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Where are the $240 in USDA Food Stamps in all of this?
OP doesn't mention anything about having Food Stamps available for use...if she did she wouldn't need to keep her food budget at $150 for her family of 4...
the toddlers NEED to have adequate nutrition as they are still growing and developing...be ever mindful of that fact as that will have an effect on their health as they get older...
My suggestions are these:
shop the sales and buy store brands as much as possible...they tend to be cheaper in price than the name brands and are of comparable quality for the most part...buy whole chickens and cut them up yourself,most cookbooks show how to do that. When turkeys are on sale buy 2...one to be cooked at once, the other can be cooked at a later date when the price is generally higher...also buy the biggest birds possible, because the meat to bone ration will be better...both chicken and turkey can be prepared in a lot of different ways so the meals won't be the same...
cook and bake from scratch as much as possible...a bread machine is NOT a neccesity...bread was mixed and baked by hand long before the bread machines came into existance...
homemade soups, casseroles,stews are all good ways to stretch food as well as provide a well balanced (nutrition-wise) meal...
either home-grown or farmers market produce are more economical in the long run...frozen veggies are the next best to fresh in most instances...canned foods are higher in sodium and preservatives than fresh or frozen...fresh fruit is a better buy than canned...more nutritious also...some fresh fruit can be frozen for later use in baking,or smoothies.
rice,potatoes,pasta,egg noodles can be fixed different ways...egg noodles can be made from scratch as well.
needless to say, on that tight of a food budget, junkfood such as chips,cookies,candy,soda,etc. would not be included...they don't provide any nutritional value...
...as well some from good ole southern cookin. It's amazing that many really poor people in the states can be so, to put it nicely...robust
There's a reason for that. There's a town in WV that has the highest obesity rate in the country. It used to be a coal mining town. The families still cook the same foods past down from generation to generation. All of those fattening gravies and sausage meats gave labor workers energy for their long days. They didn't get fat. The population became inactive after the coal mines closed. They continued eating food that kept them healthy when they were active. New generations learned to cook the same meals from their mothers and grandmothers. Poof, they all got fat. Same goes for African American foods. Their ancestors worked hard as slaves so the fatting, cheap cuts of food didn't make them fat. That diet doesn't translate well in today's less active society.
I can see that. However that 'floor' would be very low indeed, if you focus only on calorie intake.
Barley or oat porridge is very low priced. I get barley for $5/50-pounds, oats for $3/50-pounds.
The Roman Armies marched on barley porridge as their primary staple. Mix it up with a vegetable serving once a week and a meat serving once a week; and a marching army can conquer nations.
Where do you get the 50 lb bags of barley and oats? Do you get them at Costco or do you have to get them directly from the farmer? Is it possible to find them at a farmers' market?
Here in NYC, my family eats oatmeal often, but we get a 42 oz container (2.625 lbs) for about $2.50 - $3.00 (maybe once a year, it goes on sale to $2 a box). We're not really into going overboard with saving money (but then again, it's a lot cheaper to buy a $3 bag rather than 20 $2 boxes), but it's good to know.
Basically, to the OP, just do the standard: Clip coupons, buy store brands, buy basic staples (rice, beans, oats, etc), and so on. I'm not sure if you can get it down to $150 a month, though. For 4 people, that's $37.50 each, which is only like $1.30 per day.
Where do you get the 50 lb bags of barley and oats? Do you get them at Costco or do you have to get them directly from the farmer? Is it possible to find them at a farmers' market?
I did some searching a few years ago. I found that in one county West of me is a cluster of corn farmers. Where I now go each fall [during harvest] to buy corn. I generally buy a year-worth at a time. For me that runs about 1 1/2 ton of corn.
North of my location is a county where I found barley being farmed, likewise I go there during harvest and I pick up about the same quantity of barley as I do corn.
Has a lot of cool data to offer. If anyone digs through it, they will find a break down of each state, by county. Showing exactly how much of each crop is produced in each county.
Most states have farm areas where crops are produced.
Locate your closest county that produces X and go there during harvest.
Grain Co-Ops are common in those areas, or else buy directly from farmers.
If it is not an economic issue, subjecting two small children to a starvation diet of $150/mo ($5 a day for a family of three) is a neurosis. Call Childrens' Protective Services. If it is an economic issue, send her to the USDA web site.
The op should also checkout the food giveaways in her area. We have a few here in yucaipa but you gotta jump through hoops to get free food. Family assistance on ave B is the worse.
The complementary use of vegetable protein has to be with legumes and/or varied grains and/or seeds and/or nuts because these foods contain the essential building blocks of protein, amino acids, that are completed when they are consumed together. It is no accident that all these sources would have the essential amino acids because they all contain the potentials of life for the new plants as being the seeds of life. Those sources would have more carbs and fats in the grains and legumes which are also necessary for the diet. Perhaps today we can eat less carbs and fats but we cannot get the protein from just other plant parts.
...and if we do this, then there's nothing wrong with that but we will need animal protein too. As I was saying, focusing on grains and legumes produces too high of a carbs/protein ratio to make the little protein that results effective for most people.
This is my first time looking at the frugal forum and this is a really interesting thread. I just buy food for myself and I spend about $150/month on groceries...there are some good tips here on how to cut down on food costs. I can't see how you could make that budget work for a family of 4 but good luck!
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