Who Cut the Cheese?

This family did! And it saves us $30 a week on our grocery bill- didn't see that one coming.

After realizing that dairy didn't agree with our new baby's digestive system, we were forced to chose one of two routes: switch him over to formula, or kick the dairy from our diet. Just for the record, there was no consideration of option one. Which meant no dairy for mama, and hence no dairy (or very little) for daddy. It's just not practical to cook cheesy meals that only one of us can eat (other than the occasional frozen pizza for dad). So, we've been a dairy-free household for a few months now.

I expected that we'd both lose weight, but it turns out it's just as easy to eat unhealthfully without it as it is with it. But one thing I did notice was the $30 savings on groceries each week. We went from spending roughly $100 per week to $70. Wow! Does that mean we spent $30 on cheese products each week? Not exactly...but since my cooking options were much more diverse, I bought a lot of extra ingredients to make various dishes like homemade pizza, lasagna, etc. And now that I have to cook simpler meals, the ingredients are also simpler. And therefore we save money.

So, $30 a week times 4 weeks per month = $120 savings per month. Not bad! I suppose I won't convince anyone to voluntarily give up dairy for the sake of their grocery bill. But even just going to one or two non-dairy meals per week could potentially yield savings. And don't forget couponing! See my "Not-So-Extreme" but very affective approach to couponing here. And don't forget your green bags!

Happy eating! Or should I say Happy Saving? Have a great day everyone.