Food expense

2cuteboys...Yes you are right. It all depends what you buy and where you buy it. Out of household expenses, groceries is the one where most families overspend. It is also one of the easier ones to decrease though. I do this by shopping sales (this helps with variety as well) and couponing(and NO couponing isn't just junk food :) ). I also have a friend and an aunt who give me garden produce in the summer from time to time. (speaking of which....I don't think I claimed any of the food I bought at farmers markets this summer...I will try to remember to do that this year and ask them for receipts!!) And like you said it all depends on where you live!! Even a friend of mine who lives 30 mins away from me pays almost double what I do for a jug of milk for example. Crazy!!

crayola kiddies....I am close to you what you claim. I separate mine a bit differently but together my groceries and supplies(tp,kleenax, paper towel etc, art) are $4500-$4800.

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Originally Posted by 5 Little Monkeys

I was thinking the same sandylynn. I just totaled up my groceries for dc and it was just over $2200 for the year for 4 kids. If I did $8/day that would be around $8000. While I would love to claim that much, it wouldn't be honest for me. I give the kids well balanced meals and snacks and they don't go hungry either lol. (I have to say that I have small eaters and sometimes loose receipts or end up buying dc groceries on my bills which I don't claim but it isn't like I'm missing $6000 in receipts lol)

I don't think I could afford to do daycare if my grocery bill was almost $650 a month just for daycare.

However, if you have the receipts to prove that the daycare is using that much per day than all will be fine and an audit won't be an issue if you do get audited. :)

edited....OMG, $1500 a month in groceries....I'm speechless LOL. Makes me not want to have kids of my own hahaha

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I appreciate that my grocery bill per month is high, but I feed 5 daycare kids and a family of 4 on that budget. I'd be really interested to hear how and what you are feeding those daycare kids on little more than $2 a day?? Meaning no disrespect to each and everyone's personal preference on their food choices, I serve absolutely no processed foods. No fishy crackers for snacks, only fresh fruit and veggies, homemade hummus and veggie dips and I make all my own baked goods. All meat is fresh never frozen as are my veggies. I serve zero refined carbs and also offer gluten free grains as part of a regular weekly meal. I serve a wide variety of healthy foods based on my own values and principles of healthy eating. And where ever possible everything is abf or organic. In the summer I grow a selection of veggies, with my dck's so I don't have to buy as much from the grocery store thus saving me money. Farmers Market produce may well be local and appear a better option but on average majority of produce is still sprayed. These are not values that others need to share with me but are ultimately why I charge more and why so many of my clients choose me. High quality nutritious foods are not cheap. Cheap food comes at a compromise in my opinion and is not something I can do even for my daycare kids. As for couponing, there are no coupons in Ontario, Canada for food which is not processed. Maybe on an extremely rare occasion you will find something for maple leaf foods but that will likely be a processed meat. I also do not follow Canada's food guide as contrary to belief, it is not healthy. Well balanced can still be a variety of mediocre foods. Now each to their own I say as everyone puts higher values on different things, but this is where I put mine.
A parent who is not concerned with the quality of the food their child is fed, but simply that they are offered a variety of foods through out the day and don't go hungry would not be best spending their money on my daycare, where as other parents who prioritize this are more likely to be turned off by a meal plan including highly processed foods and packaged stuff. Each to their own.

Going back to the original topic though, if you spend it claim it. A reasonable amount should not be something you think about but simply the honest cost regardless of what food you actually supply.

I go through 2 4L jugs of milk for daycare a week so that is $2 a day using it for drinking, cooking, baking, making a pudding, etc. Food costs add up quickly and do account for almost half of what you will claim against your income. It is your biggest expense.

I agree BrightSparks, each to their own :) I totally agree that we all put our priorities on different things. I fully admit that giving organic, non-processed, non-refined carbs, gluten free etc is not high on my list. I have not had any parents who are like this at home so it hasn't been an issue for me. I by no means offer great and healthy food all the time but I also by no means offer junk. I am in the middle I would say, which is fairly common to the clients I provide service too.

I give them fresh fruit and veggies every day but I also use items such as goldfish crackers, processed sandwich meat, cheese and even cookies from time to time. However, I do bake often and freeze all of this, I buy meat in bulk and freeze, I make lots of casseroles, stews and chili's and freeze all of this. I will freeze fresh fruit when a good sale is on. Today for instance I cooked half a ham roast (processed, I'm terrible I know lol) and I will get 4 dc lunches out of that. My kids are not big eaters and eat probably a cup to a cup and half of various foods at lunch. Snacks are probably closer to half a cup to a cup. We drink a lot of water here with milk 2-3x a week and the occasional watered down juice.

Like I said in my original post, if you have the receipts for it, claim it :)

(I also serve a lot of our leftovers, which I do not claim. )

**also meant to say....$1500 for 9 people is pretty good!

5 Little Monkeys...why do you not claim the leftovers??? Almost all of my dc lunches are leftovers...but I cook extra at dinner time so that I will have enough for the daycare the next day. I calculated $6 per day per child last year, but I will up it to either $7 or $8 for 2013 because I started serving some organic and more expensive foods in general...removed many of the few processed foods I used to serve (like flavoued yogurt) and replaced with whole foods. It costs more. I don't think $8 is unreasonable if you have reciepts and menus and have costed it out. Even if the kids don't eat it...if it is served and ends up thrown away, it is still an expense because you had to make it for them.

I don't claim the leftovers because I buy all my dc groceries separately. If I serve them leftovers from our groceries, I don't have the receipts to prove it.

I know it sounds crazy when you say $2/day/child but for an example, this is what we had today:
am snack...english muffin with pb and banana,water
lunch...ham, cucumbers,buttered bread, grapes, milk
pm snack will be...watermelon, homemade muffins we made, water

Yes it could be better and more organic etc but I don't think it's "junk" either. Something like a canteloupe which costs $2 will last me 3-4 days because I have such small eaters.

I could buy all my groceries together and than claim 50% of that which would likely be around $5000 instead of $2000 but for me it wouldn't be honest as I know that they are not getting half of what I am buying. For example, I buy steak/lobster/expensive cheese/treats for us but never give them that. I do know that I should be claiming some more for the leftovers but I'm not sure how to do that when I buy dc groceries separately? Any suggestions from people who also buy dc groceries separately? :)

I imagine with leftovers you would factor in the cost of the meal and how much was leftovers and write your expenses up that way. I know providers who feed their dck's by making double of their evening meal and reheating that portion to them the following day. The cost of that family meal is then 50/50. Obviously if it isn't half then work out the portion of the meal to be more of a 1/3 or 1/4. Yes a little more time consuming yo work out and keep a record of but it's an expense. You claim it cost you $2000 on groceries last year but that's not accurate. That is what you claim based on separate receipts but is not a true or accurate representation of your actual cost.

Thanks Brightsparks, I will have to consider doing the leftovers that way. Do you think I would need receipts for that? I keep none of our personal receipts right now. I am just guessing but I would assume that with leftovers, it is only another $500ish roughly.

Keep in mind that I also buy my groceries separately from my household supplies like toilet paper, cleaners, paper towel, kleenax etc. I know some providers lump this all in together under groceries. My expense for this stuff is another $2000.

For an idea of where my expense of $8 a day comes from this is what my crew have on their menu plan today.

AM Snack...W.W Cranberry, banana and zuchinni bread with apple slices and water
Lunch...Cajun Sweet Potato and Salmon Chowder...corn, sw.pots, salmon, onions, carrots, kale, cream, stock followed by fresh fruit....bananas, strawberries and water
Afternoon snack is Apple cinnamon pancakes and water...I make a could 40-50 in one go, on a weekend obviously lol, freeze them between wax paper and then they get reheated quickly in the toaster.

So as you can see, this is where my expense comes from and all my food except the corn and cranberries are organic. Today was a day that was $7 and change.

Years ago I tried to do my food incorporated with my families groceries but find it is to complicated to keep track of accurately and at tax time separating it is a huge headache. That's why now everything is separate. I even have separate sundrys like herbs, spices, flour and other grains. I have staple ones I use and if a recipe calls for anything more than a pinch of something fancy from my own stock then it gets left out.

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Originally Posted by 5 Little Monkeys

Thanks Brightsparks, I will have to consider doing the leftovers that way. Do you think I would need receipts for that? I keep none of our personal receipts right now. I am just guessing but I would assume that with leftovers, it is only another $500ish roughly.

Keep in mind that I also buy my groceries separately from my household supplies like toilet paper, cleaners, paper towel, kleenax etc. I know some providers lump this all in together under groceries. My expense for this stuff is another $2000.

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I keep my household separate too as its a different expense for taxes. I would start keeping your personal food receipts but obviously there will be things on their that do not get given to the dck's so it gets complicated. It really is more work to cook separately for them on top of for the family so that's why I batch cook every couple of months for daycare so I am not cooking every day for them and I shop for their food all at once only having an extra shop once or twice a week for fresh fruit and veg.