Budget Review: How Much We Spent on Food in March

March is over, so it is time for our latest family food budget review. We have been making some changes to our eating that I am very excited about, so I want to share that process and the results with you. Let’s get into it!

You may remember that in February I was sick a lot and I was really fed up with feeling so bad. Dave Ramsey used to say that change happens when you get sick and tired of being sick, and February was the last straw for me, so I decided to do a major overhaul on all of our food choices.

My husband also got some concerning health news requiring a healthier diet, which proved the point and had me focus on healthy whole foods and getting away from all the processed foods that had crept into our food supply.

Of course, there has to be a balance in everything. I am a bit of a perfectionist myself, trying to do what I set out to do 100%, but I had to be mindful of the family and the things that they would enjoy eating, so everybody did not revolt in the first week.

I decided to go with the 80-20 rule, providing healthy and nourishing food 80% of the time, and allowing 20% of indulgences, as it would not do that much damage.

I expected that with all the high quality protein, fresh produce and organic items we were purchasing, our grocery spending would skyrocket. I was okay with that and ready to make that change and pay the price, expecting the difference to be well over $300.

However, when I did the math, I was shocked to find out we only spent $70 more this month than last month, which is $17 a week, or $2.50 a day for our entire family, i.e. 50 cents a day per person in our family of five.

For me not to feel mom’s guilt and knowing all the health benefits my family is getting, that is a very good trade in my opinion.

Let’s move on to my animal expenses. This might not be relevant for all of you, but I know a lot of you do have some small farm animals, and I believe that keeping track of how much we spend on them is super important, as the goal is to have them save us money and make our life better, not the opposite.

It is a give and take: you are going to have to spend extra money to feed them, but also they are going to provide great nourishing food for your family, which justifies this expense. Not only do I love caring for my farm animals, but also it brings me a lot of peace and security to know that even if something happens, like a disruption in the food supply system or an issue getting to the store, I have access to some food right in my yard.

Still, I am trying to work on dwindling down the amount of money that I have to spend on the animals each month. I did get rid of one of the pigs, getting it to the butcher, and the other one I am hoping to give away to our neighbor.

Now that we have a new deep freezer, I can keep all the pork there, together with extra butter and milk. We have been getting about a gallon and a half of fresh nourishing milk per day from our cow, and our chickens are doing a great job of keeping our egg baskets totally full. I am going to an animal swap this Saturday, and will hopefully be able to find someone who is interested in goats.

In March, my total animal cost was $334.13. This includes a pretty expensive flea collar for one of the dogs, as other measures have proven ineffective so far. Even though we spent a lot on that collar this month, considering it is supposed to last for eight months, that will average out to be really affordable.

I have still been giving everyone high-quality feed, and I have moved our cow onto our grass, which should help to decrease the hay cost.

Finally, let’s talk about household items. In this category, I count all the things that are not food but we use on a regular basis and have to replenish, such as sandwich bags, parchment paper, toilet paper, etc. I try to keep this number as low as possible but sometimes things sort of add up and come up to more than I would want.

This month, our household items ended up being $180.36, which is quite a bit more than the $120 we spent in February. I did have several large purchases at Costco that will last us for multiple months, so maybe overall that will even out. In any case, things just run out and you have to repurchase them, and there is not much to be done about that.

This is exactly the same principle that works for my whole eating and healthy living plan. Vitamins and supplements, as well as quality food, cost money, but they are really important to keep on stock and on hand for my family to have access to, especially when someone is having health issues.

To save money, I have decided to reduce the amount of things that I get delivered from Amazon as a subscription and save items, and I have really done a good job.

I feel like overall we have made a lot of important improvements in March and I am looking forward to making a lot more in the future. I am proud of what we have achieved this month, and even though it drove our spending up, I am totally ready to spend a bit more for that increase in quality of life.

How much we spent on food in March

How much does your family spend on food each month and what do the fluctuations depend on? What are the products you are not willing to compromise on, even if they are more expensive? Share in the comments!

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