Food Budget

Well, I have been trying to really cut our food budget. I always thought that a vegan diet would be so much cheaper than a regular meat eating diet. Well, I was wrong. We spend about $600 a month on food, toiletries, and paper products. Which, according to my friends and online buddies is a lot. I've known it's a lot for a while now but have just been fighting cutting back on the luxury stuff that we do enjoy like the expensive spaghetti sauce (that I have to spice up anyway), or the Cascade Complete dishwasher soap (which, turns out doesn't do that much better than the cheaper brand). But I am doing better. This past month I got us down to a little under $475. Which I thought was a big improvement. That is until I went over how much we ate out last month and that bill about doubled. So the big improvement was actually pretty small, but note-worthy.

I know the major part of it is I really don't care for cooking that much. I get into moods where I love it but for the most part it's one of the most hated chores I have. And it's not the cooking part that bothers me. It's preparing the menu, shopping for the ingredients (I really hate grocery shopping), and then after the meal is done, cleaning up. Preparing the meal is fun. I enjoy it. If I could just get someone else to do all the other parts, I'd be in business. But since that isn't an option I need to get over this hatred I have for the kitchen. We eat out way to much and I always end up with that huge lump in my throat by the end of the month because of all the money we spend on restaurants. I mean, with the money spent this past year on restaurants alone, I could have taken my entire family on a very nice vacation to Hawaii. The scary part about that statement is, there is no exaggeration in it. It is 100% accurate and truthful. SCARY!! It has got to stop but that means I can't be lazy anymore and I have to actually get up, make the list and menu and then actually go to that dreaded place. The place I hate more than anything. . . the grocery store.

I just have to pull right up, haul my screaming, hyper kids out of the car, and venture in. It won't be hard. . . I may end up leaving one of them there but hey, they deserve it for all the "Can we get. . ." "Mom, I need. . ." right? I promise I'll be back to pick them up after they reappear from the junk aisle, so it isn't that bad.

Wish me luck I'm off to that awful place, where carts only turn left, kids are screaming, and temptation lurks at every turn. Hopefully I come back in one piece, without a cart full of junk, and with both of my kids in tow. Because the only thing worse than having to go to the grocery store is having to go the the grocery store TWICE in one day.