We didn’t change our savings goals for the year, but we did set a goal to reduce our food expenses by at least $100 a month. Last year we spent about $600 a month on food – $250 on groceries, $200 on fast food, and $150 at restaurants.

For January 2010, we spent $350…we actually spent $250 less than normal!

We bought a few food boxes from Angel Food Ministries for $75. We also bought about $175 of groceries and ate out 5 times for about $90. Yay, $340 for the month!

BTW, the boxes we received from Angel Food Ministries were awesome. We bought a signature box ($30), a 7 lb grilling meat box ($23), and a produce box ($22). I priced the boxes out at Kroger’s and came to the conclusion we saved about $25 total on the signature and meat box but the produce box was about the same price. The grab-bag of food mentality worked really well for us and has motivated us to cook at home way more often.

Anyway, I have liked everything but the sweet tomato sauce in the warm-up dinner and the salty Baby Back Ribs, BUT my husband liked both of those so we’ve jointly liked everything! The breads were great, the fruit was fresh, the steaks were amazing, and the rest has been the same as what we would have bought elsewhere. We’ll be ordering 2 signature boxes this month for $60.

I think AFM is a great idea for people who were lazy with grocery shopping like us…probably not such a great deal for bargain hunters that already have a good system for themselves.

Congrats on your honeymoon savings…you are doing great!