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What am I missing with food?
I am struggling with food lately. We have a 400$/month grocery budget for 2 adults and a 2 year old. Only DH eats meat (and he only eats it about half the time... he is ok with veggie foods).
I buy WW flour, oatmeal, and brown rice in bulk (all organic, 25 lb bags from Country Living Natural Foods)
I cook beans from dry. I need to start buying these in bulk instead of from the co-op.
I need to start making bread again. I think I need help with bread recipes. I am so tired of mine that I never bother to make it. It has to be all whole wheat though- I refuse to use any white flour. I have WW pastry flour though.
Organic dairy products are so expensive. We don't do much milk, but we love yogurt and cottage cheese. I am leary of trying to make them as weird textures gross me out. I am thinking maybe I could do homemade Kefir in smoothies though? Any other thoughts on dairy products? I can get raw milk for like 3.50/gallon.
Produce..... ug. In the summer we have a huge garden. But still not nearly enough to meet all our needs. I want to eat local/in season but I have a VERY hard time with it.
I think partially bc I am not a great cook so I tend to go to standby meals all year long (like fajitas which = peppers in the winter). I also need fast meals with 2 small kids so I don't have a ton of time to experiment. I enjoy cooking but not when I am trying to do it with a crying baby and a whining toddler hanging off me.
I have completely stopped buying tomatos out of season bc they taste nasty. But I need someone to hold my hand beyond that 
Re: What am I missing with food?
This is what we do. My husband and I (no kids) only spend $300/month on food. We buy all organic produce (and/or local if we can find it) organic dairy, and only humanely raised meat and eggs.
I go to the farmer's market on Thursdays with $20 dollars. That $20 buys eggs, any meat I may want (which is rarely and I usually go for a cheap cut) and veggies. This last week I got my eggs, yellow squash, zucchini, onions, peaches, purple potatoes, 2 portabella caps, jalepenos, and green beans for the $20. On Saturday before I go to the grocery store I write a full meal plan out for the week using the things I got at the farmer's market and what is growing in the garden. The meal plan and shopping list are what really save our budget because I only buy what is on that list and I know I'm going to use it all. I buy things like rice and beans out of the bulk bin, but only in the amount I'm going to use that week.
We do make our own yogurt usually and sometimes bread, but not always. Processed foods and snack foods don't get into our shopping cart, which saves a lot of money.
Saving and using scraps (in spiritenergy's blog) really does help. I eat a decent amount of shrimp, and always buy shell on. Whenever I make some shrimp, I save the shells and also throw in things like garlic paper, and then I have stuff on hand to make a nice shrimp stock. That sure came in handy earlier this month when my bank account was pretty empty, I made shrimp stock, added some curry powder and spices, and made up a soup with shrimp and spinach from my garden! Throwing out bones and veggie scraps is throwing out food!!
How do you plan what you are buying?
I have a similar setup to Leigh. Our food budget is $140 a week ($560 a month) which I know is a lot, but we've moved other things around in our budget so we can eat locally year-round. So a good portion of that money goes to freezing veggies, making jam, and dehydrating fruit. We eat everything we can local, including breads, pasta, and liquor.
I go to the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning and buy what I think looks good. I bring $80 in the spring/summer and $40 in the fall/winter. We have meat 2-3 times a week which helps keeps costs down. This week I got chicken breasts, sausage, ground beef, 2 pints of cherries, 1 pint of blueberries, jalapenos, garlic scapes, green beans, caluliflower, 3 green peppers, and scones. In our backyard garden we have sugar snaps and chard ready to eat. I come home, and make meals out of those ingredients. Here is my menu for this week. The sausage one is 45 mins, the rest are less than 30. I did make the pesto the day before.
Eggs in a Nest (a chard & egg recipe) with brown rice
Aloo Gobi (an indian dish of potatoes, cauliflower, and onions), rice, and indian flatbread called naan
Garlic scape pesto with penne, chicken, and green beans
Sausage baked with green peppers and onions in pasta sauce, topped with mozarella
Spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread
Sweet potato fritters, mediterranean cous cous, and carrot-mint salad.
On Saturday afternoon I fill in the holes in my recipes (like basmati rice for the Aloo Gobi) with a trip to the grocery store.
You can buy less meat but make more meals if you don't do the standard dinner of a large meat portion, starch, and veggie. Try stir-fries or meat on top of a salad. That stretches your meat meals further. Like for the chicken in the penne, that's one large breast (0.75 lbs). Everything makes enough for leftovers, which we have for lunch the next day. I also buy a whole chicken and roast it. That's one dinner for us, then I pick the carcass clean and that makes several lunches worth of chicken casserole or chicken salad sandwiches, and the carcass gets made into chicken stock. It's like 6-7 meals for $15.
ETA: I have trouble with organic dairy too, it is really expensive. I love milk, and go through a $6 gallon of Organic Valley every week. I usually get a $5 tub of Oikios greek yogurt too, and then organic butter and cheese when I need them. I bring whatever cash I have left from the Farmer's Market to the store and when it's gone, it's gone. I often have to put stuff back to stay in budget. But usually I don't miss whatever I put back, and I learn to not plan meals that rely on so much store-bought stuff the following week.
I also have lots of cookbooks. A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen is a great seasonal veggie book, so is Local Flavors by Deborah Madison. After I've made a recipe a few times I rarely have to look at it, so that cuts down on prep time. Using cookbooks keeps me from making the same thing over and over. The seasonal cookbooks are great, because they don't recommend fajitas in winter
I don't, which is part of the problem I think.
Blah, I just get overwhelmed, then give up and go to Cub ( a regular grocery). But I am really trying to rededicate myself this summer when I can stock up and preserve local produce.
See, all of those look great, and like things I could easily make. But I never think of them, and I never have time to browse cookbooks. Usually I am driving to the grocery store with at least 1 kid, if not 2, and trying to make the meal plan and grocery list in my head. So I go to spaghetti, tacos, fajitas, stir fry and buy the same peppers, zucc, brocolli, and onions every week.
I am tossing ideas around here, but maybe I should start a binder of easy recipes and keep it in the car so that I can quickly browse through it and pick recipes based on what produce is available.
The real key is planning ahead and not picking things up on the fly. On the occasion we go to the store without a list because "we only need a couple of things", we always will go over budget and usually end up wasting some food or buying junk we didn't need.
It takes me about 20 minutes to plan our meals for the week. Its not that much time. I subscribe to a couple of cooking mags and have a couple of staple cookbooks I use. It doesn't take that long and if really will help you out in the end. Bonus is you will get through the grocery store faster, especially if you organize your list by produce, dry, dairy, etc.
I'm glad you like them! I didnt "think of these" either, almost all my recipes are from cookbooks, magazines, or the internet, see above. I have a big 3 ring binder with page protectors in it. When I find recipes online or in a magazine, I put them in there. If I don't have time to search through my cookbooks for meals, I flip through that. The source of your difficulty and lack of meal diversity is not planning, unfortunately. I also spend about 20 mins a week planning my meals. Sit down and do it before you leave for the grocery store, like while your kids are napping or DH is watching them. If you want to improve your meals this is the way to go, and you'll need to find the time to plan. Flipping through the recipe book in the car still won't yield a written list of ingredients for you to buy. I could never remember what I need without my list, and I don't have 2 kids hanging off of me. 20 mins at home before you leave will help out a lot I think. My Farmer's Market has a newsletter that lists what's in season, maybe yours has the same and you can use that to plan before you shop there too.
ETA: I hope this helps. I had a hard time starting off with meal planning too, but after you've done it a couple times it comes much easier, and your meals will be so much better. Having a list also really helps me stay in budget, and makes food shopping go much faster. You'll really start to look forward to when fresh produce is in season at the Farmer's Market. This week is the first time I've had pesto since last September and man, was it good!
I know so many people feel planning is key, but it works the opposite for me! If I start planning, I make a mess of things, go overbudget, and end up with too much food and waste so much of it. I don't need as many full meals as I think because so often I end up snacking, or having leftovers that I didn't really figure in.
So for me it works best to give myself a budget and stay within it, buying what's a good deal/in season/on sale, and working around that. Of course, I'm also really flexible with what my food is. Today and yesterday lunches were melons from the $1 bin (love my produce stand's $1 bin!), some berries, cheese and bread.
I pretty much always have eggs and shrimp on hand. Even though the eggs are $3.50 a dozen, its a pretty cheap protein source, and same with shrimp, even though I don't eat them all that often, they are quick to defrost and cook, and can really solve a what the heck is for dinner night problem. If you have shrimp, I bet you can make some kind of dinner.
Do you buy chicken and cut up and freeze for things like fajitas? When you find a good deal you could do that with chicken, slice it up and freeze in portions, for other things too, like stir-fries, asian lettuce wraps, etc.
I would work on having some simple meal ideas on hand (both in your head, and in your cupboard), and working out some alternative, simple meals. My step-mom used to do snack night, which was very popular with the kids. She'd do sliced apple sandwiches (apple slices layered with pb and cheese), chopped veggies and dip (can make with yogurt and herbs), hummus and pita, etc.
What about pizza night? Making dough is supposedly easy, and cheap, and then anything can go on it.
Tomato soup and grilled cheese, or grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches with a salad, can make a nice quick easy dinner. Dinner doesn't always have to be a fully, labored meal.
I know organic dairy is expensive, and I do stick to it pretty religiously with milk and domestic products, but the rBGH isn't allowed in other countries, and I'm okay with more 'artisan' cheeses from other countries not being organic.
I kinda jumped around in explaining how it works for me, but basically like some of the others have said I give myself a set amount, go to the farmer's market or produce stand and then if needed with whatever I have left moneywise round that out elsewhere. I have staples I keep in mind, like eggs, bread, cheese, pasta (which I actually hate, lol), hummus, that I know I can make meals out of.
I would also suggest just buying produce because its in season and a good deal rather than what you are used to and know goes in your fajitas. Heck, I'd also challenge you not to make fajitas for a month! I think I've even fajitas twice in my life (and I'm from Texas and Arizona!), and I'm already tired of them from this thread, no offense!
I would also keep all your grocery receipts and enter them, in detail, into Excel, and give each listing a category ie:
I know its a pain but do it for a few months and you'll really see where your money is going (PS peppers are really expensive lol)
Item Category Store Price/lb price paid
Peppers . Produce . Kroger . 4.99 3.78.
Chicken . Meat . Farmer's Market . 7.99
I'd make up a week menu for you, but I really do the opposite, get what's in my budget and looks good, keeping in mind reasonably can I live off this, and then go from there.
Thanks for the detailed responses everyone. I appreciate it.
We aren't doing a CSA this year but I think I will ask a few friends to forward me their CSA emails so that I can take advantage of the in-season recipes.
Alisha, we do better with planned meals. Ideally, we do what you suggested with DH's meat- grill up chicken at the beginning of the week, then have it to add to stuff all week until it runs out. I am fine eating one giant pot of stew all week, but DH gets tired of the same thing all the time, and DS won't always eat the things we prefer to eat. So that is why it tends to work better to plan out meals everyone likes. But when I don't allocate the time properly for that (which I obviously need to prioritize more) I fall back on the boring stuff that we all like that is fairly healthy. But man is it boring.