Years ago I used to do this every week… however hubby and I changed our food consumption to literally only meat, fresh veggies and limited fresh fruits. We pretty much ate nothing else. Not too many coupons available for those limited items so I quit even bothering to look for coupons, although I’d watch for meat sales.

However, we are now a family of 6 with 4 boys that have ginormous appetites and they are only getting bigger. So, our diets have changed and for now, that’s going to have to be ok. Our diets will be dictated by our budget. Our “healthy” eating will simply be that we do not eat at fast food places or restaurants. We will have some version of protein at every meal and it will be very plentiful.

Anyway, the first trip this week was to Albertsons… I used their circular and coupons that I found on coupons.com. I spent a total of $64.00 and this is what I came home with:

• 20 dozen eggs
• 4 boxes general mills cereal
• 2 gallons whole milke
• 1 loaf white bread
• 5 half gallons of minute maid brand limeade/lemonade
• 10lbs chicken thighs
• 8 lbs cheddar cheese
• 2 one and a half quarts breyer’s ice cream

This is just one trip and not everything we need for the week, nor is it things we always eat each week.  Because of the coupons and discounts, I was able to take advantage of a few things we don’t normally eat such as cereal, the drinks and the breyer’s ice cream.

As I said I am not concerned about organic or “perceived” healthy foods (ie: low fat, lean meats, etc.)  I am concerned about getting as much “balanced” food for my family as possible, with the lowest price possible.  In fact, our current grocery budget is $500/month but my goal is to get our grocery spending down to $300/month on average.

Let’s see… how many people “really” need WIC or foodstamps?  If we treated our inability to take care of our families as the #1 priority in our lives that we “say” they are, we’d be doing everything possible to provide for them, including taking on 2-3-4 jobs, selling the majority of our possessions to provide food and shelter, discontinue our cell phones, our internet, our cable/satellite TV, not take on (or get rid of) car payments, etc.

The fact is, we don’t really treat providing for our family as our #1 priority.  I’ve seen families take on as many money making things as possible to provide, even to the point of one of the family members getting as few as 2-4 hours sleep a night just in order to provide for the family through jobs, odd jobs, part-time work, etc.

I’ve seen families prepare for the inevitable disaster by not buying all of the so-called “necessities” in life (you know the things: movies, tv’s, dvd players, stereo’s, internet, computers, cable/satellite, cell phones, books, stuff to have stuff, etc.) and making sure they had “shored up” just a little to cover in case of that upcoming emergency.

We personally have gotten so “tight” financially that we wouldn’t even buy a cup of coffee at times.  If we needed to be with people in public places we’d just not buy something, it was that simple.   We are watching our pennies so closely now that we are being ultra careful… things such as an $8 business lunch are out of the question.  No it’s not convenient, but it can be done and with a little bit of work and organization, it works out just fine. We’ve given up many things and continue to do so in order that we do not become dependent upon someone or something else.

I’m constantly hearing all of the “reasons” people are receiving public assistance and in every single case they could have made choices prior to the assistance to change the need for assistance.  In most cases, they could be off the assistance quickly, but choose to continue to receive anything they can get. Why aren’t people working harder to change their circumstances while they are on assistance?

Do we realize the impact of this? The cost to society? The intent on this dependancy being created by the ones creating the “assistance” programs? We need to get off our butts and start really taking care of ourselves and our families.  Unfortunately, our country is moving into the opposite direction and has been for over 50 years (it’s all political parties, not just one).  It’s sad… in a few decades people will be so dependant upon the government to provide for them that they’ll essentially be “fat and happy” and the “government” will do whatever they want, because they’ve created a society of dependancy.

Maybe it’s the summer heat. Maybe it’s the fact that summers are busier, and the last thing I want to think about at the end of a long day is cooking. Or maybe it’s the fact that we haven’t been planning our meals. Oh. Yeah that last one is it!

When nothing sounds good, you’re tired, and it’s a little hot out, those are great times to default to indiscriminate spending on eating out. This is how we got into debt in the first place. Giving in to laziness and poor planning is not a good way of living in general. But this kind of behavior affects our physical health, as well as our financial health.

So the solution? Hate the fact that we got ourselves into this mess, and love the idea of getting out if it more!