How we manage our finances to make a grocery budget that will comfortably feed a large family in today’s economy.

Let’s start with the premise that children are a blessing. This is foundational to everything else I am going to say. You will continue to find fault with my suggestions if you do not first and foremost believe that each and every life brought into your family will bless your family and not lead to your family’s destruction.
So, the million dollar question…
How do you feed a bunch of kids?
Grocery prices are high right now, so it is imperative we get creative as homemakers. I will be the first one to tell you this is not an easy task. (In fact, just last night I made a very costly mistake by choosing to shop at a store in our new city that had MUCH higher prices than the usual store I shop at–thankfully, I have a very forgiving husband.) Meal planning and grocery shopping have taken more and more thought as my family has grown. Feeding a large family is not for the faint-hearted!

If you are looking for actual numbers, I have a post from 2017 about my Large Family Aldi Grocery Budget and a podcast from the Fall of 2021 on how much we spend to stock our pantry for 3+ months.
I’d also highly recommend you check out my Large Family Meal Planning page!
So, where do you start with figuring out how much it takes to feed your kids?
1. Decide how much you can spend. This has to be a logical number, but it also has to be a personal number. There have been times in our family’s lives when buying a lot of fresh fruits and veggies was out of the question. We thrived on the days when we could gather apples in a friend’s orchard or grow our own vegetables in a garden. When I didn’t have a garden, I loved the summers when members of our church would bring the abundance of their gardens to church to share with everyone! Otherwise, fruits and veggies came from a can. And I’m not the least bit ashamed of that fact.
2. Let go of the guilt. Moms seem to have more than their fair share of guilt to deal with. Feeding our families is a biggie! I know you would love to feed them organically. I know you wish your meat was hormone free. I know you feel like a bad mom when you read all those great blogs about eating whole foods or only raw or mostly organic, but #1 (see above) on this list will ALWAYS trump your perfect mom dreams. Rather than live in a world of discontent, learn to be thankful for the grocery budget you do have!
Fore more insight, listen to this podcast:
3. Make priorities. This is where we get down to the nitty gritty. Perhaps you have a child who needs to eat gluten free, perhaps hormone free meat IS of the highest priority. Most families have some sort of priorities when it comes to eating. I’m not going to ask you to change those; however, priorities almost always mean an increase in your grocery bill, so you have to take your priorities into account when buying groceries and making meal plans, and also realize no ready-made grocery list out there will be EXACTLY what you are looking for, and the only reason I share my Master Grocery List is to give you ideas.
GET MY MASTER GROCERY LIST HERE!
4. Buy in bulk–especially the things from your Priority List. For us, that is meat. We buy a side at a time and save a mint! Yes, we do have to get creative to save up the money to buy it that way, but in the long run, we are saving money on our grocery bill. We also buy wheat berries and raw organic sugar in bulk to save long-run money because those are two other things that are a priority to us.
Learn our more about what I buy in bulk!
Companies like Azure Standard and Amazon.com sell a good variety of gluten free products (you can call Azure’s customer service line to find out if there is a drop point near you).
A great way to find a rancher with meat to sell, is to frequent the farmer’s market and ask around. We shopped Sam’s for some things when we had a Sam’s card through my husband’s job, but I did not find the savings there to be substantial enough to justify buying our own membership when he no longer had a card. Yes, I loved having a larger size of product (those little cans of tomato sauce at Aldi about drive me insane!), but this is an occasion when my convenience does not override my frugality!
5. Learn the “basics.” This means a lot of different things. It means
*make your own rather than buy ready-made – Large families require more portions than what most convenience foods can offer. Learn how to make any ready-made products you buy, and you will save a lot! Baking mixes, spaghetti sauce, pizza…these are all things we used to buy ready-made, but now make ourselves.
*search out new ways of doing things – Over the years, this has meant learning about couponing, making a Price List, and buying from coops through friends. I recommend asking other moms of many for their tips and tricks! Get the basics of these new ways of doing things by searching out people who have already been there ahead of you…the learning curve won’t be nearly as steep!
Here’s something new I learned in late 2021:
*have a Basic Menu & Basic Grocery List on hand – Start a document on your computer that you can easily change and begin writing up a grocery list and menu that tends to be the “usual” for your family. (Take a look at my Large Family Meal Planning page for more inspiration!) This will keep your meal planning and grocery shopping more streamlined.
Then do a dry run at it with the lists and calculator in hand. Does your list stay within your budget? Where can you tweak it more? Do you need to budget in more bulk items or coupon sales where you stock up? Did you really need the amount of products you thought you needed? These questions and more will help you make your grocery list something liveable.
6. Share and share alike. Years ago, we participated in a community garden. Other times we’ve benefited from neighbor’s gardens. My mom and my in-laws have brought us food or fed us meals from time to time. Ty’s office assumes the big family probably needs the leftovers from the office party.
But we aren’t just big ole moochers! We give back. We labored in the community garden. We took our neighbor’s produce and made him a treat from it. We helped with cleanup in our family’s homes and fed them when they visited us. We took treats to Ty’s office from time to time to share with others and never expected the leftovers to always be ours.
Live generously!
7. Many online resources don’t have the large family in mind. There are so many sites out there dedicated to helping you save money on groceries, that I won’t try to reinvent the wheel here, but keep in mind there are “deal bloggers” out there who are not necessarily frugal and many do not have the large family in mind. Be aware and focused as you search online for more ideas.
And never forget my #1 rule of thumb:
Something is NOT a deal if you didn’t NEED it.
There are a lot of things out there you simply do not NEED. When you have a large family, you quickly realize how unimportant certain things are in the grand scheme of things. The more unimportant things you cut out of your life, the better off your budget will be!
Posts in the Affording Kids series:
Introduction
How do I Afford to Feed my Large Family? – this post
How do I Afford to Educate my Large Family?
How do I Afford to Entertain my Large Family?
How do I Afford to Keep my Large Family Healthy?
Check out my Large Family page for even more Large Family Resources!
Amy R says
Garin is so adorable! I can’t believe he’s big enough for solids already, it seems like you were just introducing him to us! 🙂
I’m enjoying this series so far!
Kyle Suzanne says
Girl you almost made me spit out my coffee and wake up sleeping 9 month old twins by screaming Amen Sister Hallelujah followed by a round of preach it sister! This is so true when we had 3 kids I wrote a sereis on grocery shopping and meal planning meant to help women maximize their time in the grocery store. Now with 5 kids its even more crucial that we are not wasteful. We took a break from our garden this summer when the twins arrived but in January I realized if we are going to eat fresh veggies and want fresh fruit we have to get back to work! My kids garden with me and its a true blessing to hear them singing Holy, Holy, Holy while they weed one of the raised beds. It also provides numerous spiritual oppurtunities to point out the similarities between our lives in Christ and gardening. Thanks for this post it made my day an the kids aren’t even awake yet. May our Lord Jesus richly bless the women that read this post and may they recieve into their hearts in His name. Thanks! Amy!
Rejoicing in Him Always!
Kyle @ Roosterhill
Amy says
Wow! Thanks for the encouragement this morning, Kyle! 🙂 By the way, do you have a good, easy tutorial for doing raised beds?
Kyle Suzanne says
I don’t have a tutorial but I’ve been working on a gardening series so I think Ill do one for next week.:) BTW several of my friends let me know this post blessed them. Grace & Peace sister!
Vanessa S says
I’m new to your site and have been perusing it . . . We have a family of 8 and I’ve used the Square Foot Gardening method for 5 years and really enjoy it. There’s a book or check out http://squarefootgardening.com/
Thanks so much for sharing your life and may the Lord continue to bless you.
Mary Joy @Seeds of Encouragement Sewn with Grace says
You are awesome!!!!! Thank you SO much for sharing the real way that you shop!!! Thank you for telling us not to feel guilty about not being able to afford to feed our family fresh fruit and veggies all the time. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! I am doing the best I can on the budget that God has blessed us with and it isn’t huge. We live on a very fixed income and our expenses increased this past month as my husband was diagnosed with a new challenging medical condition.
You will never know how much your blog means to me!!! We only have 3 kiddos so our family isn’t as large as yours…but I still have a lot to think about in shopping and menu planning because my husband is diabetic and that means we blessed with making healthy meals w/low sugar and also have to watch the sodium. I’ve been thinking about making my own whole wheat baking mix so that it would be quicker and easier to make fresh biscuits and whole wheat tortilla mix too. Now I see it would save us money as well! Very cool!
You are such a blessing!!! I have learned so much from you and gotten so much encouragement as we raise our little arrows! I really look forward to the rest of your series!!!
You and your family are in my prayers!!
Building Home with Him,
Mary Joy
Amy says
Mary Joy – {HUGS} Your comments this morning have been such a blessing!
Mary Joy @Seeds of Encouragement Sewn with Grace says
almost forgot to tell you…I am sharing this with my facebook friends!!!
Shay @ Wonderfully Chaotic says
Amy, thanks for sharing this series. While I don’t have a big family yet, we will – God willing – someday and I look forward to using some of the ideas you’ve shared then AND now! 🙂 Your blog is so encouraging and inspiring – thank you! *hugs*
Jennifer says
Thank you for #2, especially.
Kate @ Modern Alternative Mama says
It’s interesting you should talk about this now. 🙂 This month we’re taking on a challenge to try to reduce our grocery bill, while still eating organic and natural foods. I’m blogging about it and challenging all my readers to participate! I’ll be sharing lots of tips and tricks we’ve learned to save. (We also buy whole animals…yes, we actually bought a WHOLE cow about two months ago.) I’m trying to get down to $360 for a family of 4 BIG eaters on a special (mostly grain-free) diet, so this ought to be interesting!
Amy says
That sounds very interesting, Kate!
karyn says
I started shopping once a month since reading about it on your blog and that has saved us a lot of money (and time and tired children). And it feels so good to be “stocked up” for the month.
Jimmie says
Great stuff, Amy! I’m thinking economizing the food budget actually works in your favor health-wise. processed foods are expensive. Whole foods are good deals (consider pre-packaged oatmeal packages versus a huge container of oats).
I was so excited to get back to using coupons in America. But I realized that if you cook from scratch, there aren’t a lot of coupons FOR you. I only cut out those for things I really NEED and think are good food choices (or splurges that we can rightfully enjoy).
corine says
I’ll bet you have a blast writing these posts! I’m training my kids to shop smart right now (one at a time); perhaps I’ll blog about it.
Thanks for sharing! 😀
Corine
Lisa~ says
Great post! Lisa~
Erika Shupe says
Love this, Amy. Thank you. For our family of 11 we shop very frugally, and make from scratch mostly (including recently grinding our own wheat berries, like you mentioned). I’m encouraged to continue to fine great recipes for more things we buy, like spaghetti sauce. Would you share your great sauce recipe? =)
Blessings!
Amy says
It is not a great recipe, but it’s a recipe! lol I just do tomato sauce, italian seasoning I buy through Frontier coop, garlic powder and onion salt, and a bit of pepper. If I were going to can it, I would get more involved, but everyone likes this and it is easy to do right there in the pot. (and the great part is NO SUGAR!)
Sonita Lewis says
We are just a family of 4 but living with no steady income we do have to be frugal-and food is a easy way to be frugal. (don’t eat out, meatless monday, make your own, etc)
For menu planning I use http://www.homeplansoftware.com/shoplist.htm it’s a free download and AWESOME. You put in your items, your categories and your prices, and after a few trips to the store it’s SUPER easy to budget what you can buy BEFORE you even set foot in the store! (it helps to know when you can afford to splurge on your family’s favorite more expensive meals)
Charlene says
Could you please tell me where you order your sugar and specifically what kind you order. Thank You.
Amy says
I have been buying my sugar through an Amish Bulk Food store near my hometown; however, we recently moved and that isn’t feasible anymore. My next batch will come from Azure Standard (http://www.azurestandard.com) I buy Raw Organic sugar. The brand from the bulk food store is Florida crystals. I’m not sure what the brand is through azure. I also buy some Sucanat as well, but cannot justify the price very often.
Natasha says
Enjoyed your post. I wrote on this subject last year and said much of the same things. I struggled with the guilt thing for a time. At one point I wondered what I would do with the 20 pound bag of white rice someone had given me. We generally ate brown rice because it was healthier. Then I realized how foolish I was being. I was telling God that what he provided was not good enough for me. http://tashales.blogspot.com/2010/11/cooking-for-army.html
Kasey says
Thank you so much for #2. I struggle with guilt knowing there may be a healthier or more organic choice for my family that I cannot afford to feed them. As a nurse I am constantly preaching, I mean teaching health habits. I know a little can go along way and small choices like portion control have huge benefits and are more important than where the food came from (a box, can or fresh from a garden). I was nice to hear you say you are not ashamed and I will not be either! Thank you.
Andie Birdsell says
Hello Amy! Reading over this for about the 3rd time, lol! 🙂 First of all, thank you! I keep having to go back to the Lord and seek Him in direction of food b/c I feel so guilty by the things I’m buying or not buying. I get all caught up in the whole “you can be preventing this from happening in the future by eating THIS way”, and IF you were eating THIS way you could heal this, and the “if’s” go on and on. So, with that said, thanks for the reminder to give it over to the Lord, remember that the heart of it all is the budget you have and how many blessings the Lord has given us, which determines how much we can spend, thank you 🙂 I am curious though…I know this was posted a long while ago. Do you still agree with/stand by each of these things you mentioned? I know on some of your posts, you talk about how the Lord has changed your heart on a specific subjects. Do you have any new info you’d add to this and or anything you’d take away? Couple other questions: How are you managing a grocery budget with the crazy prices now and if you don’t mind me asking, about how much does your family spend for groceries-does that include toiletries and such? What grocery items do you buy in bulk and how do you come up with the money to buy in bulk (do you buy like 1 or 2 bulk items a month to make it affordable? Do you still buy portions of a cow and what other meat do you feed your family (I know many families tend to stick with only beef/chicken as it’s the cheapest) and last but not least, I’ve seen some more recent posts on organic and healthier options like coconut oil and such. Are you still buying foods like this and how are you able to fit this into your budget? Would you have been able to afford to eat this way when it was only one income (husband only) without the supplement income from you? Thanks a bunch! Many blessings to you! Andie 🙂
Amy says
I’ll try to pull together another post. I sometimes hesitate to talk budgets because I’m not nearly as frugal as I could be and cost of living is dramatically different based on where you live. But, I’ll see what I can do without causing too much raucous! lol
Andie Birdsell says
Sounds good Amy 🙂 Maybe you could go into answering some of he other questions on the last two comments I left & skip over the “budget” part? 🙂 Thank you!
Andie birdsell says
Hi Amy! I was re reading this blog post AGAIN today! I have been in desperate search to find a way to feed my family the way we must within a better budget. I just got my very first Azure order today & got to see Mrs. Wood’s Joe & Sarah 🙂 I was wondering if you’ve done any updated blogs about my questions above? I don’t remember seeing any but thought I’d ask? 🙂
Amy says
Oh my! I am so sorry, Andie! I’m going to see if I can work up a post for you right away!
Reggie says
Your #1 rule must be my #1 rule! Apparently I told my husband this phrase often enough that he now quotes it to others! Oh, dear.
Sara says
I just found your blog the other day and I’m loving it! I’m currently pregnant with out 7th child and always looking for tips on grocery budgeting! On thing I have noticed is that you dont make your own cream soup! I have been making mine for years and it makes casseroles taste way better than the canned goop, it’s also freezable if you wish to make it ahead. This recipe is the equivalent as one can of cream of chicken soup: melt 2 tons of butter in a saucepan, whisk in 3tbls of flour until fragrant. Whisk in 1/2 cup of chicken stock until smooth then whisk in 1/2 cup of milk and keep whisking until the desired consistency is achieved. Done, very easy to make multiple batches at once too 🙂
Amy says
Thanks for that great recipe! I actually rarely use cream of anything soup these days, but I will keep that in mind when I do!