One of my girlfriends has a very singular type of financial
problem – her teenage boys are practically eating through
her paycheck. As fall athletics ramp up, her kids’ appetites
are escalating and their buddies – often around the home
after sports practice – routinely raid her kitchen. As her
grocery bills spiral out of control, she’s struggling to
determine how to manage her budget so that her savings goals
aren’t (quite literally) eaten away.
I absolutely understand her plight. There were many things
that I was unprepared for when I became the stepmother of two
teenage boys, but the grocery bill was unexpectedly among the
most staggering day-to-day expense I encountered. I value
healthy eating, but I quickly learned that feeding a bunch of
teenagers requires a different type of menu planning, snack
strategies and sneaky techniques for hiding expensive treats
from the teeming hoards of friends who stopped by and plowed
through the cupboards.
(MORE: The Other Awkward Talk You Need to Have with Your
Kids)
Raising kids is expensive in many ways, and food expenditures
– a substantial portion of that overall cost – are not
getting any cheaper. According to a recently released USDA
report, a middle income family with a baby born in 2011 will
spend $234,900 on average to raise that child to age 18
(excluding the cost of college) – and food costs account for
16 percent of that total, or about $37,440.
