To build your food supply on budget, you could set a fixed budget for groceries every month.
To shop within that budget, it is recommended to take cash out every month for your groceries.
Spend less every month on your groceries and save a little to carry to the following month.
When a grocery staple you use is on sale, you will have savings from prior months grocery budget to stock up.
How to know the grocery staples to stock up?
Have a list of dishes your family like to eat.
List them based on dishes quick to prep if you don’t have time to spend in the kitchen, you will be able to make these dishes easily.
List the dishes that require a few minutes to prep and might take longer to cook but don’t require your constant watch.
List dishes that take time to prep and time to cook.
After you list the dishes you cook, if you want you can add some of these dishes in a one week of meals schedule or 2 weeks of meals schedule that you cook every week with some exception at times.
Now ask yourself the ingredients you need to have on hand to make any dishes in your schedule. List these ingredients or food staples. That is your grocery list.
Have a Grocery List
You can create a master grocery list that lists all your main food staples you purchase for your household.
Every month to do your groceries, you could check the list to see staples you need to add to your list to have few in stock. In addition, add ingredients you are low of to your grocery list.
Set a budget to spend that month on groceries that is lower than your grocery budget. Sometimes, it might require not purchasing everything in your list but prioritize.
Simplify your Food Pantry
If you do not have a large food pantry, you could purchase Gladiator storage shelf units to put in your basement or a room where there is space and use it to store and organize your grocery staples.
Avoid purchasing many brands of one product.
Avoid purchasing different flavors of one product.
Minimize your condiment purchases and make them yourself.
For meat stock up, you could purchase a chest freezer to store your meat.
Having a deep freezer allows you to prep your greens when you purchase them and freeze them as frozen vegetables for cooking later.
If you grow some of your own vegetables, having a deep freezer is a good idea to avoid wasting your garden harvest.
Have 6 to 12 months of food supply on hand.
If you do not have 6 to 12 months of your monthly income saved up, it is a good idea to slowly build your food supply to 3 months, then 6 months, then 12 months for some items. When you stock up when your staples are on sale, you save money. If you save 12 months of your income, you will lose your purchasing power due to inflation if your money is not invested.
While you slowly build your food supply on budget, know what your minimum living expenses a month are. That is your monthly budget.
List your expenses you pay a few times a year as irregular expenses and estimate their annual expenses. Divide that annual estimate by 12 and that is the amount to put in your saving account every month for your irregular expenses. These expenses could include your home maintenance if you own a house, birthday gift, holiday gift, doctor copay, glasses, contact lenses, contact lens solution, kids school registration fee, kids school clothing or kids clothing, travel…
When building your budget, have 3 sections including your income, your monthly expenses, and your irregular expenses.
If you have debts, you could include a section for extra debts payment.
If you paid off all your debts, you could include a section for investment.
Keep in mind that your budget needs to fit into your income and your actual expenses need to fit into your budget.
The goal is to spend less than you make and use that saving toward paying off your credit card debts, car loan, tuition debts, mortgage debt, and start investing in your own business, in rental properties, and in the stock market to create multiple streams of income that will overtime replace and surpass your income from your job.
Conclusion: How to Build your Food Supply on Budget
We used our September 2022 grocery purchases to illustrate how to grocery shop for a family of 5 on a budget and slowly build your food supply on budget.
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