Budget - how much makes sense

Elfrida

Sat, Dec 16 2023, 4:51 pm

amother OP wrote:

My weekly food looks something like this:
Breakfast - cereal and milk, yogurt

American or Israeli cereal? What kind of milk? The milk in plastic bags (as opposed to boxes) is government subsidised, and is quite a lot cheaper. Start comparing prices on different yoghurts, and see if you like the cheaper types.

amother OP wrote:

- bread and protein (tuna, egg, cheese, avocado), approx once a week I bought ready made food (sometimes expensive)

What kind of bread? Plain white sliced loaves are also government subsidised and cheaper. If you don't want that, you don't have to eat it, but again, there is a big range of prices. A bag of pitas is a lot cheaper than a bag of bagels. Cottage cheese and gvinah levanah are cheap. Try chummus or techina sometimes instead of more expensive options. Add some vegetables. Ready made food is an obvious area for economy.

https://www.imamother.com/foru.....upper - once a week ground meat, once a week chicken, once a week fish (usually salmon), once a week meat, twice a week takeout (once pizza/falafel type, once fleishig)[/quote]
Try some more vegetable or parev meals. Pasta, grains, pulses are all cheaper than meat and salmon, and very nutritious. A think vegetable soup with lentils or barley is a meal in itself, and costs very little. Some chicken parts cost a lot more than others. Pay attention to what you are buying. Pizza and falafel might not seem expensive, but they mount up, especially when you add a drink, and maybe something for dessert. Fleishic takeout even more so.

amother OP wrote:

Snacks

Keep track of what snacks you buy, and experiment with cheaper options where relevant.

amother OP wrote:

Shabbos - all basics. Fish is salmon and main is chicken. Liver, dips, challah and dessert bought.

Buying liver, dips, challah and desserts probably mounts up to two or three hundred shekels. If you want to spend that for Shabbos, you can, but if you want to save you also can. Do you need to serve salmon and liver at the same meal, or can you do just one? What happens to all the leftovers? You didn't mention them in your description of what you eat, but hopefully they get used rather than thrown out. [/quote]

amother OP wrote:

How can I save more?

Impulse buying is a huge enemy of economy. Plan meals in advance, go shopping with a list, check prices, and don't buy what isn't on the list.

Some people find it easier to keep track of what they are spending when they hand over the cash, instead of waving a credit card.

Buy a water filter, and save money on bottles water.

LovesHashem

Sat, Dec 16 2023, 4:55 pm

Success10 wrote:

I'm going to be the voice of dissent here. You should enjoy being a newlywed and not budget like crazy. You are entitled to eat out, order in, sip iced coffee and buy a few American products. Don't overdo it, and bear in mind you can't live like this until 120. As life goes on and IYH there are more mouths to feed, you will have to shop simply. But you're only a newlywed once, I'd live it up while you can.

Yes and no. She should enjoy but it's easier to learn how to budget a bit and get savier about where and when and what you buy before you are preoccupied with little beings all the time.

I thibk becoming more aware is great and also if she wants to cut back a bit to get used to it, thats great too. He

amother

Sat, Dec 16 2023, 5:02 pm

LovesHashem wrote:

1. Learn to stretch veggies and use less protein.
2. We don't even have salmon on shabbos every week. We have meat maybe once a month. We use tilapia which is cheaper.
3. Are you buying individual yogurts flavored ones? Those add up fast. We buy jugs of plain yogurt or the 500 ml strawberry/peach one. What cereals are you buying?

Alot of sauces you can make yourself. Or cook with spices and basic ingredients. We make our own tomato suave from tomato pate for example.

Why are you buying water? You should get a brita or use tap. Do you buy sweet drinks too? Do you buy coffees out? Go out to each with friends?

What snacks do you buy? Are you buying expensive ones? In bulk? Candy? Chips? Baked goods? Everything adds up....

Do you buy kedem? Buying liver, dips, challah and desert alone can easily be 150 shekels a week. (depending on how many dips and if you are including Herring as a dip.) That's 600 a month.

1. One issue I'm finding is portion size. E.g. 1 pack of ground meat gives me more than 2 portions, but not 3. So I have nothing to do with the leftovers cos it's not a full portion. And I haven't found smaller packets. You think it's possible to get 4 portions out of it so I can freeze 2?
2. I don't like tilapia. And it's oneg shabbos that shouldn't be part of cheshbon, it's not something that I find is too luxurious. I learnt shabbos shouldn't be part of the cheshbon, obviously not going all out and buying all ready made food, or meat etc every shabbos. But for me salmon is part of shabbos, it's how I grew up.
3. I am buying individual. I only like the muller brand, I didn't notice big sizes. Do you know if they have?
4. I do cook a lot from spices but I stocked up on sauces, truth is I don't use them much. So I guess that was a one time expense that won't be repeated much.
5. I don't like the taste of the tap water, I tried it for a few days. Maybe I'm being fussy I don't know. I want to save money but it seems like each category is just too hard for me. What is brita? Does it take the bad taste away? Sweet drinks is very occasional.
6. Not buying snacks in bulk cos don't have storage room, but trying to pick the cheaper options mostly.
7. Yes kedem, the only brand I like. If I have time I make dips but I work so I can't always manage so usually buy them.

I guess my issue is I'm too picky???

amother

Cerise

Sat, Dec 16 2023, 5:10 pm

amother OP wrote:

I really appreciate your responses!

Food does include eating out. Most of the time it was cheaper stuff, like pizza, falafel etc. Sometimes cheaper fleishig takeouts. Once a nicer place.
Most shabbos meals we were invited out, when I cooked myself it was all from scratch, only bought dips.
So we did just get here so yeah we did get a lot of kitchen staples, I didn't think of that. And I bought a lot of spices and sauces. I'm a very impulsive buyer so I see something that looks cool and I don't look at the price at all. I'm buying mostly Israeli companies and shopping in the big supermarkets, makolets just for things I run out of and need then and heavy stuff like water.

My weekly food looks something like this:
Breakfast - cereal and milk, yogurt
Lunch - bread and protein (tuna, egg, cheese, avocado), approx once a week I bought ready made food (sometimes expensive)
Supper - once a week ground meat, once a week chicken, once a week fish (usually salmon), once a week meat, twice a week takeout (once pizza/falafel type, once fleishig)
Snacks
Shabbos - all basics. Fish is salmon and main is chicken. Liver, dips, challah and dessert bought.

How can I save more?

For the next month try:
no spices or sauces (you should have enough to last a couple of months if you bought now)
Try a cheaper fish than salmon. You can get cheap fish for 20 shekel a kilo, salmon is minimum 80, with some spice the cheap fish can be delicious.
twice a week takeout is a lot, maybe cut to once a week?
meat is another big expense. Try using ground chicken instead.

Try making a list before you go shopping. Only buy what is on the list. You'll be amazed at the difference it makes.

Work out what one meal is costing you.

eg. if I make ground chicken for the family (10 people), I use 1kg of ground chicken (17 shekel) a kg of rice (6 shekel), and about 12 shekel on vegetables. So total: 35 shekel ie 3.5 shekel per head.

If I buy pizza (60 shekel per pie, half a pie each) comes to 30 shekel per head. literally ten times the price.

A spaghetti bolognese is easy to make, delicious and for a young couple should cost 12 shekel on ground beef or 9 for chicken, 4 shekel on spaghetti and 10 shekel on veg. Add tomato sauce - 9 shekel. 35 shekel for a very filling meal which is about 6 portions so just under 6 shekel per portion.

Salmon, even just two slices, will cost about 30 shekel just on the protein, plus the rice and veg.

Try and work out what you are spending on each meal and then you'll be able to work out where to save. Also, pay attention to leftovers. If you find you have a lot of leftovers, cut back on quantities or freeze.

Elfrida

Sat, Dec 16 2023, 5:13 pm

amother OP wrote:

Stretch it with vegetables. Add a chopped onion and one or two grated zucchini. Or carrot. If you have one portion left over, freeze that, and the next week a second, a d the week after you'll have two portions ready.

Or serve smaller portions of meat, with a filling side dish and a salad.

amother

Cerise

Sat, Dec 16 2023, 5:14 pm

amother OP wrote:

1. One issue I'm finding is portion size. E.g. 1 pack of ground meat gives me more than 2 portions, but not 3. So I have nothing to do with the leftovers cos it's not a full portion. And I haven't found smaller packets. You think it's possible to get 4 portions out of it so I can freeze 2?
You should be able to stretch that to 4 portions if you add veg and a bit more carb.
2. I don't like tilapia. And it's oneg shabbos that shouldn't be part of cheshbon, it's not something that I find is too luxurious. I learnt shabbos shouldn't be part of the cheshbon, obviously not going all out and buying all ready made food, or meat etc every shabbos. But for me salmon is part of shabbos, it's how I grew up. Right but you're also eating salmon during the week. There are other fish other than tilapia which are way cheaper than salmon
3. I am buying individual. I only like the muller brand, I didn't notice big sizes. Do you know if they have?
4. I do cook a lot from spices but I stocked up on sauces, truth is I don't use them much. So I guess that was a one time expense that won't be repeated much. Correct.
5. I don't like the taste of the tap water, I tried it for a few days. Maybe I'm being fussy I don't know. I want to save money but it seems like each category is just too hard for me. What is brita? Does it take the bad taste away? Sweet drinks is very occasional. You get used to it after a while.
6. Not buying snacks in bulk cos don't have storage room, but trying to pick the cheaper options mostly.
7. Yes kedem, the only brand I like. If I have time I make dips but I work so I can't always manage so usually buy them. That's also hotzoas Shabbos.

I guess my issue is I'm too picky???

[/b]

With time, you'll get used to different brands. In the meantime, don't stress over it.

LovesHashem

Sat, Dec 16 2023, 5:14 pm

amother OP wrote:

1. That's why I buy fresh as much as possible to I can freeze the exact portions we will use. With ground meet you can cook it and freeze, we usually cook any extras like that, just brown it and freeze and use it later in a meat sauce with spaghetti

2. Okay I hear. Where do you buy salmon though? We only buy on sale a whole fish and cut portions and freeze in portions. We don't pay more than 69 a kilo. How much do you make for shabbos?

3. I can't remember the name of the brand but it's cheaper. You buy fruit ones? You can also but plain yogurt and make smoothies with it. We only buy individual yogurts as a treat.

5. A brita is a pitcher with a filter. It's owned by sodastream. We got a large one on Amazon (Amazon brand) for cheaper but they sell them here too.

6.I hear that. Try doing cheaper snacks like fruit, popcorn, etc. We but crackers and pretzels from yesh cuz they are 2.90 and 3.90 there which is very cheap.

7. Is it possible to make in advance and freeze? Or make some and buy some? Or buy less?

None of this is stuff you have to do, but if you are asking where you can cut well here's some food for thought.

Being aware and realizing there are options is a huge first step. You don't have to make any changes if you don't want, but it's important to be conscious of your spending and how much things cost.

amother

Sat, Dec 16 2023, 5:16 pm

Elfrida wrote:

Cereal is not Israeli, the ones I saw were too sugary. Milk I get in the bags. I've tried the cheaper yogurts I dont' like them.
I buy pitas in multipacks. Chummus is a good idea. Veg is also and I try to do it for health. I just need to remind myself that the extra time is worthwhile. I'm definitely gonna make an effort to stop the readymade food for lunch cos that's an absolute luxury. It just happens when I'm short on time.....
Skipping protein for supper won't work for me but I will check out which types of chicken are cheapest and try to do that.
Leftovers if it's a full portion goes in the freezer but currently all still sitting there as they are only 1 portions, not 2. Otherwise fridge if my husband wants it later, if not it gets thrown out.

LovesHashem

Sat, Dec 16 2023, 5:19 pm

amother OP wrote:

Lentils are protein. So is eggs, tofu, cheese, and other things. There's lots of vegan ways to get protein in with veggies and things like quinoa and lentils.

I also need protein to be fill.

savta3

Sat, Dec 16 2023, 5:36 pm

amother OP wrote:

I really appreciate your responses!

Food does include eating out. Most of the time it was cheaper stuff, like pizza, falafel etc. Sometimes cheaper fleishig takeouts. Once a nicer place.

Pizza, falafel etc. are also expensive.
Remember the rule - the more work someone else did, the more expensive for the same thing.
So, for pizza for example:
If you grew your own wheat and ground it, made your own cheese etc. it would be the cheapest. Laugh

The next cheapest is buying flour, cheese, tomato puree and making your own sauce etc.
Then buying flour, ready-cut cheese, sauce in a bottle.
But next is buying frozen pizza in the supermarket.
And finally buying pizza ready in the store.

The same for everything - try and find a balance between how much time/strength you have when working to prepare yourself vs. how much you want to spend. It doesn't have to be the same each time. Maybe you'll decide to sometimes make your own pizza, sometimes buy frozen, and once a month treat yourselves to fresh pizza from the store.

Quote:

Most shabbos meals we were invited out, when I cooked myself it was all from scratch, only bought dips.
So we did just get here so yeah we did get a lot of kitchen staples, I didn't think of that. And I bought a lot of spices and sauces. I'm a very impulsive buyer so I see something that looks cool and I don't look at the price at all. I'm buying mostly Israeli companies and shopping in the big supermarkets, makolets just for things I run out of and need then and heavy stuff like water.

Ready made sauces are expensive. Can you make your own? You can also make in bulk and keep in the fridge - they last a couple of weeks at least (and are also healthier).

Quote:

My weekly food looks something like this:
Breakfast - cereal and milk, yogurt
Lunch - bread and protein (tuna, egg, cheese, avocado), approx once a week I bought ready made food (sometimes expensive)
Supper - once a week ground meat, once a week chicken, once a week fish (usually salmon), once a week meat, twice a week takeout (once pizza/falafel type, once fleishig)
Snacks
Shabbos - all basics. Fish is salmon and main is chicken. Liver, dips, challah and dessert bought.

How can I save more?

Tuna is not so cheap in Israel. I would not consider it a cheap protein at all.
Meat (especially mehadrin) is very expensive, including ground meat (although as previous posters wrote you can stretch it).
For weekdays, all your suppers are very expensive, except the chicken. Salmon can be more expensive than meat. If you want fish, find something else (including tuna, including frozen tuna fillets which are different to canned and not so expensive). Takeout, even the cheap type, can end up more expensive per portion than a chicken meal. There are very quick and easy chicken recipes out there which won't take up much time.
Keep your Shabbos foods, since you are managing with the available money, so why not. Not eating salmon during the week will also make it more special for Shabbos.

amother

Mint

Sun, Dec 17 2023, 2:47 am

I froze a lot when we were a smaller family. One chicken lasted us four shabboses...

We're a family of 7 in Jerusalem, spend about 4500 at most on groceries (food and anything else you buy in a grocery store) but we buy from the less expensive places and we eat fairly healthily, so don't use anything ready made / super processed. I don't include takeout as part of grocery expenses - that goes into another category so I can track it properly. Usually me and DH get takeout once a month, and we do pizza for everyone for rosh chodesh.

Chicken/meat maybe once a week apart from shabbos - usually wings or ground turkey/beef.
Salmon only for shabbos and even then only two or three fillets for the seven of us.

I usually aim to spend maximum 25 shekels on protein for the evening meal for the seven of us, but my kids are still small - I know this will go up when I have teenagers. 25 shekels could be 5 cans of the cheaper tuna, or 500g of ground meat, three cans of beans, eggs is a cheaper protein at approx one shekel per egg, everyone eats between 2 and 3 so I usually make 20 at once...

Salmon and red meat are the most expensive healthy protein items. Other big expenses are processed or imported cereal, sauces, ready foods. We limit those. Of course kids need a lot of snacks for various school things, but you don't need that.

Track for a few months. Bear in mind your expenses will go up if your family size increases, so if you're planning to move for the longer term and planning to expand your family, take that into consideration.