Honestly. I feel sort of silly writing about this. I have had a lot of you ladies ask so here goes. I think our grocery budget has always been around this but now I am working on making it less. We are trying to save money every way we can. I shop every two weeks so I try to spend $150 or less on 13 meals. We eat out for one dinner and also Sundays for lunch.
Things I do not do:
clip coupons
carry a calculator to the store
buy everything organic
buy packaged snacks
Things I do:
buy store brand a lot
buy healtier options
take my time at the store
buy a lot of fruit
ALWAYS have a detailed list
Go shop by MYSELF
The question that you guys keep asking is “What do you eat?” So below is our current menu. The idea is to have enough meals to prepare but not to necessarily eat them on the specified day. Make sense? Let’s note that Carly and Colt take their lunch which includes a sandwich, fruit, cheese cubes, yogurt (it varies but you get the idea) and water for drinking. We bought these from Ikea to pack the sandwich and fruit in instead of ziplocks. Instead buying bottled water we use their favorite camp water bottle and just fill it up daily. Ernest takes leftovers from our dinner to lunch. I am at home so I just eat whatever. For breakfast we have a mix of Multi Grain Cheerios & Kahsi Heart Healthy Cereal along with fruit. For snacks we make pudding, jello, cookies, and have a few other things. Also note I shop on Thursday nights so that is why our menu starts with Friday.
Fri. Turkey Chili & Whole Wheat Crackers
Sat. Bertolli Meal
Sun. Chicken-n-dumplings
Mon. Chicken Noodle Bake
Tue. Turkey Tacos, Rice, Beans
Wed. Breakfast. Eggs, Turkey Bacon, Whole Wheat Toast
Thur. Homemade Pizza (Parker Night)
Fri. Wheat Spaghetti with Lean Ground Beef/Marina & Salad
Sat. Tuna Croquettes, Mashed Potatoes & Green Beans
Sun. Chicken Noodle Soup (with wheat noodles)
Mon. Baked Chicken, Baked Potato & Green
Tue. Tortilla Soup, Avocados, & El Milagro Chips
Wed. Chicken Alfredo
Thur. Eating Out (Parker Night)
Our menu changes every two weeks. You will see a lot of soups for this season of the year. All the Parkers love some soup.
There you go. That is how I shop for $300 or less a month.
So.
What is your shopping secret?
8 Comments
wow - good for you guys! Ours is not that low.
It’s funny b/c Aaron does all of our shopping and he HATES when i go b/c i add more to the basket than needed!!!!
I really don’t have any shopping secrets and that is probably why our shopping budget isn’t this low…something I really need to work on. The main thing being I need to get better about making a list and not just wondering through…always spend way more when I do that! I am always looking for some good soup recipes, so if you wouldn’t mind sharing some sometime, I would LOVE it!
Okay…I love to cook. I LOVE to BAKE!! I love to grocery shop by MYSELF. I love to take my time. I love to eat healthy, healthy food. I love to buy organic food. I love to new, delicious, easy, cheap recipes. I do not buy packaged snacks. I do not budge on buying meat that is not organic.
How is it that we are spending twice what you are?
Could you just put an email together and send me your recipes for your list? I’m serious!!! Like, we will eat the same thing on the same night…it doesn’t even matter…that is, if that doesn’t weird you out.
I’m waiting……
I would LOVE to spend $300 on groceries p/month!!!!
:)) Love ya!!
Sharla
I really don’t have any shopping secrets. I wish I did! I try my hardest to use coupons, I take the time to clip them and carry them in my hand all around the store then every single time, I forget to use them! How stinkin’ annoying that is!! I shop weekly and spend less if my husband doesn’t come along!
We plan out menus as well. I do clip coupons, I have to admit I’m a bit addicted to that line on the bottom of the receipt that says how much I saved.
I definatly go shopping by myself. Not only is it alone time for me, but it keeps all those extra hands OUT of the basket. 
I love your list! Our grocery bill is about $350 per month, but that’s with coupons… what’s your secret! lol 
ps - I may use some of your menu choices, Yum!!
Well we spend probably double that. I also have a teenager in the house and we are family of 6. I plan our meals and buy only whats on my list or else Id spend way too much. I also cook alot from scratch too which saves money.
OK…I really, really need help in this area!! Since I like to eat mostly raw, and Mark is trying this also, we eat a TON of produce…and not as much as we should for raw-beings either because of the cost of organic produce and the distance/time to stores or supplements we need from online suppliers…
SO…I am looking into farm shares and organic co-ops out here, which help, but sometimes are once a month or something like that.
I like the idea of having a set menu for a week, or every two weeks, and need to work on that. I remember a few weeks ago (read: two months ago) I set up a list of all the meals we love. Raw all day, and a cooked meal at dinner. We love soups as well.
By the way, when I ate meat, Chix n dumplin’s was my favorite!!
Love ya,
Kelly
This is very inspiring! We save money by getting our produce at a local farmer’s market, and by not buying snacks or treats in packaging. But I still manage to spend a whole lot of money! I love reading that you do this without coupons. I did that program for a while and it was a lot of work.
One request . . . recipes?