Budgets and Food and Growth Spurts (Oh My!)

Growing up, we had five biological members of the family, with two or more friends-bordering-on-siblings staying with us and dropping in for meals at any given time. I learned to cook for a small army.

When it was just me and Builder, I made enormous, elaborate meals. I really struggled to learn to cook in small amounts and to shop for a more modest family. We would have leftovers for days on end (and I’m not always great about eating left overs). So I found my niche when I magically found myself cooking for seven people plus various extras as they drop in. We sometimes toss food, but less often when it was just me and Builder, and the extra that is left over at lunch or dinner is quite handy in being the next work day’s lunch for those of us on the go and out of the house.

However, as we are in the process of purchasing our first house, we sat down and took a long hard look at our budget. I just about swallowed my tongue.

Three grand. Sweet baby monkeys, we spend three grand a month on feeding the horde of growing people. It means I’ve gotten incredibly lazy at shopping sales and doing bulk items of the stuff we use a lot. We also have been lazy about ensuring that when we are on the run, we aren’t resorting to fast food, and date nights have relied heavily upon going out to eat at a grown up restaurant with booze. I’m a sucker for a well made drink, so it’s almost always impossible for me to resist trying out a bar.

Needless to say, we are working to fixing this. I have SOME ideas (including making Builder be in charge of telling me nights are left over nights), but I’d be intrigued to hear what y’all do. Especially when keeping children out of the pantry and kitchen when they’ve had pretty free run for the last decade or so.