Our &65.00 grocery budget. (2024)

A decade ago.

My not-so-boring life.

Posted by: MommaSnell on: May 9, 2012

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It is my goal for our family to be able to survive on less than $65.00 a week grocery budget. Yes, this is for a family of 4. And, no, we don’t eat hamburger helper each night. I believe in striving to feed our family as healthy as possible, but please know we’re not perfect when it comes to this. So, I think I have some very practical tips for saving money (even without coupons, if that’s not your thing. If it is, great, but I won’t include that here!)

1. Know your stores.Is there a store in your area that is known for being budget friendly? Get what you can there. We frequently shop at our local Aldi store, because of the reasonable prices.
2. Use what you have. I try to plan at least two meals of our 7-day meal plans using what I have leftover in our pantry. You’d be surprised what you have leftover from previous shopping trips, put it to good use.
3. Compare prices.Check your local sales ads for the various stores. I realize that gas is expensive, so it may not be worth it to drive out of your way, but if you know of an area that has a cluster of stores it can really save you money.
4. Plan your meals. Don’t go into a store without a list, and don’t go hungry! I’ll admit that this one takes self discipline, but once you get the hang of it – it’s fantastic. I generally even add a “snickers” on my list, that way I have permission to buy one as I’m checking out.
5. Portion Control. A lot of meals make way too much for our family, so I do one of two things. 1 we enjoy leftovers for lunch, OR I freeze half the batch, and save it for “one of those” days where I don’t feel like cooking. Remember, generally we don’t need to be eating nearly as much as we do, our portion sizes are typically much bigger than they should be.
6. Know your goal dollar amount per meal. I try to keep 6 out of 7 meals for our week within $5.00 (for the entire meal). My go-to-website for this is here. I’ve gotten to the point now where I can pretty much know how much it will cost me.
7. Shop local. I always believed that shopping local was more expensive, this is true sometimes. I’ve found though that if I shop at our local Farmers Market, I can find very comparable prices, sometimes even better. Plus, it’s worth it to support your local farmers, and store owners.
8. Skip brand loyalty.I used to buy a certain brand of this, and a certain brand of that. Not so much anymore. Now, I make sure I’m getting more bang for my buck (including flavor!) Most store brands taste exactly the same, so keep your eyes open!
9. Try something new. If there’s a great sale on something, go for it! Try it once, and see what you think. I’m very blessed to NOT have picky eaters, so perhaps this is easier said than done. If it doesn’t work, make everyone a PB&J, and remember it for next time.
10. Skip prepared foods.We’ve even started to skip buying potato chips, because we can make those at home. Prepared foods cost way too much, so cut them out as much as you can.
11. Buy in season. Have you ever gone to buy blueberries to find them 1.99, and then went to buy them and found them to be 3.29? Learn what is and is not in season, and use that as your guide.

(don’t you love google? a quick search finds everything.)

What does our menu plan look like? Here is our meal plan that I just bought for yesterday (within budget.)

1. Chicken Pesto with Pasta
2. Slow Cooker Orange Chicken
3. Chicken Enchilada Chili
4. Taco potatoes
5. Three-cheese spaghetti bake
6. “Toss it in” Pasta salad
7. Beef Stroganoff
And I was also able to plan for an extra day within our budget this week
8. Old Timer’s Sausage soup (a mixture of smoked sausage, green beans, and potatoes.)

So, there you have it! We also got a ton of corn on sale this week, so I’m really excited to dig into to that!

Tags: budget friendly, frugal spending, grocery shopping, meal plans, save money