So I have tried this past month to set myself a very specific budget for food shopping for my family as a test. None of this includes my daycare. I plan to go to school full time in Sept 2015 and need to make some lifestyle adjustments prior to then. One being food budget. Currently I give myself $250 a week for food. I'll only have about $1300 a month come school time for food and gas so think this is a realistic budget based on what I will be able to afford. Prior to starting this budget this March, my grocery bill was upwards of $1600-$2000 a month. All organic and all fresh and minimally processed.

I'm looking for any tips and advice on how to eat healthy on a budget. I buy very little processed foods...for example....tinned tomatoes, beans, pasta sauce, tinned fish. Tinned stuff is really for those quick week night fixes. Also they can be pricey because I want the best possible product so generally organic and/or with the fewest ingredients listed. I didn't buy organic meat or fish this month which pains me lol but I understand that I need to make some adjustments if it means putting food on the table with the money I have.

What a struggle it has been for us to eat on this tight budget. I have been price matching with flyers, have checkout51, pcplus points, coupon as much as I can while not buying things I wouldn't normally purchase just because they are the cheapest option. There are a few items that I can't compromise on. My son is a veggie so there are a number of meat replacements I buy which aren't to expensive but still eat up a chunk of the monthly budget. I also make all of my kids school snacks which work out to be quite a bit more expensive but there is no way I am going to revert back to the prepackaged junk. I am so proud of my kids for going with this new school menu so I don't want to undo that. The initial cost of ingredients to make the granola bars is close to $70 but then some of those ingredients last me a few months, while others only last a month. They are only allowed one a day for school so it's not like they munch through them crazy quick. A Jar of raw honey @$9.99 lasts 6 weeks, jar of coconut butter lasts 8 weeks and costs $19.99....you get the idea. I buy my organic grains in bulk so they last me in general 4-6 months but I share them with daycare so I imagine when that is done they will last longer but then I run the risk of spoilage so I'm going to try and find someone to go halves. It is incredibly cheap.

I am trying to grocery shop by the flyers and based on what fresh produce is on sale but again it is difficult to do this and eat healthy at the same time. I've grown veg the last couple of years but only tomatoes and zucchini so I think this year I am going to try my hand at a bigger patch and a few more varieties of veg. This would supplement my shopping bill.

Any other suggestions???...... .pair an empty fridge with my hungry, growing, hormonal 12 year old daughter yesterday and it's a recipe for disaster as she outright asked me to buy wagon wheels and bear paws again Not a chance!