Money, Money, Money

I was thinking about doing a post regarding whole, real foods and a budget. Then I started thinking....(I may start ranting, you have been warned!). Why should we try to eat as cheaply as possible? Yes I do things like have my own chickens, have a vegetable garden, buy local in season produce (where possible), buy extra staples when they're on sale and I've just brought a 5 kilo bag of flour.

But and here is a big but (not unlike my own hehehehe),I  will willingly spend $6.30 on a loaf of bread. This bread has 4 ingredients. If I got bread from the supermarket I could get 3 loaves that have like 20 ingredients. So I pay more to get less. I pay close to $7 for 2 litres of milk. I pay extra to get organic, pasture fed meat.

I love food. I love cooking. So I figure I might as well have the best I can afford. I don't eat meat every night and when I do I use a smaller amount and have more vegetables, so that is a saving there. I know there are some people that generally can't afford a lot for food. But think. Do you have a house phone and a mobile? Do you have the internet? How many t.vs in the house? Do you have cable? How many times a month do you get your hair or nails done? Do you smoke? How much alcohol do you buy?

The thing is we buy or do all these things that we think are essential. We buy the biggest t.vs, the latest clothes, see the latest movies, go out and blow $100 plus on alcohol at the pub. And we think nothing of it. We do all of this and more and then expect to pay the least amount for our food. This is something we do at least 3 times a day and we want to be cheap skates. In my reading I discovered that around 50 years ago spending 25% of your income on food was considered budgeting. That's right BUDGETING!! I did the math and I wasn't even spending that (& as I said I try to get the best I can).

We live in a world where we buy our kids the latest game console (and games) and we pay as little as possible to feed them crap. Then there is the fact that if we pay $1 or $2 for milk and bread we are ripping off the farmers.

Back to my $6.30 loaf of bread, this bread rocks! After eating this I realise that the other cheaper breads taste just like crap. My bread is delicious, When Stella and I have a sandwich we are full. So that means a loaf of bread does all week (or more as I'll freeze some). So my bread costs more, has less ingredients but is more filling. I think that's great value for money.

So next time you whinge about your grocery bill, make a list of all your "essentials" you willingly spend big bucks on. Then think do I want to eat something that tastes great, is filling and isn't filled with crap?

How much do you spend on food?