us make the meat go further.

Lunches include leftovers, chicken nuggets, ramen noodles or other soups, and sandwiches.

Breakfasts include bagels, omlettes, and cereal with milk. In the winter we enjoy hot cereals with our choice of toppings like raisins, brown sugar, nuts and honey.

We have fresh fruit on the counter constantly. Cookies, pretzels, popcorn and cheese are also our snack foods.

What can I do to get started lowering my food bill?

Step one is to get a Sunday newspaper and scan the ads and coupons. I take a marker and circle the items that are good prices. My book has a target price list so you know what you’re aiming for. I cut coupons for any items I ever use and file them in a baby wipes box in envelopes according to category like: baby, baking, cereal...

When a sale item’s price can be further reduced by a coupon I can really save. I get some items free and have even had the store pay me for some foods! My Mom and neighbor save their coupon sections for me so I can buy  several of the good deals.

How many hours do you spend doing this? I don’t have much time!

My Sunday paper scanning routine takes me about an hour and a half a week. But it saves me time in the store because my decisions are already made. I can take my ad and list with an envelope of the correct coupons and shop very quickly. I don’t stand in the store wondering what to get. I spend more time at home than most, but I pay about half what they do and shop quickly once I’m at the store. My 6 hours a month saves at least $300 for a payback of $50 an hour. Pretty good pay for a job I can do while watching a movie!

How will you handle 8 weddings??!

Home Catering

We will plan an elegant menu of simple, make ahead food that we’ll freeze 3-4 weeks before the wedding. I’m imagining crepes with a creamy chicken or seafood filling. A fresh green salad with some special touches like mandarin oranges and toasted almond slices and some delicious rolls will round out the main course. Appetizers can include crab & artichoke dip, fresh veg.s, cheese cubes and crackers, and fruit kabobs.

Wedding cake, perhaps homemade. We can bake the layers in advance and freeze them, then ice the morning of the wedding and decorate with pre-made frosting flowers or fresh flowers.

Punch or lemonade, tea, coffee

Home flowers

There are several reasons why I will encourage my daughters to marry in the warm weather months. One is that we can use the outdoors for entertaining space and the other is that there will be flowers to pick for free, whether we go to the cutting garden or collect wild flowers. For a winter wedding, should one occur, I’d use all the free greens I could collect, branches with berries, and inexpensive flowers like red or white carnations.

Mixing votive candles in with the flowers will add even more sparkle for very little cost.

The bride’s bouquet would be a splurge area I’d spend more money on because it’s front and center, not just an atmosphere creator.

mUSIC oPTIONS

Some ideas for inexpensive music include CD’s which are arranged and sold just for this purpose, friends who play or sing beautifully, and a string quartet hired through the high school or college nearby.

Catalog Bridesmaid’s dresses

Our favorite catalog for this is Chadwicks. There are not many choices but they are usually classic and beautiful...no lampshade dresses here or those nightmares that a bride says you’ll wear again, but no way will you wear it again.

locations on a budget

How about a wedding on a non-traditional day? Maybe the Sunday of a 3 day weekend. The church will already have altar flowers you might be able to use. Reception halls charge more on the weekend evenings so not using the ballroom on Saturday or Sunday should save a lot of money. Maybe the Monday holiday itself would work. Have a weekend of festivities and end with a Monday late morning wedding followed by a brunch. People then have the afternoon and evening to get home.

We have a large yard and are already thinking of landscaping that will lend itself to pretty wedding sites. If we don’t build a gazebo, a removable arch will still provide a pretty spot for saying vows. The reception can be held under a big (rented) tent if there’s too much sun or any rain in the forecast. In case of downpour I’d have a banquet hall lined up as a back-up. It might cost a lot but it might also save the day!

cake and topper

My mother-in-law makes Faberge style eggs. Our own wedding cake topper was a plaster (not plastic!) bride and groom figure from Steve’s grandparent’s bakery. His mom made the egg and placed the figure inside it. It’s far more elegant than most toppers.

Our daughter has started making these eggs too, and I’m encouraging her to make them to sell, especially the cake toppers. There is so little on the market to choose from, she should do very well because she’s offering a tastful alternative to the cheap plastic bride and groom toppers.

We will probably make our own cakes and freeze the layers. Then we will assemble the cake the morning of the wedding. A simple layer of icing can be applied before freezing, but the ornamental stuff needs to be done after it’s thawed. The person doing the cake can’t be expected to do something else the day of the wedding (like be a bridesmaid). By the time cake is served, most guests aren’t hungry. Serve small portions and expect some guests to decline. If you’re purchasing a cake, you’ll save a lot of money by buying a smaller cake. Wedding cake is priced by the slice usually, so get less cake.

HOMESCHOOLING ON A SHOESTRING

How much do you spend on homeschool?

Now that we have graduated one student, we have a set of books for every subject through high school. So, our future investment will be very low. At first we spent $500 on textbooks, teacher’s guides, computer software, and supplies each year, now it’s just $100. I have 6 students I’m teaching, from high school to kindergarten. With the money I used to spend on preschool, I could now buy a computer and a ton of art supplies each year.

How can I lower my homeschool budget?

Use the public library extensively, see if there’s a homeschool support group that has a library (or start one!), borrow science equipment, buy used musical instruments, and buy used books.

Some of our text books were free. They were samples offered to the private school where my sister-in-law worked. She passed them on to us. They include a student text, a teacher text and some goodies like cassette tapes, overheads, tests and fun supplemental exercises. Ask around and see what people are getting rid of. We’ve gotten loads of paper, envelopes and notebooks from offices that were closing.

What are the basics I must have?

A Bible for you to read! If you don’t have God’s direction and strength, you can just hang it up now. And a Bible for each student with age appropriate text.

A good dictionary, encyclopedia on CD Rom, a computer. Lots of paper and pencils, good math text books, good grammar textbooks. Then you need lots of time playing with building materials (legos, lincoln logs, erector set), looking at leaves and bugs, writing and rewriting about anything and everything, and reading about history, science and current events. Visit museums and ask for study guides. Take vacations at historical locations. Go to the zoo, then look up your favorite animal when you get home for an extended study. You don’t have to buy packaged curriculum or spend a lot of money. You can learn as you live and collect materials wherever you go.

How can you possibly send 9 children to college?

If you just look at the numbers, a carpenter with 9 children can’t afford to send his children to college. But we have a plan and a source of money. The plan is this: we tell our children that we will send them to 2 years of community college and the next 2 years are theirs to pay for. They can go military, employer sponsored or work/study. They can save from the time they are little and pay for it, or they can get scholarships and grants. We will discourage loans.

That’s the plan. What’s the source? It’s God. He has all the money in the world and can send a child to college if that is what He has planned for that young person. Not everyone needs to go to college either. It’s not a birthright and is not a guaranteed asset in everyone’s life.

So how is that plan working for you?

Our oldest daughter just started at UVA this fall. She entered as a third year at 18 years old because she started community college at 16. She has 2 Associate’s Degrees already. UVA has almost no merit based aid, so her excellent grades didn’t help there. We filled out the FAFSA form which is step one in getting financial aid. Our EFC, or expected family contribution, was very low. She was awarded grants to cover almost all of her needs and did take a loan for $2000 for the year. We will help her if we can, but she has saved enough money to cover expenses and will pay back the loan on her own after graduation.

A year before she went to UVA my daughter came to me and said she’d decided not to go to a 4 year school this year but would stay home and work. This was not the dream she’d been working toward so I asked what was behind her change of plans. She said she didn’t have the money for college, so she couldn’t go. I said “Oh honey, have I taught you nothing? God has ALL the money!”. She proceded with her dream plan and had her faith strengthened when she saw how little was needed from her for tuition

If we were to have a very good year and had the money on hand, we would gladly pay off her loan. But if we aren’t able to, we won’t take out a loan to cover our children’s college expenses. Putting our home at risk for the education of one child seems foolish. The security of the other 10 members of the family is the greater priority.

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How can you afford a house big enough for all those children?

We put my husband’s talents to maximus use! He’s a carpenter and he built us a 5 bedroom home on 4 acres. Our mortgage is very manageable even on a carpenter’s salary. Not everyone can do this but every person has an area of expertise to capitalize on. A mechanic can save on car repairs, a farmer can save on food, a salesman can negotiate better prices for whatever he’s buying.

How can I lower my monthly housing costs?

Here are some things we’ve done, maybe they could work for you too.

we have taken in renters for $250 a month for a furnished bedroom

we set our thermostat low in the winter and high in the summer

we turn off appliances and lights when we’re not in the room

we improved a handyman special and sold it to buy a better house

we do all the repairs and maintenance we can by ourselves

we refinanced our mortgage which lowered our monthly payment $200 a month.

Your questions, comments and input are welcomed. Do you have a favorite food co-op? Do you know of a store with great deals? Or a shopping strategy like shopping the day after a holiday to stock up for future use?  Are you trying to figure out ways to cut your budget?

Email Trish at trish@grannysez.net.