People often ask about how I keep my food costs down, especially since they know we try to eat healthfully and don’t use the typically less expensive processed foods (pasta, anyone?).

Currently there are nine of us living at home, two adults, two teenagers, and two others who eat as much as teenagers :).  Most weekends we have at least one married couple and once a month my almost 20 year old son is home from yeshiva. We also sometimes have guests but less often than we did before the kids were married – we like to leave time to spend with them.

We have two children who are gluten free so all meals during the week are made accordingly.  Our costs include three meals a day; I send lunch for my husband (my new cost cutting measure since we were both shocked how much he was spending) and my high schooler takes lunch with him.

Right now my weekly budget for food is 1100 shekels and includes toiletries and other miscellaneous things that have nothing to do with food like paying to recharge my sons’ bus cards. I’ve even bought clothes using food  money just because the cash is in my wallet! At the beginning of this month I tightened up on my record keeping so I can have an exact number for how much is spent on food; I know it’s under 1000 but I don’t know how much less. Starting next month I’ll have a better reference point.

My costs aren’t a reflection of only what I buy or where I buy it, but when and how I shop. People think I must shop somewhere different than them, but it’s really my combined strategies that add up to my reduced costs.

I allocate our food budget money once a week; below you’ll see my list of what I bought.

Here’s my shopping list for this week (prices in shekels):

• chicken breasts, 10 pkg (13.2 kg x 19.90) – 264 approx.
• chicken quarters,  5 pkg (5.775 kg x 15.90) – 91.82
• whole chicken, 2 (4.90 kg x 13.90) – 84.11
• grape juice, 3 – 43
• butter (2 – 200 gr. pkg) – 15.20
• milk (2) – 9
• olives, 4 x 6.49 – 25.60
• canned mushrooms (3) – 7.80
• coconut cream (4 x 6.90) – 41.40
• swiss chard (5), celery (3), parsley (2) , dill (1) , coriander (1)- 33
• sugar – 4.40
• chocolate gelt for Chanuka (8 bags) – 20
• flour (5) – 10
• diapers (4) – 98
• tissues, 1 five pack- 6.80

Fruits and vegetables:

• red potatoes, 11 kg (x 2.90)- 30 shekels
• bananas, 2.8 kg x 3.90 kg – 11.06
• red peppers, 5.6 kg x 3.90- 22.18
• sweet potatoes, 20 kg approx x 2.9 –  58.80
• ginger – .115 kg x 14.90 – 1.71
• apples and oranges – (13.38 kg x 2.90) – 38.80

That brings me pretty close to the end of the budget for the week!

You might be looking at this list and wondering what kind of list this is! It looks very incomplete, right?

I buy large amounts of items when they go on sale; if the price is nothing special, I get just what I need for a week or so. Each week always includes the food I’m buying that will be used beyond that week.

Things I didn’t need to buy:

• eggs
• cukes, tomatoes, carrots, avocados, onions, lettuce – bought at the end of last week
• rice, kasha, oatmeal, lentils (brown/orange), white/red/black/black eyed peas, chickpeas
• tomato paste, canned tomatoes, tuna, canned fruit, applesauce
• chicken wings, gizzards, ground chicken
• coconut oil, olive oil
• spices, lemon juice, vinegar
• toilet paper, shampoo, disposable napkins/utensils

What I’ll buy between now and the end of the week:

• Possibly some more cucumber and tomatoes – 20

Some of you may be living locally and wondering about the sale pricing on some of these things. I keep an eye on sale flyers and I get text message updates from another supermarket. This allows me to buy the items that are on sale and buy the rest of what I need from the supermarkets that overall have good prices (but can’t compete on the loss leader pricing).

For example, this week I bought 2 cases of sweet potatoes. In this cool weather, they’ll easily last three weeks. The sweet potatoes were on sale for 2.90 a kg; the usual price is 7.90 or more. This store has sale pricing on select produce two days a week – guess when I shop there? 🙂

Avivah

** I know some of you will want to know about kosher certification. I usually buy the Of Tov brand for chicken, which is not only usually less expensive but is antibiotic free. We’ve asked our rav about hechsherim and I suggest you do the same if you’re wondering about what is advisable to buy. I give no suggestions or recommendations in this area!