I'll just chime in here with, there are 5 of us, and the grocery/diaper/pullup budget is 260$ every 2 weeks. It was very rough the first couple of weeks that we moved here and had no food at all, but I finally got a stockpile built up.
I shop the discount meats (expire within 2 or so days) and drop them in the deep freeze. I make everything from scratch because its cheaper to buy the ingredients and I can make 5 or 6 times the amount as buying cans. I use coupons where I can. It has definitly been time consuming, but well worth the effort to see money in the bank at the end of the pay period as opposed to a big goose egg haha. Also, we are on WIC since my three children are aged 4, 3, and 18 months. And that has been a huge help.
Also, we don't have to waste money driving store to store, since were on such a small base, and the nearest grocery store is 21 miles away, we make do from the Commissary and NEX. Its been compromises since we moved, but again well worth it for my kids to have more quality time with their mom and home cooked meals every day. The only splurge I would say I make is baking. My kids and I bake together 4 times a week, but that hasn't even been a huge problem, since I stockpiled basic ingredients like butter, brown/granulated sugar, and baking soda.
I shop the discount meats (expire within 2 or so days) and drop them in the deep freeze. I make everything from scratch because its cheaper to buy the ingredients and I can make 5 or 6 times the amount as buying cans. I use coupons where I can. It has definitly been time consuming, but well worth the effort to see money in the bank at the end of the pay period as opposed to a big goose egg haha. Also, we are on WIC since my three children are aged 4, 3, and 18 months. And that has been a huge help.
Also, we don't have to waste money driving store to store, since were on such a small base, and the nearest grocery store is 21 miles away, we make do from the Commissary and NEX. Its been compromises since we moved, but again well worth it for my kids to have more quality time with their mom and home cooked meals every day. The only splurge I would say I make is baking. My kids and I bake together 4 times a week, but that hasn't even been a huge problem, since I stockpiled basic ingredients like butter, brown/granulated sugar, and baking soda.