First Things First

The best thing that has happened to our food budget is Angelfood Ministries (AF). We have been ordering from AF for just over a year now. If you haven't ever heard of this organization you should check it out. This faith-based organization has partnered with the federal government to help ensure families can purchase quality food for reasonable prices. At their site you can search by your zip code to find the closest host site to your location. Every month they have a "regular box" of about 17 different items including meat, fresh/frozen vegetables, pantry staples, and a dessert item. They also have several other "boxes" to choose from, and you can order as many as you like. The regular box is advertised as enough food for a family of 4 for one week. I find it stretches a bit more than that if I am careful.

Here's the trick: You have to plan ahead financially for this program to work. During the first 2 weeks of the month you order and pay for your food. Then near the end of the month you pick up your food at the host site. This means you are paying now for food you will receive later. If you can get into the budgeting habit of freeing up the cash to pay ahead, this is a great program.

I do recommend that you look over the pricing and compare what your local stores are offering to the pricing for each month. I haven't found it yet, but my cousin is able to regularly get 5 lbs of skinless, boneless chicken breast for $6.50. For her, 20 lbs of chicken breast doesn't feel like a great deal at $20. For me its a great deal!

Also, if you have a food item that just has to be a name brand, you will want to purchase it outside of AF. I used to have a thing about spaghetti sauce--had to be Prego with mushrooms. I have since gotten over that and had been buying store brand in a can. So getting a store brand, canned sauce in my regular box was not a big deal (though I do miss the mushrooms).

You will never know for sure what the dessert item will be until pick up day. Its just a little surprise! Sometimes its a pie or a cake, sometimes cookie dough. We have had jello, graham cracker bears, lemonade cake (the seriously yummy stuff you can get at Starbucks), you just never know.

One of the offerings is a fruit and veggie box. This is sometimes very cost effective for our family. Fruit is one of those things that used to never made it on my grocery list. Oh the occasional canned pineapple, sure, but not a lot of fresh fruit. Now we are trying to include it more in our diet and this box helps. Sometimes I learn a totally new skill when I bring home the food, like how to peel a real pineapple, lol. But then again, the aggravation is offset by the fact that I also found out how much I love grilled pineapple rings. I mean, come on, once you have done all that work you cant just plop a scoop of cottage cheese in the middle and call it a side dish! LOL

There are also several boxes which are primarily or completely meat. I don't know about anyone else, but there would never be steak served here if we didn't get it through AF. Usually there is a steak box, and some type of chicken box. Recently they have offered an allergy free chicken box, and a box of frozen convenience meals. If you have the space in your freezer, they make handy lunches for about $2 a meal. Definitely cheaper than the dollar menu at your local drive through, and nutritionally much improved from a burger and fries.

Several people have said to me, "I think Angelfood is a good deal, but I can afford the grocery prices and I don't want to take it away from someone who needs it." Well thats not how this program works. Sure if you want to spend more on food, then that is your prerogative. But you are not taking food from someone who might need it more than you do. The organization obtains the amount of food that is ordered, so no one has to do without because you got a great deal. On the other hand, the organization doesn't have to deal with things that don't sell because they only purchase what is needed to fill the orders.

I have started purchasing 2 regular boxes a month, and supplementing it with grocery runs. Our family needs more than a quart of milk a month, though we often get a quart of shelf stable milk in the regular box. I use it to make soup, or for cooking, but my brother likes it cold and drinks it straight from the box! I also purchase some additional hamburger, lunch meat, sausage and/or bacon, and beef roast when on sale.

As I go through this experiment I am going to list the AF items we get, grocery items we get, and their cost. Then I will have a record, and will be able to see if any progress is being made. I will list the store names, and if any coupons were used too. The menus I create will be added, and updated here also. With any luck I can do this with one trip to the store (saves on gasoline) and part of one evening a week to update the blog. We'll see.