Blessings, Darlings!
Did you know that the USDA estimates how much it costs to eat? "The
Thrifty, Low-Cost,
Moderate-Cost, and Liberal Food
Plans each represent a
nutritious diet at a different
cost. The Thrifty Food Plan is
the basis for food stamp
allotments." The site with ALL the links is here http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/USDAFoodPlansCostofFood.htm.
The most recent data - for May, 2011 - is available here: http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/2011/CostofFoodMay2011.pdf
(where they also have links to what they figure people will each on
each plan.) According to them a family of thee, one woman my age, one
man my husband's age, one man my son's age, will need to spend $494.90 a
month ON THE THRIFTY - the LOWEST COST - of the plans.
Right
now my budget for all 'grocery' type items (food, cleaning supplies,
cat supplies including Frontline but NOT including the vet) I'm spending
$400 a month. Which I suppose explains why I'm finding this really
really hard to live on. That's rather a relief, as I had begun to think
that I was screwing up somehow.
I could not do this without having a freezer - which
allows me to shop sales and stock up on things. And I certainly
couldn't do this if I wasn't cooking almost everything from scratch, which probably means I couldn't do it if I had to leave the house to work.
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I wish that our benefits would do that. I think they randomly pull a figure out of the air that they think that people should be able to live off of. It's even worse when you have food allergies and they refuse to take that into account.
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky that I, too, have a freezer, shop the sales, etc., and I actually keep a tight track of my budget with a spreadsheet so I can see where it's all going, and see if I have a bit left for anything extra.